January has ended, and with it the first math project of the new decade. For the past month my class has been working on a project about like terms and polynomials. We started this project off about what polynomials were, and the different types of polynomials(monomial, binomial, trinomial). Then we learned about combining like terms. Combining like terms is when two terms have the same exponent and variable (2x+4x), you can combine them together to make one term(6x).
I actually really liked this project. Part of it may have been that I found combining like terms and polynomials very interesting, but I think the main thing is that I got pick my own group, and choose what I did for my project. In other blog posts, this would be where I tell you guys what the class assigned driving question was, but we didn’t have one. This is what made this project so fun. We got to choose our own project.
My group, Kaden and Gabe, started off deciding we would make a lego city and “somehow apply combining like terms to it.” Obviously, we didn’t really know what we were going to do, so we had some work to do on our project. We then transitioned to using Minecraft, and then assign each block a value based on its shape and colour, and then combine the like terms of them. This also had some flaws, as two of our groups members did not have Minecraft, and were unwilling to pay $10 on a school project. So we some work to do.
We finally settled on an idea. Our driving question was “how can polynomials be used to represent musical notes and chords?” The basis of our project was that each note would have a term assigned to it(C=c)and then we would make a little beat. We would then figure out what notes were played how many times for each instrument played(2), and then combine the like terms. We made our “song” in GarageBand, and then figured out the like terms. A video of our song is down below.
https://youtu.be/E2m2la_NRv0
The competencies used in this project were “understanding and solving, communicating and representing, connecting and reflecting, and applying and innovating.”
Understanding and Solving: This competency is all about solving problems in abstract and contextualized situations. I think I was competent in this competency this project. Like I said, I enjoyed combining like terms, and when I enjoy something, I tend to invest time in understanding it. Like terms did not seem challenging to me. I don’t mean to say I wasn’t learning, but I never felt like I didn’t understand or I couldn’t solve a problem.
Communicating and Representing: For this project, this competency was being able to represent mathematical ideas in different forms, whether that be concrete, pictorial, or symbolic forms. I feel like this competency was not a problem for me to show and practice. I think my presentation was good. I felt like it was easy to understand and that it properly answered the driving question(apart from not using exponents). Of course, it can be improved, as my time may not have been used efficiently all the time.
Applying and Innovating: Using time effectively. That is this competency, and I think this was my best project yet. There were very few days(I think one) where I did not effectively use the time I was given in class to work on this project. Like I said, it good, and my best yet, but the whole point of me reflecting on these competencies is to pinpoint what I can improve next time. My goal for next project is to use the time given in class effectively EVERY time. I think I showed this time around that I am capable of that, so I am going to aim for that goal next project.
Connecting and Reflecting: I think I excelled in this competency. For this project, the focus was being original and creating in your work. I think my project was “personalized, and authentic” and no other group decided to do something similar. So I think that I did well for this competency and I hope to keep it up for the rest of the year.
This project was very fun and a good learning experience. I enjoyed learning about like terms and then applying it to one of my interests. It was also a good representation of how my impulsivity in this class has improved since the start of the year, as I used to have 4 or 5 days where I wasn’t working well, and I have reduced that to 1. I look forward to my next project and improving on the skills I learned and worked on this project.