Matter is everywhere, that means that everything matters, right? Well, yes, but only to an extent. Anyway, let’s get back to the blog post. This post is all about our latest project in scimatics class! This project consisted of atomic models, scientific theories, and the creation of our very own game (or matter simulator). Anyway, let’s get right into it. In this post I will be walking you through (and reflecting) on the scimatics project that goes by the name “Chemistry Coding”.
Milestone 1: Just as all of our scimatics projects start, we made a mind map asking questions about our topics and stating what we already know. Mine had questions about the states of matter and plasma.
(unfortunately I cannot show a picture of this because the file has corrupted)
Milestone 2: This milestone was a challenge to determine the density of 3 unnamed gemstones. Later, we found out that they were all the same gemstone…… the tools we had to identify the gemstones with were a scale, a graduated cylinder, and 3 gemstones. Our task was to identify the 3 gemstones by calculating the density of the gemstones using the tools we were given then using google to find gemstones with densities similar to that of the ones we had (None of us guessed the correct gemstone based only on density).
This is my experiment sheet (our teachers name is Mr.Gross)
Milestone 3: Milestone 3 was a detailed image of an atomic model of your choice. I chose the Rutherford model. My two atoms were hydrogen and helium. Later on, I added a fluorine atom but that wasn’t a part of this milestone.
These were my atomic models! The one on the left is helium, and the one on the right is hydrogen.
Milestone 4: this milestone was where we plan out the rest of our project. In this one, I brainstormed all of the ideas that were eventually coded into my game. One of the ideas I came up with was to make “power-ups” of sorts that make the atoms move faster or slower.
Milestone 5: milestone five was the game itself! You can play it HERE. When I was making this I tried to create as many fun components as possible. Some of these we secret buttons that add some fun things if people find them. If you play the game, try pressing the L key. I hope you enjoy my game!
Now, for the curricular competencies.
Questioning and predicting: This competency is about wanting to learn. I think that when I did this project I really tried to enjoy (and succeeded) learning to code and learning the scientific models and theories.
Scientific Communication: This competency is more focused on the product, that meaning that it was about showing what you have learned in a effective and productive manner. I personally think that my product shows this well and proves that the learning that went into it is there.
Reasoning and Analyzing: This competency is focused on the skills used to create your project. It is also focused on how realistic your product was, and personally, I think that I did well on making it as real as possible while keeping it simple and fun.
You can find my game here if you missed it earlier!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post!