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Consequences of Colonization Reflection

By

On May 9, 2023

In Humanities

During this last little while in humanities we’ve been looking a lot at the colonization of the Indigenous people and the outcomes of that, and how that’s affected the world. Particularly we’ve been looking at things such as the Seven Years war, the Royal proclamation, and the Covenant Chain and how these events really effected the Indigenous peoples’ lives.

Anyways let’s look at the first keystone going all the way back to April 14 with the Art Chart. During this assignment we had to choose an image, (I chose image #12) and we had to make implicit and explicit references about the image that we took. We had to talk about some of the Indigenous and European qualities and what kind of perspective our image is, sort of stuff like that. This is the image which I got:

For keystone 2 which was actually very similar to keystone 1, we had to re interpret our original image which we took and change it to how the Indigenous possibly saw the Europeans. So I changed my image from what seems to be a religious guy trying to spread Christianity among the Indigenous people to what the Indigenous probably saw him as, which is a weird guy with a big beard in robes pointing to a weird stick thing.  Along with that we had to create a chart sort of explaining what we reinterpreted and what we did. So for me, I talked about how the original image used to be a balanced perspective but is now a very Indigenous perspective with the Indigenous people seeing the Jesuit holding the cross as really odd and possibly evil and dangerous. My original image is the one up top, here is my reinterpreted image:

Now let’s talk about keystone 3, for this keystone we had to answer the driving question “What are the consequences of the colonization”, I’m not going to talk about what I had to say to answer that question because it’d be very long. But basically we had to answer the driving question and write a script between the length of about 2 to 3 minutes for our final assignment which was actually the AR Makr Video. But for those who are curious this was my entire answer to the driving question:

And finally to rap up this entire sector let’s finish off by talking about the final assignment which was the Ar Makr video. For this assignment we had to basically read off our script but also showcase our original image and reinterpreted image at the same time showing the differences. My video luckily ended up to be right about 2 minutes with both reading my script and showing the 2 different images which was good.

But anyways I had my ups and downs during this sector in humanities having assignments which I really enjoyed but some which I didn’t quite enjoy. But overall I found learning about the colonization was quite interesting despite it being quite sad and depressing at times, but it was overall good and an enjoyable sector!

Mind over Matter Blog post

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On May 7, 2023

In Science

First off, let’s talk about keystone 1 (Who Am I). During this keystone we learned about matter, physical and chemical properties, and quantitative and qualitative descriptions. I honestly enjoyed this keystone a lot, it was actually my favourite  because it went over some of the basics and just talked about some very simple yet important topics such as the properties of matter and stuff like that. I especially enjoyed learning some of the formulas for like density and mass, it really reminded me of some of stuff I was doing in math, which is a subject which I really like and excel at. And in the end for the keystone we had to choose an object to describe and give measurements about like its volume, and physical and chemical properties. I chose a plastic little cube and talked about some of its features like how its mass is 23.51g and its density is 1.50464g/cm3.

Now for the next little sector it was pretty much like the last sector except it was more complicated and it went more into depth like we started talking about the KMT or kinetic molecular theory. We also looked a bit at gases, liquids, solid’s and even plasma and how certain things like temperature can really affect their state and how they are. On top of that we kind of went over diffusion and what affects it, which now takes us to the second keystone which sort of relates to that. So for the second keystone we did a really cool experiment with gummy bears revolving around diffusion. We had to look at gummy bears and see what kinds of things help with its diffusion wether if the temperature or if the colour affects the diffusion in anyway. This was actually a group assignment so I worked with Hunter and Baz for the project. Our hypothesis was “the presence of salt in the water will not change the rate in which the gummy bears defuse, but will make the gummy bears a lighter tint of its original colour, as well as create a grainy surface around the gummy bear. The water might also be tinted by the gummy bears original colour.” And for our prediction we predicted that the gummy bears will double in size as well as lose most of its original colour. We were mostly right because the colour did definitely change both in the water and in the gummy bear, and the gummy bears’ size did also change as well. All of this did happen but only for the normal gummy bears, we also experimented with the surgery ones and the results were vastly different than what we’d expected. The surgery ones were all different sizes and had weird textures after the experiment for some reason, probably due to the sugar. This sector was overall definitely pretty fun and I really did enjoy experimenting with the gummy bears and I hope to do it again.

