Meiosis models

 

How is the reproduction of cells essential to the survival of organisms? That was the driving question to my most recent scimatics project, Meiosis models. For this project, we cloned plants, learned how to use some laboratory equipment, researched asexual and sexual reproduction, made models, and presented all of our learning in a video. 

At the beginning of this project we created a start mind map that showed all the previous learning we had on the subject of meiosis and mitosis; for me, that knowledge was a bare minimum. Because I did not have much knowledge I included a bunch of questions I wanted to answer through this project. Throughout all the workbooks, lab classes and videos we watched I learned more about this topic and as a result I could answer most of my mind map questions and create my end mind map. Both mind maps are included below and you can see where I saturated and where I am now.

Curricular Competencies:

Questioning and Predicting: demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic about a scientific problem or topic of personal interest.

When I look back at this project I showed this competency through how well I managed my time in class. After getting instructions, I would go to LAC to work on my workbook and on the milestones, because the work space makes it easier for me to focus. I also made sure to ask Mr. Gross a few questions to clarify what I needed to include in the final product. 

Planning and Conducting: collaboratively and individually plan, select, and use appropriate investigation methods including field work and lab experiments to collect reliable data.

I showed this competency throughout the project starting with the cloning of the plant. Later we took the root of the plant, followed steps, and made slides we could see under the microscope. On my first three tries, I was not able to get clear photos that showed evidence of Mitosis in the cells. I communicated that problem to Mr. Gross and it seemed I was not the only person who needed better examples so the next class Mr. Gross brought in pre-made slides. With those slides, I took photos and then later identified each stage of mitosis of cells. This data was important for my final product.

Scientific Communication: formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon.

This competency was very clearly shown with my final product which was a video with voice narration and communicated my knowledge of Meiosis and Mitosis. In this video, I clearly stated many of the reasons and the process of Meiosis and mitosis through the photographs and through the 3D tinkercad models that I had made earlier in the project. The 3D models which showed all the stages of Meiosis and Mitosis and was the most difficult part of the project for me because it was very time consuming due to all the different stages needed to be shown. I also displayed my knowledge about the similarities and differences of Meiosis and Mitosis, which I had done extra research on, towards the end of my video. 

I really enjoyed many aspects of this project especially the use of lab equipment such as the microscope to look at the cells. I had never really done anything like that before and it was a good learning experience. 

MPOL

There are two driving questions I would like to answer in my MPOL today.

First of all: How have I demonstrated growth as a learner so far this year?

Secondly: How can I sharpen my learning plan to ensure that I reach my learning targets by the end of this school year?

I  showed growth in my communication core competency specifically the communicating aspect of it. I showed this a lot in the working with words poems project where I had to clearly communicate my worldview through poems focusing on a certain literary device. In my Working with Words project, I showed more of my personality and who I am. This is growth for me when I consider feedback from last year and my work on earlier projects which were less personal.

The poem I would like to highlight is the “My Buffoonery”poem. This was an extended metaphor which was new learning for me. I compared my 9 male cousins to orangutans and yet the end of the poem shows how much I care about them.  Another communicating success in this project was the fact that I chose to do an iMovie trailer to introduce myself and the project. I was able to show photos in a fun upbeat way and to give the audience a feel for what my poems would be about. 

Another growth in my communication competency, was in my last scimatics project with showing the different type of bonds though a keynote animation. Using the app to animate in Keynote was challenging but I grew in my knowledge about Keynote animations so I could clearly tell the story about the scientific concept. On the other side of the communication core competency is the collaborating part. I showed this skill with the revolutions on trial by gathering evidence and writing a script with my group. Last year I would not have voiced my ideas as much but this year the Nation X project helped me voice my ideas in order to made a functional society right away. I believe this made it more comfortable for me with my Trial project. I got a good idea about what a functional society wasn’t and that helped me have ideas about what I wanted to say for the Trial. 

The trial project is also a good example of my growth in critical and reflective thinking. Our group didn’t make a strong argument at first and so we revised it multiple times. We even discussed our ideas after school and during lunch with the other team so that we could improve our whole trial. 

