When working in a group setting, I believe that each member of a group needs to remember to stay in tune with the situation and progress. As an example, in my group, some members were moving ahead of the game, and they started the reflection when me and another member were still adding to the final touches. They thought that it was fine because the two of us could work well alone and finish it. Nevertheless, it wasn’t fair because they got extra time to do the reflection without having to finish the actual project.
Next semester I hope to seek improvement on group work and to be successful at this, I will make sure I try my best to keep my group members engaged with the project. I will also check in with people that might be a bit off, whether they’re fine or not. This will definitely improve teamwork for me in the second semester.
From going on a mini field trip this semester, I learned that in exhibitions, artworks are key to sharing ideas and themes, often reflecting the artist’s personal stories or important social issues. Each piece is arranged to tell a personal or global story, helping viewers connect with the messages behind the art. For example, some works might explore themes like identity, social justice, or the environment, encouraging people to think and talk about these topics. The way the pieces are displayed adds to these themes, making the experience more engaging and memorable for everyone who visits.
An exhibition can also significantly influence the audience’s ideas and beliefs by exposing them to new perspectives and even changing their views. Art might spark new emotions, helping people connect personally with the themes. It also creates opportunities for viewers to share thoughts and experiences, which can deepen their understanding.
Going on this trip made me understand the meaning of every exhibition. Before this, I thought it was just a random collection of artwork, but I learned that it means lots more than that. From then on, I also went to a few exhibitions in my own time and it felt much more interesting when I understood the theme and the message beyond.
This health unit, I learned how social media could have a great influence toward teens mental health. Nowadays, people in their free time enjoy spending time on social media. Is that good for our mental health though? The answer is not exactly. As an example, the fitness influencers that we see on places like Instagram, TikTok and others are doing more harm than good. According to The New York Times, several studies imply that exposure to body images that encourage a specific physique is correlated with a dip in body satisfaction, mood and self-perceived sexual attractiveness. It is hard for most people to tell the difference between healthy and harmful accounts, which means that most are exposed to unhealthy content. These can be also linked to mental illnesses like eating disorder and more.
Mental health stigma is also a huge problem. It is ubiquitous and seen everywhere and I think the reason is because of how it is portrayed on social media. In some movies, people diagnosed with mental illnesses are often shown as a maniacs, serial killers, or people who act crazy. If you haven’t noticed, most serial killers, for instance the Joker is a psychopath in the movie. Nevertheless, in real life, serial killers could be someone absolutely normal. We could reduce this stigma by promoting works without mental health stigma and help make people aware of the situation. We should promote the fact that these stigmas don’t always apply to people who are diagnosed with mental illnesses.
It is important for teens to understand mental health conditions so it will make them aware and preventing the thought of mental illnesses being “unnecessary” to make a fuss about. People like my grandmother, as an example, probably wouldn’t take this problem as serious as I do, now that I have learned about it. It is important to seek for help or get therapy or help others if something like this happens around you.
According to my chatbot investigations and interview with a 9th grader, the impact of cell phones on teen social-emotional health and relationships vary. Some believe that people can nowadays connect with others anywhere and feel included, but staying connected isn’t necessarily always a good thing. Social media can be overwhelming and stressful worrying about notifications. It also causes procrastination that eventually leads to academical stress.
Increased cell phone access might impact my social-emotional health and relationships next year because I already spend lots of time wandering on social media. It makes me wonder about whether I will be able to draw myself back from doing the actual learning. I think my parents would agree because they notice that sometimes I get distracted easily.
Some strategies that would help me ensure my phone does not decrease the quality of my emotional health and relationships at school next year are:
Creating a screen time limit on social media and entertainment apps which lock me out of it after a determined amount of time.
Muting notifications so I would not feel anxious to check my phone every few minutes.
From this investigation, I feel much more aware of the situation and the problems technology usage will cause. I will definitely refrain myself from letting it distract me when I’m in high school.
Standard: I can develop a model of the Earth-Sun-Moon system to describe eclipses.
Why do we need special eyewear to observe a solar eclipse but not a lunar eclipse?
We need special eyewear to observe a solar eclipse but not a lunar eclipse because the sunlight is too bright for us to see and would blind our eyes. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon phase is new moon, and the new moon blocks the Sun and that’s why it casts a shadow on parts of the Earth. The part where the shadow is the darkest is called the umbra. The part where is less dark and where you can observe a partial eclipse is called the penumbra. Also, a solar eclipse is quite rare because there is a low chance that the Sun is in place right behind a moon because the Earth and the Moon is always moving on their orbital plane and the Moon has 8 phases.
Standard: I can develop a model that shows how adding or removing thermal energy affects particle motion.
One of the materials we used, which was milk, started as a liquid. Then, because of the ice and salt, the temperature and particle spacing decreased. The speed of the particle also gradually moved slower. At last, the ingredient turned into a solid.
The reason we are doing this project is because African penguins are in danger. The problem is that people are taking away their homes. Their homes are made of guano, which is their poop. People keep stealing them because they are very good for farming and planting.
This is our nest. The size of the entrance is to guard the chicks and adults from predators. The slippery roof of the house is to let predators slip off when they try to attack. The foam sheet bottom is to make the chicks comfy while staying in the shelter.
From this experiment, I learned that thermal energy moves from hot to cold. Also, I learned the some of the best insulators that can keep a penguin and their eggs cool.
The content of this graph is the math assessment that my teacher tasked me to do. I decided to use the graphs that showed McDonalds has less calories and are healthier than other fast food brands. I think I did well on the designing part because I added a lot of icons to make the assignment more eye-catching and interesting to look at. I would improve on adding more mathematical words that would make the graph easier to understand. I used CARP in my design by adding some shapes that relate to the color of the topic. Also, the colors of the shape were some colors from the graph.
I am a student, reader and traveler. I like going outdoors to breathe the fresh air. Nothing is better than spending a day with friends and having lots of fun!
When I was working on this project, I learned how to interpret graphs. Including using sentence starters such as “This graph shows…”, “I see…”, “This shows that…” ,and “This means…”. I really liked the part where we got to create our own website, and it was fun to learn about saolas and how to help them.