Now for the last and final sector, we looked more at atoms and how they were discovered and what atoms are made out of (Neutrons, Electrons, Protons) and did a lot of stuff like that. We also looked at like the structures of the atoms and how they supposedly look like and the details within them. And finally we had to make a science related scratch game which involves atoms and lots of stuff to do with them. So I made a game in where you have to answer atom related questions to earn points, and with the points you can upgrade your own atom. So you can start evolving your atom and go from a baby atom to atoms such as a mega crazy atom. So basically the goal of the game was to evolve your atom as much as possible and see how far you can go. I liked the sector overall but I actually really didn’t like the scratch assignment and found it quite frustrating. Maybe it was just me but I found Scratch to be very frustrating because sometimes things would work out but also sometimes not and I actually lost quite a bit of my progress on my game a few times and overall had lots of problems.

Overall I really enjoyed the last little while, I felt that I learned a lot during these past few sectors in science. Even though I had my ups and downs I thought it was overall very fun and enjoyable with lots of cool experiments and assignments. I thought these last sectors were really good and I hope to do similar experiments like ones we’ve done again sometime.

Small but Mighty (Science Learning Portfolio Post)

By

On March 31, 2023

In Learning Portfolio, Science

During this last little while in science we’ve been learning a lot about pathogens, microorganisms, the immune system and a lot of other stuff like that. The first keystone was the Field Journal. During this assignment we did an experiment in which we swabbed different items which we thought could contain a lot of bacteria such as like areas in the bathroom or commonly used items such as the doorknobs on some of the classrooms. After that we wiped our swabs on little Petri dishes and then sealed them with tape to see what kind of growth we would get in them and what kind of bacteria we would find. As for me, I went and swabbed the door handles at the front of the school because a lot of people touch them when they enter and leave the school. At first there weren’t really any signs of growth on my Petri dish, it looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

But as time went on a lot of growth started to form, especially after like day 5, there were like all kinds of white spores and little puddles of bacteria which concluded my prediction that commonly used objects generally have more bacteria than uncommonly used objects. Also this is what my Petri dish looked like after day 5:

 

 

 

 

Next we started to look at the immune system a bit more, we started looking at macrophages, white blood cells, t-cells, etc… And as for keystone 2 we had to create immune system character cards for the following: white blood cell, any type of t-cell, the macrophage, any type of b-cell, and the antibodies. For each card we had to talk about what each of them do, where they live in your body and then give an analogy for each of them like the antibodies are like a tasty sauce which are spread on the pathogens to attract the macrophage (antibodies analogy). These are what all of my immune system characters look like:

Now as for the last and final keystone we had to create a Canva document talking about some of the vaccine myths and biases in partnered groups. I worked with James and the 2 of us decided to go for the myth that vaccines cause infertility and negative side effects like that. We managed to show and provide evidence debunking this popular theory showing countless doctors giving very descriptive evidence to how this is not possible. This is the Canva vaccine myth document:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this concludes the Small but Mighty term for science. Overall I do think that this was a really cool subject to touch upon. I’ve always been interested in bacteria and viruses and always thought it would be really cool to learn about that kind of stuff. I especially enjoyed the experimentation part, where we grew bacteria from swabbing objects but overall I thought the whole term was really cool and I hope to look at this stuff again one day.

Explorers Humanities Reflection

By

On March 8, 2023

In Humanities

During this project we had to create a book using book creator showcasing a story based on one of the many few early explorers and also showcasing some images related to our story. I made a little story about a guy who sailed with Christopher Columbus and his journey through the sea. I think I learned a lot during this term, I learned a lot about some of the early explorers and their impacts on the world. I also learned a lot about the world back then and how it changed and all of that. Overall I think this term was very interesting and I hope to learn more about it in the future!

Link to my book: https://read.bookcreator.com/1vpW39sFsnbyBDfGqUS61HDCN412/F5Zm7IGNS1-CIkbRgJqJvg

My First Mpol!