In my scimatics project about exponent laws I showed the creative thinking part of the thinking core competency.  I built on my partners’ ideas to make a board game that creatively and correctly showed most of the exponent laws. I enjoyed creating the Exponent Apocalypse. 

The second driving question: How can I sharpen my learning plan to ensure that I reach my learning targets by the end of this school year?

I set profile three for where I want to be for communicating competencies by the end of the year. But reflecting on the Nation X, Working with Words,  the mock trial and the Keynote animation, I think I need to sharpen my learning plan and work towards profile 5. I believe I have achieved profile there and am profile four. One of the challenges I face is confidently communicating with my teachers and communicating more of my personality. I haven’t established a weekly check with the teachers yet which i had written in my learning plan so I will be trying to do that in the next part of the year.

For personal/social competencies, I am working towards profile four where I can recognize my strengths and take responsibility for using strategies to focus, manage stress, and accomplish my goals. I use the THINGS app and my timer and go to LAC in order to focus and manage my time and goals. To manage my stress I exercise, and go to bed on time as much as a night owl can. If school was later in the day like 8 pm my stress level would go down. That is just a suggestion. The main challenge to this area is my anxiety which completely blocks my thinking and strategizing.  

I definitely need to work on being more patient with myself and be more confident with my work I need to be more patient knowing that I might not get it on the first try and that is ok because failing is fine. I don’t make every lay up in basketball or every serve in volleyball and I don’t make that big of a deal of it. I need to think of my learning in that mindset.

 I do go to LAC every morning but I do need to get better at asking for help in class.  I try my best focus on my assignments but I’ve been realizing in my past few projects that I lose focus a lot I need to take more breaks especially in scimatics were we work on the same thing for over an hour I need to get up take a break walk around. 

Overall I feel proud of my growth this half of the year and know that I can make adjustments to my strategies to accomplish my goals before June. 

Chemistry Stories

 

 

In our project called  chemistry stories, we looked at the driving question: ”How do the electron arrangements of atoms determine the chemical and physical properties of elements and compounds?”. To answer that driving question over the course of the project we studied atoms, ions, valence shells, and covalent and ionic bonds. With this knowledge, we chose an ionic and chemical bond and I chose carbon dioxide and sodium dioxide. Next we created a 12 panel story board that showed how these bonds formed. Then to put it all together, we created a keynote animation.

It took a very long time to think of a story that could show both of the bonds in their correct scientific way. The story did help me visualize these bonds though. The toughest part of the project was the creation of the animation. Finding the correct animation that would do what I wanted it to do was challenging for me. I would like to see if animating in other apps would be different.

Competencies:

Communicating: formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon. I achieved an accomplished in this competency. I used Keynote to create the animation story that showed the bonding process while using the proper scientific language. I was able to clearly explain the ionic and covalent bonds with detail and clear voiceovers. 

Processing and Analyzing: construct, analyze and interpret models and diagrams. I also achieved an accomplished in this competency. First I showed this competency through the workbooks when I began to build my knowledge on chemistry. I interpreted the knowledge form the workbooks when I created the animated video in Keynote. My video used Bohr models to show the exchange in the ionic bond and the sharing in the covalent bonding. 

Questioning and Predicting: demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic of problem of personal interest. In this competency, I achieved an extending. I communicated with Mr. Gross about the workbooks and when I could finish them. I also went to LAC for many classes because I find there are fewer distractions and I can work effectively. 

End mind map

Overall, the idea of putting the formulas into a story helped me better visualize the chemistry unit that we were learning about. The animation was hard but fun to create and I would like to improve my skills in that area. 

Correlation vs Causation

 

This scimatics project was called correlation vs causation.  The driving question was “how are correlation and causation different”? In order to answer this question, we took many steps including creating our final product which was two correlation and causation graphs that we presented to the class last week. 

We started off with a start mind map. Below you can see photos of the start mind map along with the end mind map. 

 

Start mind map

End mind map

 

Next my partner and I came up with over 10 survey questions the questions we asked on our survey were. 

Then with those questions and the peer critique we got from them we put the questions in a survey using google forms. Then we sent out the link to Basecamp and all the plp 9 group chats we had. While we waited for enough responses to come in we did other peoples surveys.

