SLCs the Sixth: TPOLs

The end of June marks the end of another era in PLP, Grade 10. This was a remarkable year, with ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations, but we made it to the other side, mostly unscathed. So, let us reflect on what we have done, and look forward to our next great adventure.

Of your work completed this year, what are you most proud of? Why?

The project that I am probably most proud of is the WW2 podcast. I had a lot of fun with this project, which makes everything 100x better. This was one of the first podcasts we had done, so it was opening a new chapter for us. This year I’ve had a lot of fun doing podcasts, and this one was no different. The experience of going and meeting with these people was really cool, because instead of just learning about something in a textbook, we got to meet people with first hand experience. I also learned a lot when I talked to Abigail Foulds and my Grandpa, Frank Ward. I am proud of the work I have done for this project.

What piece of work done this year would you share with a class visitor? Why?

A project that I would want to show to a visitor is definitely the generator project. Not necessarily the video that went along with it, but the generator itself. In science, and especially in this project, I fell as though the product is the bigger thing, and the video secondary. This doesn’t really make sense in practical terms, since we are mostly graded on the videos, but I’m usually pro under of what we have actually created. In this project, we took a current issue, and created a project that has actual meaning in the real world. This is why I wanted to do PLP in the first place, and that’s what I would want to show visitors.

How do these projects connect to the adult world outside the classroom?

Math is kind of a constant. Sometimes it can be hard to relate math concepts to the real world. This project did a really good job of that, though. For this project, we were looking at real data that scientists and governments had collected, and we had to graph it. Taking these arbitrary numbers, and creating graphs was cool, but to actually see the impact that this could have was even cooler. Emily and I checked the levels where the water rise would start to impact us, and added this to the graphs. It really puts into perspective what is happening in our world, and brings it to us.

What problems did you encounter? How did you solves them?

Finally, we have Destination Imagination. Every year,  talk about Destination Imagination, and how I am working to be a better teammate, but his year I actually did it. Within our group, we had some pretty strong personalities, and with that, some disagreements. There was one pretty bad disagreement, and instead of getting mad or whatever, I took the time to talk to both sides of the argument, and helped them sort it out. It was sometimes frustrating, but in the end it worked out. I’m really proud of how I handled it, and am looking forward to continuing my learning!

Fire Bad, Water Good

Energy, the magical commodity that is destroying our world. Well, not anymore! In science class, we created generators powered by the environment to charge an iPhone!

This project was really cool because we were building something that could actually be used. Like, you could legit take it into the woods, find a stream, and power stuff! I had a lot of fun building it, and then seeing how awesome it actually was by measuring the energy production!

Now, it’s time for curricular competencies!

Contribute to finding solutions to problems at a local and/or global level through inquiry.

For this project, we were focusing on using energy from nature to power our generators. This is really important now, because of all the issues our world is having with global warming. Learning about this, and how to build a generator that uses clean energy, can help us in the future. Also, all the materials we used were reused from previous science projects!

Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions, including increasingly complex ones, about the natural world.

When we were first pitched this task, we had to figure how exactly we were going to capture energy from nature. We had to look at our natural environment, and see what we could create. Seeing as Vancouver is very rainy, and there are many streams nearby, my partner and I decided to create a water powered generator. Water is a very strong force, and our generator worked very well.

Global warming is all around us, making our summers warmer, decreasing our snowpacks, and so much more. The little things we do in class, like reusing materials, can help our world. We had to research what types of generators would use natural energy. Although there are many types of renewable energy sources, our world uses a lot of fossil fuels. Having our project relate to what is actually going on in the world makes the projects seem less far fetched. Knowing how energy is produced can help us in the future.
For this project, we had to graph the energy production of our generators against a solar panel. With our past projects we have done this type of graphing quite a bit, so those skills really transferred over. Seeing how our generator measured up against the solar panel was really cool. The cost saving was less cool. Although it is always cool to see how what we do in class measures up to the real world, energy doesn’t seem to be that expensive, at least to charge your phone. It’d take about 72,000 days for our generator to be the same price as regular energy, but at least it’s something!

The Future Is Friendly Except It’s Not

 

Ever since we were little, people have been asking us what we want to be when we grow up. It’s the big question. Now that we’re in high school, we do have to start thinking about this seriously. One way we have been doing this is by using the tool MyBluePrint. MyBluePrint has a lot of surveys to help you understand yourself. It has really helped me understand who I am, how I learn, and has helped narrow down what I want to do after high school.

There were five ‘Who Am I?’ surveys to take. Although I do not think al of it was 100% accurate, it gave me a pretty good look at myself. The first one was…

Learning Styles

The learning styles survey was very interesting to me. I already knew that I learned better by doing, that is why I joined PLP. It was the other results that surprised me. I would probably say I’m more equal in visual and auditory learning. Overall, this survey was very useful because in the future, I will know how to better my learning. If I can continue to learn in a hands-on environment, I will learn more in the long run. This can also help with jobs in the future. By knowing this, I can choose a job where it is primarily hands-on, and have a better experience over all.