By

On January 30, 2023

In Maker


Introduction:
“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 and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

Growth as a PLP Learner:
This year I have shown a lot of growth in many things but I think I have shown the most growth in my problem solving skills. At the very beginning of the school year if I didn’t know what to do or was confused about a certain topic I would immediately ask the teacher for help, but after a while I learned how to figure things out on my own by thoroughly looking through Basecamp and seeking help from my peers. Another thing that I have shown an exceptional amount of growth for was becoming more productive in my work. At first it took me a long time to do things, even little things like writing a paragraph reflecting on some work. It would sometimes take me a few hours because I was so afraid of not being perfect and getting a bad grade but I eventually realized that it’s ok to have a revision and to not produce perfect work. So now it takes me like half an hour or less to write a good reflection.


Learning Plan:

For my Learning Plan, I think I will focus on the Humanities part, particularly public speech because that’s is something that I really struggle on. I generally stutter and am hard to understand most of the time. This is actually one of the many reasons why I chose to go to PLP, because out in the real world public speech is quite important and I want to get better at it. 

A section which I have felt a lot of improvement on is the Maker section, mainly the editing and computer skills. I used to greatly struggle on that in the past but recently I think I have gotten better at my problem solving skills which really impacted my computer skills because learning how to work computers takes trial and error and problem solving.

Another section in where I feel successful in is the disposition, systems, habits section. I think I have overcome a lot of hard challenges such as the Mpol, the thing I’m doing right now. Many times have I felt like giving up but I didn’t because I know I have to do it no mater what. I think I have also greatly achieved the habits section where I talked about studying. Every few days I usually review and just take a look at what we’ve been doing in Humanities and Maker but not just the PLP classes but I’ve also been doing a lot reviewing in my math class. By studying a bit everyday in math I have managed to get an average of 103%. And as for systems, I actually have been using things to remind me what to do and it has really helped me keep up to date on assignments, tests, and projects.


My Work So Far:
(The Outsiders)
So far we have done a lot of different projects throughout the year both in Humanities and Maker. But I think the most memorable project we have done so far in PLP was probably the Outsiders project, I think mainly because it was the project which involved the most group work, everyone had to work together to get the final product. We had to read an actual book and had to create a book cover and answer certain questions and fulfill certain roles. Whenever I think of PLP I always think of the Outsiders project for some reason. During this unit I learned how to work together in groups, how to combine ideas to create one big idea and how to communicate and work together towards an objective. Down below is the book cover my group made based on The Outsiders.

(The Middle Ages)
Something else that I really liked in humanities was the Middle Ages unit. To be honest, it was probably my favourite unit, mainly because it was cool to learn about the Black Death and the Torture methods that were used back then. During this unit, we mainly learned about feudalism, different hierarchies and classes that were there back then such as the nobles, knights, peasant etc… And at the end of the unit we had to create a presentation showing off our knowledge and answer questions about the Middle Ages. After creating the presentation I also learned how to quickly research accurate information by checking sources and doing that sort of stuff. I do kind of wish we learned more about the different torture methods and the different types of diseases that were around because it was very interesting but it was overall an amazing unit.

(Geek Out Challenge)
Enough about Humanities, let’s talk about Maker. Maker is definitely one of my most favourite subjects, mainly because I really like building and using special apps to make cool pieces of art. One unit that really stood out to me was the Geek Out challenge where we could talk about our favourite hobbies and present it to our friends. For my Geek Out challenge I talked about Geometry Dash and Minecraft which are two of my most favourite video games. For those who don’t know, Geometry Dash is a square based plat-former game where you have to jump and fly through obstacles. And Minecraft is a sandbox game where you can pretty much do whatever you want. For my Minecraft document, I talked about secret Minecraft facts. And as for Geometry Dash, even though it’s a good game I talked about 7 problems with the Geometry Dash.

(Finding Fun with Drawing)
This was probably my most favourite Maker unit that we’ve had so far. I really enjoyed using Sketches Pro and making all kinds of weird yet interesting drawings. I’m not really a drawer but Sketches Pro really made me enjoy creating art. From the satisfying sounds of the pen to the variety of unique instruments of art, this was hands down the funnest unit in my opinion. For the unit we had to create all sorts of art using different skills such as using lights and shading or using lines and pressure. And in the end we had to create a book using book creator showcasing all of our artwork and explaining it all.

Standards:
So far I do think my work has met all of my standards. Since the beginning of the year my goal was to get an accomplished which I have received and sometimes even surpassed, sometimes especially in Maker I have got an extending for some of my work. So yes I am very happy with all of my work.