Clare and I got 23 responses to our survey and with that data we were able to put them in a chart with a graph attached in order to find out which two questions had correlation. Originally we thought that being an introvert or extrovert would correlate with what job you wanted to do in the future but with our data there was no correlation between those two areas.

We then changed our focus to the questions about how comfortable people are around other people with how comfortable you are then speaking your mind. Our second correlation was about how comfortable you were speaking your mind and how much screen time a person had on the average in a day.

We not only found correlation with our first graph but also causation. The more comfortable you are around people the more comfortable you are in speaking your mind. Unlike the first graph, we did not find causation in the second graph. 

Finally Clare and I presented in front of the class in a key note presentation. I think our key note slides were good because we didn’t put paragraphs instead we had bullet points that highlighted what we said. Our presentation skills were not as strong as our slides. We kept reading off of our iPads and did not look up at the audience. I feel like I could speak more clearly and confidently in the future.

Curricular competencies 

 Planning and Conducting: select and use appropriate equipment including digital technologies to systematically and accurately collect and record data.

I achieved an accomplished in this competency. I conducted a survey through google forms and found two correlations using the survey results. I used Numbers app to create the graphs and I used the keynote to present my results to the class. One graph was a weak positive correlation while the other was a weak negative correlation. Clare and I were not able to find a strong correlation with the data we collected.

Communicating and Representing: use mathematical vocabulary and language to contribute to mathematical discussions.

I achieved an extending in this competency as I used mathematical verbal and pictorial explanations that helped the class understand the data. Clare and I were able to successfully explain how one of the graphs had both causation and correlation while the other one did not have causation. We showed the difference between correlation and causation and how correlation is sometimes falsely associated with causation. We used a funny cartoon to help make our point. 

Applying and Innovating: contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through collaborative approaches.

I achieved an accomplished on this competency by conducting good, ethical surveys, using my class time efficiently, and being partners with Clare. First of all we made the survey anonymous so people feel more comfortable being honest in the survey. Then Clare and I used our class time well and went to LAC as needed. We met early a couple mornings to work on our project and we would FaceTime to create our graphs and prepare for the presentation. One time she was in a meeting and I did not post the survey until she had read it over and we talked about it. We both can give our opinions and if we disagree we compromise or ask for a third person’s opinion.

It was challenging to find correlations. I did not think it would be too hard but as we read the data our original ideas did not correlate. I learned that the questions I ask are important to ask well and that you need be open to look for other correlations and other factors. Presenting is also hard for me. Clare and I made good slides but we were very nervous and did not speak clearly. It would be interesting to conduct more surveys in the future to see what else I could learn. 

Exponent Apocalypse!!

This project was called “Game of exponent laws” and as you can probably guess from the title is about exponent laws. For our project we needed to design a board game based on exponent laws and mathematical operations. 

We designed Exponent Apocalypse! Our game takes place during a zombie apocalypse. A scientist with a cure and a Zombie are racing to get to a lab. If the scientist gets to the lab first she can mass produce the cure and save the world. If the Zombie gets to the lab first, he would destroy the Scientist and the Zombie’s would win. This is a two player game that lasts about 10-15 minute and uses exponent laws to decide who moves forward.

 

Curricular Competencies

Reasoning and Analyzing: Use logic and patterns to solve puzzles and play games

I earned an extending on this curricular competency. My point system was clear, and simple. The first person to get an equation right moves forward one space. The point system wasn’t just earning points it was about using the equations to move towards a goal. The conditions to win were effectively designed.

Communicating and Representing: Represent Mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms

I earned an accomplished for this curricular competency. My instructions were interesting and personalized as we turned it into a Zombie Apocalypse. There is a speed factor to get to the end before the other player making it a fun competition. I had one page of clear and complete instructions with lots of pictures and examples. I think I only earned an accomplished not an extending because I only used 4 exponent laws which was the minimal amount. Even though we didn’t have turns, there were rounds and at least one exponent law was used in every round.

Applying and Innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community and world through individual and collaborative approaches

I earned an extending on this curricular competency. I worked well with my partner. We both had ideas that were used in the game. We did trials with game ideas to see what would work and we divided up tasks well according to our schedules and talents. I left the drawing to her but I got all the equations organized. We didn’t have a problem staying on task and focused on the game throughout the project. 