The next survey was…

Personality

This survey was probably one of the most interesting surveys. I’ve seen all over the internet how this specific survey has applied to a bunch of people. It was cool to see what I was, for this survey. As I mentioned before, this might not be 100% accurate, but I thought this was pretty close.

This was really interesting to me. I really thought all of these applied really well. The architect likes to work alone, or in small groups. They also don’t like creative constraints, and tend to jump headfirst into a task. They also are more fair when making decisions, rather than about how people will feel. Knowing how I fit in with others in this personality perspective will help me with projects, in school and outside of it.

Interests

This one is pretty much a repeat of the learning styles, not in its purpose, but in its results. The Contractor interest type helps gear you towards your career,  rather than talk about your learning type. The contractor interest type works hands on, again. They don’t like to work with people, and tend to follow their head. This interest type also leads towards a science-based career, which is something I was considering before all of these surveys anyways.

Knowledge

Knowledge was one of the more surprising surveys. I wasn’t surprised by the results, just the magnitude of them.

Science was the top subject area. As I said, this wasn’t surprising. The thing that was surprising was that I got Science for 100%. As I mentioned before, I was considering a science career beforehand. This survey only cemented my ideas. The other two, languages and language arts, weren’t very surprising either. French comes very easily to me, and language arts is one of my better subjects as well. What I did find surprising was that math, which is probably my best subject after science, wasn’t on there. I don’t know if I would consider math as a career, but it was always an option.

Finally, a most controversial survey (in my mind)…

Motivations

This one was weird. I didn’t like having these pointed out to me, but looking at them honestly, I think they’re pretty accurate. I like to see how the stuff I do adds up. Setting goals helps motivate me towards the end product. Knowing this can help me choose a career where there are goals for me to reach.

Now, back to actual real life stuff. On MyBluePrint, there is an option where you can plan out your high school courses. This was really helpful to me because for most universities, you have to take certain courses to get in. Being able to plan the next two years out makes my life a whole lot easier.

There is also a thing where you can plan for after high school. It gives you lots of options into careers you can go into. For our assignment, we had to choose one from each category; University and College, Apprenticeship, and Workforce. It was cool to look at all of my options!

Workforce

I chose this because as it is probably not something I would actually do, it could be an option. It integrates science and hands on work in the forest, which makes a difference. One of the drawbacks is that it is very socially oriented, working with people all day long. That just seems draining to me. Now, we can move onto another section, which I would be more interested in.

Apprenticeship

Both of these positions are very similar. I have an interest in planes and engineering, so these could be interesting careers. They are not extremely Science-based, but it still has some compatibility. The both would be mostly independent work, with some teamwork, not as bad as the Forest and Conservation Worker. If it were to go into an apprenticeship, these could be very interesting!

University and College

This is probably the most plausible course for me. Ever since I was little, I wanted to go to university. I just didn’t know what to do once I got there. Now, I know I want to do something science related. While that narrows it down somewhat, there are still many different sciences I might be interested in. This would be more expensive in the short term, but long term I should be able to earn more.

There are so many options for my future. Honesty, I don’t know what I want to do. I still have a bit of time, though. Hopefully it won’t go by to quickly!

Hepatoerythopoetic Porphyria with Dr. A Ward At Provincials!

Provincials. A time of excitement, anxiety, joy. The finally, of sorts. Anyone can go to regionals, or provincials. Globals is the dream for any aspiring team. Of course, PLP wins most of the stuff, and we don’t go to globals. But for the other teams, provincials is the gateway.

 

Most of provincials, for us, is the improvement aspect. From regionals, we had one big thing we wanted to work on: the Symptomatic. If you saw our regionals performance, or the video in my regionals post, you would know that it didn’t go all to smoothly. Fun times with chemicals. Anyways. That was where we focused most of our energies. That, and memorizing our lines. 

We worked really hard on improving, and I think our provincials score shows that. Our performance, although we had a couple bumps, went super well. We changed hour e order of a few things, just tons of little tweaks. I think we did fantastic!

Our Instant Challenge was another story. It was probably the worst one we’ve ever done. The teamwork was there, but communication and the actual completion of the instructions was, well, trash. If I could go back, I would yell at our team “PLAN. BE PREPARED. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. DO IT AGAIN!”.

Overall, DI this year was a huge success. Coming first in both the regionals and the provincials was amazing. I am very proud of our team, and how we worked together. Extra props to Morgan as this was her first Destination Imagination ever! It was such a fun time, and I learned so much.

Destination Imagination is always a special time, and even more so at provincials. We’ve had all this time to prepare, and then critique, updates, and bam! Another performance. As it is not plausible for PLP to go to globals, this was our last DI tournament for this year, and probably ever, which is sad, but also fantastic. I’ve learned so much over these three years of DI, including communication skills, time management, and teamwork. I am grateful to have been able to do this amazing tournament, as these skills are a huge part of the workforce I intend to enter. Thanks Destination Imagination, it’s been one heck of a ride!

