Tag Archives: PLP

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November 15, 2023

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Manhattan Project Squared

In the latest PLP project we learned all about the dawn of atomic energy: the manhattan project, Oppenheimer, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and so much more. Half of the class also ventured out to the birthplace of nuclear bombs: Albuquerque, New Mexico, to experience firsthand what happened there and capture media for the final product of this project, a book about the historical significance of the manhattan project.

This project started with a trip to where the first ever nuclear bombs were invented: Albuquerque New Mexico. This trip was not only an absolute blast, but we also learned s much valuable information firsthand. We visited the Trinity test site (where the first ever nuclear bomb was detonated), the los alamos lab were even today the military still innovates technology, the white sands missile range, and so much more. This trip not only gave us trivial information about the bomb’s development, but also gave insights on the cultural and economical impact present in the towns and people closest to where it happened.

The final product of this project was a book centered around one claim your group decides on (pertaining to nuclear energy of course). After lots of carful thought, our group’s claim was “The Manhattan Project is the reason the science of nuclear fission and fusion are creating positive change in our world today.” I actually disagreed with the assertion our claim makes, but we stuck with that claim regardless.

We wanted our book to feel like you’re reading and watching snippets from a bunch of movies, ads, and magazines. I was in charge of visual direction and I also created almost all the assets the book uses. I also helped edit and fact check every page of the book. Here are some of the pages I am most proud of. (I also wrote one of the top one’s magazine snippets)

Once we got through many rounds of tweaks, peer feedback, and revisions, we finally finished our book. I am very happy with the final result, but I think my group took it in a bad direction. Since our claim only talks about the good of the manhattan project (which is very little by the way) we have much more trouble filling up the ludicrous amount of pages we decided to add, and also make most sections of the book purposeless.

Overall, this has been one of, if not the best PLP project I’ve ever done. I loved learning about the rich history of the bombs and all the struggles that were involved making them, plus getting as close to the history ad possible with the field study gave it a quality I haven’t seen in any other projects (maybe loon lake). I just regret the direction our book went because I feel it didn’t accurately represent or show all the interesting parts of the manhattan project and nuclear bombs in general.

Thanks for reading my post! Stay tuned for the nest post where I learn how to debate like a boss. Bye bye now.

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January 30, 2023

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MPol 2023

Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.

In this MPol post, I will go over all the PLP project I have done this year: Gold digger, Oology of Apology, and Romeo, Romeo, which I haven’t finished yet at the time of writing this.

First, I will look at my learning plan to show my expectation going into this year.

GOLD DIGGER

In this project, I learned all about the gold rushes in Canada’s history.

This project’s blog post is HERE.

Gold Rush Essentials PageDownload

Oology of Apology

This project’s driving question was: “How can we keep apologies for past wrongs alive so they are remembered – and not repeated – today?”

The blog post I wrote for this project is HERE.

I learned about ethical judgement, and how to make an accurate ethical judgements, and about some of the bad parts of Canada’s history, and what others and I can do about it.

Romeo Romeo, Are we still talking about Romeo and Juliet?

Despite the long title, this project was one of the shorter ones, and felt like it only lasted a week. It explores how we can interpret themes from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, and connect them to film adaptations, finally concluding with a film adaptation of our own.

Romeo and Juliet ThemebookDownload

Loon Lake Field Study

Loon Lake Post

This concludes the post! Thanks for reading my MPol Post. Bye.

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January 3, 2023

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Lake of Loons!

Hello, and welcome to my loon lake blog post. This post will talk about the first PLP feild study of the year (for my grade): my second Loon Lake Trip. On this trip, we did a three day leadership course, which was something I had never done before. This course was led by an amazing guy named Jono, so if I say that name, you know who it is.

On the day we left, everyone was very excited to be going on out first field study of the year, so we boarded the bus, and one and a half hours later, we had arrived in a completely new and beautiful place.

Arrival at loon lake

Since we were there for an absolutely packed five days, I will only go over the parts of the trip that influenced me the most.

The first part of the trip that I found really cool and that I think changed me as a person, was the workbook and the cool realization that came with it. Throughout the first three days of the trip, there was a workbook filled with self-exploration questions and activities, and with Jono’s guidance, I learned about myself in a way I never knew I could.