I really enjoyed trying out my own game and other games around me. I found it interesting to try out other people’s games and see how much variety of games there were when we all had same driving question. It was also rewarding when other people played and enjoyed our game that we spent time making. I enjoyed the creativity of this project and making it based around the theme Zombie Apocalypse. 

The ultimate design challenge!

This project was all about calculating the surface area and volume of 3D shapes. Our driving question is “How can we design an object to optimize its shape?”. To answer the driving question we had to create 3D shapes in groups from 1-3 people then we had to create one or more 3D shapes on an app called Tinkercad. The object (or objects) had to be created to optimize surface area or volume. After we designed our objects they were supposed to be printed out in the school 3D printer which we were sadly unable to do. 

With a group of two of my classmates Clare and Jocelyn, we created three objects of our choice that we all decided  would be a famous European architecture. 

 

The London Bridge (mine)

The leaning tower of Pisa (Jocelyn)

Big Ben (Clare)

I won’t mention all the milestones but here are the two I think most important ones. Milestone 2 was the milestone where we had to create our 3D shapes in Tinkercad. This was hard because we had to first learn how the use the app then needed to find a way to create our 3D shape. I had a lot of trouble because I kept getting kicked out of the app. In the end I was able to use that app to creat a pretty good replica of the London Bridge. 

Milestone 3 was also important as that was when we had to hand in all the calculations. We had to find the surface area and volume of all the shapes  to find the totals for the whole 3D object including the ratio of surface area to volume.  

Curricular competencies 

Applying and innovating: contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through personal or collaborative approaches.

I showed this competency not only when I used most of my class time well but
also when I helped my group and when they helped me. I helped my group a little in the building of our models, I also helped in the creation of the slideshow that we presented to our class. My group members helped me with the creation of my own 3D bridge.  

Reasoning and Analyzing: Model mathematics in contextualized experiences.

I showed this curricular competency when I found shapes within my 3D model. I had to figure out what some of the more difficult shapes were especially the tunnel under the bridge. I decided that it was a half cylinder that was going through the rectangular prism. In order to get the right volume and surface area of the rectangular prisms I had to minus the volume and add the surface area. My whole object together has more volume then surface area, with a 1.5:1 ratio.

 

Communicating and representing: Explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions

I showed communicating and representing when I calculated, measured, and found the ratio of volume to surface area (1.5:1) of my 3D object. To do that I had to find the volume and surface area of all my shapes. I had to find a formula for each type of shape then I had to find all the heights, lengths, and other things like that. I also showed this competency when my group and I presented all of this information in class. We didn’t go into as much detail  about our calculations  in thePresentations as was required for the project. 

 

In the end I was able to answer the driving question “How can we design an object to optimize its shape?”. we can design an object in Tinkercad and move and change shapes to optimize its volume or surface area. The hardest part of this project was all the calculations they all had several hard steps just to find the volume/surface area. Even though I wish it could have been 3D printed, I am very proud of all the shapes my group and I made.

Chemistry Coding Blog Post

This project was all about the kinetic molecular theory. The driving question was “How can the behaviour of matter be explained by the kinetic molecular theory and the atomic theory”. To answer this question we had to create a simulator or game that shows the kinetic molecular theory, and has two or more atomic models. 

Before we could do any of that though we had to do our start mind map. Mine was mostly questions as I didn’t know much about this unit. Below you can see my end mind map which was just me adding and answering my start mind map questions.  

 After that we did a few experiments the eye dropper and gemstone 💎 experiments.

Then we started coding using a website called scratch. I found this a very fun and interesting part of the project as I got to learn to create games and simulators. By the end of the project I had created an scientific simulator with oxygen and water particles that change states. Even though it is a little glitchy I am very proud that I created it. Below is the scratch code that i used for one part along with my completed simulator.


Curricular competency’s 

Questioning and predicting: demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest.

The start mind map was where I best showed my curiosity on this scientific topic. During the creation of the start mind map I was thinking about what I needed and wanted to know about this project, showing my curiosity. 

 

Scientific communication: communicate ideas, findings, and solutions to problems using scientific language representations and digital technologies.