Hepatoerythropoetic Porphyria with Dr. A. Ward

Destination Imagination, as much as we complain about it, is a huge stepping stone for us. The skills we have learned, and continue to learn, will be extremely beneficial in the long run. Group management, problem solving, and communication are just some of the skills we explore on this journey. So why not add Dora!

Our group was working on the scientific challenge, Medical Mystery. Basically, one or more person had to have a medical condition, and we had to diagnose it. We also had a bunch of other super specific criteria, which was really hard to work in. But eventually, we came up with the idea for a parody of Dora the Explorer, instead it being Flora the Physician (played by Maggie) with her trusty sidekick Socks (played by Tamara) who was suffering from Hepatoerythropoietic Porphyria (definition in presentation video). It was a long and arduous journey, which we are not yet finished. 

My roles in this were creating one of the team choice elements, and making the double vision. The double vision thing was basically that we had to show two or more different perspectives of the presentation at one time. We decided to make a map to demonstrate this. Then, with a pointer on the map (played by Morgan), Flora would be able to show where they were going. It was a bit difficult to figure this out. We had to paint the map, which went well, but then the paint started chipping and flaking. It took a lot of changing plans, and flexibility to fix this problem. Finally, on the day of the regional tournament, we decided to put clear tape over the whole thing, to make sure the paint stayed. And it worked! We used a lot of tape, but the appraisers loved it. I’m really proud of our troubleshooting abilities, and how we worked till the very last minute. 

My other role, as I mentioned before, was a team choice element. For this, we decided that we wanted ‘homemade looking’ medical badges, as Flora thinks she is a medical professional, but is not. So, seeing as I knew kind of how to hand embroider, that was up to me. They took a long time to make, hours actually, but I made three badges that I am very proud of. It really goes to show how the strange hobbies we all have can add to our solutions!

Although we went through some difficulties as a team, we came out on the other end. I worked with some people I’ve never worked with before, and it was interesting to see how each of us were so different. If I were to do this project again, I think I wouldn’t underestimate some people like I did this time. We also needed to make sure we were all on the same page, as that bit us in the end. But overall, we faired very well, and came in first place. I can’t wait for the provincial tournament!

Twins Aren’t Identical???

This project was all about genetics. DNA, RNA, all the fun stuff that makes up who you are. And this month, we’re talking about a really fun topic: Twins! More specifically, can cousins be twins? 

The scenario that we were posed with for this project was a bit complicated. Pretty much, two sets of identical twins married each other. Sounds incestuous, I know. Anyways. Due to both sets of parents having the same DNA, we had to see if their kids could be identical. And that would require several little bits of information, which I will now explain. 

Pedigree Charts

Pedigree charts are kinda like a family tree. They show generations, but they’re more focused on traits. Specifically, which traits are passed down to whom and how. 

Punnet Squares

Punnet squares help calculate the likely hood of a child of a couple having certain traits. You take the genotypes from each parent and mash ‘em up till you have 4 outcomes. 

The video explains this better than I do here. 

For this project, I worked with the wonderful Luca J. I would say that we worked well together, and will our different skills, we did a pretty good job. I did the scientific animations, using Keynote and Magic Move. It’s pretty simple but easy to understand. 

This project was really cool. I love learning about how things work, and pretty much everything in science, so it was great! Next time, I would spend a bit more time on my animations, because the magic move wasn’t working in some place. Also, I would add more information about how due to meiosis, it would be very unlikely for cousins to be twins. But overall, I’m pretty proud.

Week 6; Science

This week was science! I love science. One of the sciences I am most interested in is entomology, so I decided to complete task one and learn some more about it!

Hoverfly in Alyssum Todd Petit via Compfight

Entomology is the study of insects, but that term is to specific. Entomology also studies things such as arachnids, slugs, and earthworms. It is a branch of zoology, which is in the category of Life Sciences. 

William Kirby is considered the ‘father of entomology’. In 1815, he and William Spence wrote the first popular book on the subject, An Introduction To Entomology. In 1833, Kirby and Spence founded the Entomological Society of London, where he housed over 35 insect specimens.

Sweat Bee and Bee Todd Petit via Compfight

A majority of professional entomologists in Canada are employed by the government. They work with Agriculture Canada and Forestry Canada.

Entomology is an amazing type of science, one that has helped society improve science, crops, and medicine. 

The 3rd task looked fun, so I did it too.

This video is from TedEd and was created by Science Insider. I thought it was really informative, and it talked about whales. I love whales. 🐳

After watching the video, here are a few questions you can answer in the comments. Good luck!

  1. Which trees are the best growers?
  2. How tall are giraffes?
  3. What type of dinosaur was the tallest?
  4. Why can sea creatures grow bigger?
  5. How long is a lions mane jellyfish?

I also did the fifth task. Have a go at it, and good luck!