Debrief with Jono

The second part I will talk about was the personal posters. These were poster we made to show off who we are, and at first I was embarrassed that mine looked worse than others, or had less drawings, but throughout the course of the trip so many people wrote kind things on it that I felt completely satisfied with its representation of me. (every day we had time to write appreciations of something that person did that day)

Max and Mateo writing appreciations

We also did many outdoor activities, like low ropes, high ropes, and climbing. But my favourite outdoor activity was the two and one half hour hike we did on the last day. This hike takes you all the way around the lake

High ropes milk crate challenge
Rock climbing
Low ropes course

And my favourite: the hike

Amazing photo by Faith Sheewe

I really enjoyed the hike because Loon Lake is such a beautiful place, and I loved having that one last memory to remind me of this.

Thanks for reading my post. Goodbye.

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June 17, 2022

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The Spring Exhibition 2022

In PLP at the end of every year, all the students create a large presentation of all our learning throughout the year. The theme for my section was about PLP and how we use tech for learning. So, without further ado, here is the post.

At the start of this project, we were put into groups. My groups had Faith, Cale, Ines, Patrick, Max L, Noah, Erik and Ben T. First, we started brainstorming ideas for what our room could look like.

Here is our first plan:

First plan

Then, we finalized our plan for the room.

Map

Then, we took some photos then annotated them to envision our stations.

Then, we got to work on the room. We started creating signs for the stations, decorations, presentations, and more. Then, on the day of the exhibition, we cleared everything out of the room, set up our decorations, and then opened the exhibition to the public.

All the presentations went well, and I actually enjoyed it more than I expected, and then the cleanup was actually pretty quick.

Anyways, that concludes this post, thanks for reading. Bye.

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June 15, 2022

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My First Film!

In the latest PLP 9 Project, I created a 6 minute documentary about nuclear power to answer the driving question: “How can I engage and entertain an audience using my video and storytelling skills”. This blog post will cover my journey making the final film.

The first activity in this project was recording an interview. We were put into groups and had to create a short video about a chosen topic, using interviews. In this activity, we learned how to shoot interviews, which would come in handy in the final documentary.

Interview Video

After this exercise I started thinking about what my documentary could be about. Some of my ideas included nuclear power, rubiks cubes, or parkour. In the end, I chose to make it about nuclear power because I thought I could make a clearer message about this topic. I did end up regretting this though, because it is very hard to get b-roll of nuclear reactors.

Then, the next step was to write a screenplay for my film.

As it turns out writing a screenplay for a documentary is quite difficult, but I managed to get it done. I also made a treatment and logline in my documentary planning DOCs.

Now, it was time to create a storyboard. A storyboard is a plan that consists of images for each shot, a short description of each shot, and sometimes some other details. This is what I made:

Then, it was time to start filming. The first thing I did was create the collage of news articles at the start, then I contacted an expert on nuclear power, Robert Anderson, for an interview. I also needed two interviews from people who are less than experts, so I did those aswell.

Then, I edited my film. My film turned out to be longer than it was supposed to be (3-5 minutes), but I felt this was necessary to include all the interesting parts of the interview. The final documentary is below.,

Thanks for reading this post! This project was one of my favourites of the year, and I learned so many new filmmaking skills that I can use to engage and entertain my audience.

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April 28, 2022

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WW1 Can Be More Comical Than You Think!

In the latest PLP Humanities project, we learned about WW1, and what happened in it, after it, and before it. The Driving Question for this project was: “How might we use graphic novels to understand Canada’s involvement in WWI?”, and throughout this project I tried to answer it. So, without further ado, here is the post.

Five weeks ago as of writing this, we started this project by learning the causes and consequences of WW1.

Cause and Consequence Sheet

For the part of the Building Knowledge stage of this project, we read an amazing graphic novel called “World War One: The War To End All Wars”. We read this book slowly over the span of around two weeks, discussing the themes and images throughout the book.

After we finished the book, I wrote a reflection paragraph on the book, which can be seen below.

Graphic Novel Reflection

The book contained many interesting facts and information, but there is so much more to this war that one project cannot really include. So, since we cannot learn everything abut WW1, we had to pick a topic that we would like to learn about, and, eventually, make a mini comic book about.