I think that this was the competency I did my best on. I showed it in my simulator when I made it so the particles are always  moving, when I made it so the particles change states with the temperature, and when I showed both oxygen and water particles.

Reasoning and analyzing: use logic and patterns to
solve puzzles and play games. 

This competency was showed when I created the code for the simulator. I had to find out what each line of  code did and figure our how I can make it do what I wanted. I used logic to make it so when someone changes the temperature/pressed a button it changes the state and speed of the particles. It seemed at times that my code was broken and I used logic to fix and improve it. I also helped some of my classmates understand how to use scratch to better improve their simulator.

So after all of that I think I am really to answer the driving question “How can the behaviour of matter be explained by the kinetic molecular theory and the atomic theory”. Matter has three different states the kinetic molecular theory explains that when heat is added to matter it changes states. This has been a fun, hard and interesting project it made me think about how I want to learn more about coding in the future. I also learned that I work well collaboratively. This project was a very enjoyable way to learn science.

The More Things Change.

 

The more things change is the name of my project. This project was 5 milestones long and it was about Europeans setting in Canada our driving question is “How did European settlement effect all the people involved”. To answer this question we had to create an infographic. This infographic was then put up somewhere around the school. We also made a video explaining the infographic you can watch this video above. 

For this project you were partnered up with another classmate for the last three milestones, my partner was Nolan. 

The first two milestones were relatively simple. We had to write a reflection on how deep cove has changed, and complete a chart about continuity
and change in the time of European settlement.

The next three where more based on the final product an infographic that answers the driving question these were also the milestones that we worked on with our partners. Milestone three was when we had to come up with one fact + graphic for each of the three groups involved in the European settlement.

The three groups are…..

  1. The British 
  2. The French 
  3. The First Nations 

We also had to write a thesis that answers the driving questions and connects to the three facts.

The teachers then gave us critic on our facts and graphics and we revised them
for milestone 4. Milestone four had multiple tries and versions. This milestone
was our final infographic with the three facts + at least three graphics, the thesis, the statement on continuity and change, and at least three sources in
alphabetical order. We handed this then into Showbie got critic on if fixed what we needed to then got more critic we did this multiple times and in the end we  had finally made an infographic that makes sense and answers the driving question.  

You might think that that’s the end of this wonderful project but its not we then had to create a YouTube video that shows and explained the infographic. This video was made in an app called keynote with a thing called magic move. This video is showed at the top of this post.  

This project also included two curricular competencies I showed the first competency (identifying continuity and change) in milestone 2,3,and 4 as all of them included me identifying and writing about continuity’s and changes during the time of European settlement. The second competency (Using evidence from various sources )was showed in milestone 3, it was showed in milestone three because that is when we had to make our three facts, we had to know if our information on the fact came from a reliable source or not and to make sure we show where we got our info. Over all I think I ☀️accomplished☀️ all of the curricular competencies. 

That brings us to the end of this very fun and interesting project I learned a lot about what European settlement was and how people were effected.

Laser laws project

 

How can you test the Pythagorean theorem and the laws of reflection? This is the question that drives this whole project. This project is called laser laws, and in this project we have been learning about the Pythagorean theorem A2 + B2 = C2 and about the laws of reflection. All of this information was then used when we went into groups to design and build a laser display to prove the Pythagorean theorem and the laws of reflection.

Display photos⬇️  

Mind map 

 

Curricular competency’s

Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest. 

I demonstrated this curricular competency by I using all class time efficiently. When I worked with a group and even when I worked alone. I used all class time efficiently in both scimatics and in LAC. I especially used our class time well when my group and I were creating  the star shaped laser model. This demonstrated my curiosity about the scientific topic, the laws of reflection and the mathematical topic, the Pythagorean theorem. 