Then we did some more learning and worksheets, then I started my final comic. I worked on it a ton, and finally finished it. Here it is:

The Battle of Cambrai graphic novelDownload

And my answer to the driving question: we can use graphic novels to understand WW1, and many other significant events, by reading them! (Or making them).

Thanks for reading my post! This project was really fun, even though I didn’t have much time to work on it, and I hope to see more projects like this in the future. Anyways, this concludes the post, and I’ll see you in the next one.

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April 27, 2022

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Seven Habits of Mine

In the latest maker project, we covered the “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Sean Covey, which is a book about self improvement. In this post, I will explain what these habit are, how they effect me, and how they can help me be my most effective self. So, without further ado, here is the post.

We started off this project by learning what the seven habits are. If you don’t know anything about the seven habits, here are two videos that hep describe them very well: Part 1 Part 2. For every section of the seven habits (the private victory, the public victory, and renewal), we completed a choice board. A choice board is basically an activity that shows our understanding of that section, and it could be note, drawing, video, podcast, or many others. For my first choice board, I made this drawing:

The Private Victory

It represents someone in somewhere private, obviously happy about accomplishing something, but with no one around to notice.

For the public victory, I made another drawing of some one giving a public speech.

The Public Victory

A speech represents the public victory because at it’s heart, the public victory is about “the art of influencing”, and what better way to influence many people than a public speech! Many of the largest events are told by speeches around the world every day.

For the next, and final choice board, I created an animation:

Sharpen The Saw

This is an animation I made of a saw blade being sharpened. It represents learning and growing, and always striving to be better.

And with that, I started working on the final 3 products, one to represent each of these three competencies:

Communicating

Thinking

Personal & Social

For the first one, communicating, I created an Apple Music playlist of songs that show communication (or the lack of it).

The playlist is HERE

For thinking, I created a container that represents my brain, and for peace of mind, I can put a little note, or random thought inside so that I remember it or can get it out of my brain.

For the personal and social competency, I created a drawing of things that help my personal life, and my social life:

The pencil and the things logo show what I use to stay on top of things and less stressed out. The arrows are a symbol of synergy, and working with others to be my best self, and the book represents me learning and improving myself, to keep the upward spiral going.

Thanks for reading my post, and I’ll see you in the next one. Bye.

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April 9, 2022

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Rube Goldberg was a cool guy.

in the latest Scimatics project we created Rube Goldberg machines to represent the scientific method. The scientific method consists of 6 steps: observation, question, hypothesis, analysis, conclusion. So, without further ado, here is the post.

I wasn’t here for the first couple days of this project, but as always, we started off with a mind map of what we knew already and questions we had. The next step was to perform some experiments on electricity.

Experiments Download

After this we did some workbooks and a khan academy quiz that helped me understand how electricity works in a circuit. Then, we created individual diagrams of what our Rube Goldberg machine could look like. Here is mine:

First draft blueprint

Then, my group of Colton, Cale, and Max got to work on our final blueprint, which is a scale drawing of our machine, a digital drawing, and circuit diagrams and calculations. We also built our machine. Here is the final video:

And the final circuit and machine diagrams:

Final blueprint
Circuit Diagram

And for the revised mind map containing all my new knowledge:

Now, for the curricular competencies:

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

All class time is used efficiently for learning without distractions

I think that I used all my class time very well this project, seeing as I was away for most of it and still learned so much and got everything done

Reasoning and Analyzing: Estimate reasonably

Final blueprint is complete and accurate. Contains grid scale. All measurements are labeled with a high degree of accuracy. All lines are easily distinguished

My team’s final blueprint does contain a grid scale, measurements, and is very accurate

Planning and conducting: Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data

Hand built series and parallel circuits are used to good effect with efficiency in your metaphor machine. Accurate circuit diagrams are included in the final blueprint. Diagrams use proper symbols. Diagrams are neat and easy to understand. Measurements of current, voltage and resistance are included

There is one series circuit in our machine, the one that lights up the question mark, and all the circuits combine make one large parallel circuit. Their are accurate diagrams of alt eh electronics in our machine in the final blueprint, accompanied by voltage, current, and resistance measurements

Scientific Communication: Formulate physical or mental models to describe a phenomenon

A video is recorded of the complete operation of the machine and voice overs are added which explain the sequence of the scientific method as the machine progresses.

I think that our final video is emerging, because the voiceovers do not sync up, and they do not explain what is happening very well. Also, the video only utilizes one of four videos of the machine working, it much less immersive.

Thanks for reading my post! Once again, thanks to my group for helping me in this project! This project was probably my favourite Scimatics project this year, so I hope to see more like it in the future. See you in the next one.

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January 25, 2022

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Electrons and Atoms!

In the latest Scimatics 9 project, I learned about electron arrangements, magnetic charges, and much more. So, without further ado, here is the post!

As with most scimatics projects, we started off with a mindmap that showed what we knew going into the project and questions we had.

Project start mindmap.

The second assignment in this project was an experiment, which was split into two steps: an animation that explains the lab procedure and the actual experiment+lab report.

Experiment 2A lab video

The experiment was very fun, and I really enjoyed this experiment.

Lab report

I should also mention how throughout the project we did workbooks and other small activities to continue adding to our knowledge. The next big event in this project was milestone 4 though, which was the Bohr models and storyboard. The final product of this project is an animated video that shows electron arrangement through Bohr models. I decided that in my video I would show how sulfur dioxide and calcium phosphide form. My storyboard had 7 boxes that show the general direction of my video, and I created two Bohr models for each of the atoms, one after bonding, and one before. And after that, this was my final product:

storyboard and Bohr models.pdf

Then, I went on Christmas break for two weeks, and when I came back, I started working on my final animated video. I followed my storyboard pretty well, but added some extra details.

https://youtu.be/vU9p2WCHKpU

And now, for the curricular competencies of this project.

Communicating: Formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon

Detailed and clear voice overs are synchronized with animation to explain bonding processes using proper scientific language.

My video contains clear voiceover that is well synchronized to the animation. It uses proper scientific language as well, like covalent, ionic, atomic, electron, etc…

Processing and Analyzing: Construct, analyze and interpret models and/or diagrams

A carefully animated video uses Bohr models to show electron arrangement of atoms and ions. It accurately portrays the electron exchange in ionic bonding and electron sharing in covalent bonding.

I spent time making sure that my electron arrangements are correct, and that the electron exchange is also correct.

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

All class time is used efficiently for learning without distractions.

I handed in all my work on time (excluding revisions, of course) and my work was quality.

Thanks for reading my post! If you liked it stay tuned for more. Bye

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January 25, 2022

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A Project about Poetry

The latest PLP project was all about poetry. I learned about myself, poetry, and what made the me right now. So, without further ado, here is the post.

We started this project with a cool entry event were we put together pieces of a chopped up poem and answered questions about the poem with it groups. From the very start, we knew we would be making a book of poetry, and the first assignment was to create 2 poems: a simile poem, and a metaphor poem.

The driving question for this project was “How might I construct text that shows who I am right now?” The answer to this question is almost anything! Poetry, art, writing, photography, drawing and creating all are forms of self expression that can help anyone show or learn who they are.

On the second day back, we learned about two concepts: juxtaposition, which is basically just surprising readers with two contrasting things, and comprehending poetry, in order to understand the message of the poem. Each day we got assign one or two new poems. That day, they were a found poem: creating a poem out of previously found material, and three haikus, which are poems were the lineage 5 syllables long, 7 long, then back down to 5.

On day three, not much happened we were assigned a new poem: an imagery poem. This poem is supposed to vividly describe one image.

On day 4 we were assigned a Sunday poem, a poem about the sounds of your worldview,and in class we practiced making silly sounds. (It sounds immature, I know) we were also tasked with starting to put our poems into out book.

In the last two days of this project, we were assigned three poems: an experience poem that describes an experience that shaped your worldview, a self portrait poem that describe who you are now, and a personification poem that describes what worldview is using personification. The self portrait poem can also be used to answer the driving question. And, on top of all that, we had to create and record meaning statements for all our poems and make complementary texts that go next to our poem.

After staying up very late for many days, I completed my book (which can be found below) and concluded this project. This project seemed shorter than previous ones, so this post is more snappy, but I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I feel like there was not enough time for this project, and I wish there was about 2-3 more classes in it.

Thanks for reading my post! I hope you enjoyed it. See you in the next one.