Communicating and Representing: Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms

This was the curricular competency that I did the best at. To complete this competency my group and I had to measure all the angles of our laser display to make sure that we had at least one right triangle. To know that the triangles in the star were a right triangle we used the Pythagorean theorem(A2 + B2 =C2). We also labeled all of the other triangles in the star as well. Next we put all of these  measurements on paper so we could accurately know were to put the mirrors in order to create the best star with the most right angles. Over all we found 6 right angles in our laser star. 

photos of the star⬇️  

Applying and innovating: Co-operatively design projects

I showed this competency when my group and I accurately planned, labeled, measured, and  built a star shaped laser. I also showed this competency when all group members contributed equally towards planing and building our project. We especially work hard when we built the final laser model. All of these things together demonstrates this curricular competency on applying and innovating.

So to answer the driving question, how can you test the Pythagorean theorem and the laws of reflection? You can test it by making a laser display. Not only do you need to know the laws of reflection to properly calculate where the laser is going to go but you also use the Pythagorean theorem to help calculate the triangles in the shape. Over all this was a very interesting project. 

Tectonic plate board game project reflection

The big idea, how does the movement of earth’s tectonic plates cause observable changes and effects. I learned and improved my understanding in quite a few ways. One way was when I learn about the movements of the plates, another way was learning about what the tectonic plates are made of. Lastly I learned about what the observable effects are to the world.  

 

  1. The Movement of the Tectonic Plates

      Throughout the whole project I have been learning about the different ways the tectonic plates move. I learned that when two tectonic plates separate it is called divergent, I learned that when two plates hit (and possibly one submerges under the other) it is called convergent. And I learned that when two tectonic plates slide pass each other it is called transverse. We learned all of these different type of plate movement though textbooks, worksheets, and quizzes. If we had not learned these that it would be impossible for us to answer the driving question. 

 

2. What creates tectonic plates

    What creates tectonic plates. From reading textbooks and researching tectonic plates I have found out a lot about them. I learned that they are made at mid ocean ridges when magma rises up then cools pushing old rock away in order to make room for new rock. I also learned that tectonic plates are made of oceanic and continental crust and that a tectonic plate can be made of only oceanic crust but cannot be made of only continental crust. If i had not learned all of these important facts then I would not understand what creates the natural disasters. 

 

3. What are the observable changes and effects.

     In order to a to say how the tectonic plates made observable changes I had to learn what the observable changes were. I learned that earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis are all created by tectonic plate movement. I learned that an earthquake is created on a transverse plate boundary or on a fault. I also know that a volcano is formed on a convergent or divergent plate boundary, and finally I learned that a tsunami follows after an earthquake. Knowing all of this makes it a lot easier to find the answer to the driving question.

 

Now that I know all of this I can finally answer the driving question, how does the movement of earth’s tectonic plates cause observable changes and effects. Well tectonic plates are always moving because of mid ocean ridges so every time one of them bump, separate, slide, or build up to much pressure against each other they create disasters. We can see most of these disasters with our eyes or with machines. The sliding against each other creates earthquakes, when the plates converge it creates volcanos. All of these things are observable changes all created by tectonic plate movement. 

Mind Map  

Curricular competences  

  1. Evaluation: Demonstrating an understanding and appreciation of evidence. I showed I could do this competency when we did peer critique and when we created our board game. For peer critique we had to read over somebody’s game rules then tell them how they did. I think I did well on this one. I said that the person whom I was critiquing was great but that he needed to help his partner much more.   I also showed this competency when creating my own game. I used plate tectonics as the main focus, I included 10 science concepts, and the game showed tectonic plates. I did this when I printed out a photo of the world’s main tectonic plates. Meaning the whole board is made up of things I learned about. Additionally, I created rules for the game that show my understanding of how plate tectonics work. For example one of the rules is that you can only create an earthquake on a tectonic plate that your plate is connected to. Overall I think I did well on this competency. 
  1. Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest. This is the competency that I think I could improve on the most in scimatics. Since I have LAC in the morning and I do most of my work there, when I am in class I have nothing to do. If I do have work to do I usually can’t focus on the task because I had worked on it for 2 hours already. I could improve on this competency. 
  1. Understanding and solving: Develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving. I showed this competency by including probability on every player’s turn in my board game. For example a player can pick up a card and it could be a helpful card or useless card, this depends on chance. I also showed the competency by putting several probability problems in the game rules this incorporated how to multiply fractions. Lastly I showed this through the worksheets that I completed. Overall I think I did pretty well. 

Tectonic Take Down! Game board