Challenges:

Other than the Mpol I think the project that I struggled with the most was the Triptych project. During this project we had to create a 3 panel piece of art containing ourselves in every single panel showcasing different world changing ideas which were around in each time line, (Panel 1 was the renaissance, panel 2 was modern day, and panel 3 was before the renaissance.) The reason why the project was difficult was mainly due to the strict due dates. One day we would have to create the draft for the triptych, and then the next day 2 panels of the triptych would be due. It was definitely a tough project but I think by being pushed a lot, I actually learned quite a bit!

Conclusion 

Overall, PLP has definitely pushed me in every way and has been very difficult, but I have learned a lot from it and it has shown me a new view into learning and gaining knowledge. PLP has definitely been a blast and I hope to continue!

Renaissance Reflection

By

On January 27, 2023

In Humanities

During the Renaissance project I learned a lot about innovations which helped changed the world such as the printing press, lenses and the clock and how they shaped the world today. For example, lenses have changed into many things we use and see today such as the microscope and the telescope which have both severely impacted the science world. I also learned a lot about the renaissance times and the shift from the more medieval times to now. It was pretty cool seeing things such as pen and paper shifting to the printing press and then to digital computers. I also enjoyed learning about triptychs and what makes a triptych and all of that. It was cool seeing very famous triptychs from the past and seeing how detailed and thorough they were. Overall I really enjoyed learning about the renaissance time and I hope to learn more about it in the future.

Ideas from Europe and Asia changed the world by bringing out new worldviews and new inventions which were builded upon on and which took shape into many modern day things we use nowadays such as modern day glasses, telescopes and microscopes. Because of the discovery of lenses we are now able to see planets thousands of miles away and see objects way smaller than the human eye can even comprehend. Not just inventions but ideologies were builded upon into the world we see today. Because of Martin Luther’s beliefs religion has curcically changed, from the Chaitholic church lying and gouging money from people to now simple groups of people praying among the lord is what Martin Luther’s beliefs have been turned upon. This is how ideas from Europe and Asia changed the world.

New ideas in the renaissance changed the renaissance world by the invention of glasses, the clock, telescope, and the Lantern. With the Invention of glasses people who couldn’t see before were now able to see more details and had better vision. The invention of the telescope made it easier to see things beyond the world, the early telescope helped discover Neptune and some of the other planets in the solar system. Laterns also had a big impact on the world, it was a more convienient light source, instead of having to dangerously walk around with a giant flaming torch in your hand you could safely walk around with a caged long lasting candle. And as for the clock, it made it a lot easier to keep track of things and events and was a good way to keep track of where you are. Without the clock we would all be very confused.

Modern ideas which were invented recently included the modern lamp, digital clock, and modern telescope. The modern lamp was very convenient because it wasn’t really dangerous and was powered by electricity instead of a literal burning fire and was easy to activate, all you have to do is flip a switch. And finally as for the clock, it has evolved to modern digital clocks which you can convieiently walk around with on your hand or on a device. And as for the modern telescope it has drastically helped us in the field of science particularly astronomy and astrophysics. Because of the modern telescope we are able to see things millions of miles away and can see black holes, stars, weird galaxies and things we never imagined before.

Traditional ideas that people had before the renaissance included pen, paper, wool clothing, and simple weapons such as axes and swords. Pen and paper made it so that people could write books and record events. If it wasn’t for pen and paper we wouldn’t know so much about life in medieval times or periods before that. As for wool clothing, it helped people stay warm and helped them against the harsh weathers and tough terrain of the world. Back then it was basically the equivalent to clothes we wear nowadays. Without wool/fur clothing a lot of people would’ve died from hypothermia and other environmental challenges. Simple weapons (when I say simple weapons I mean like swords, axes, knives and stuff like that) were probably one of the most important things to exist back before the renaissance, it helped catch food and helped people get their meals and also helped them against enemies and invaders. Without simple weapons the world would’ve been a very barbaric place with people beating each other with their fists and using rocks as a replacement for swords and axes.

 

Avatar Project Reflection

By

On January 23, 2023

In Maker

I think the Avatar box project went well, it was not only very interesting but it was also very fun. I really liked the process of creating the box, I’m not really used to building things using clay and glue so it was definitely a really new experience for me. At first I had to get the supplies for the box, this part was probably the easiest part of the Avatar project because I didn’t really need to do anything except get the right supplies for my box, which I did. After that was the hard part, I had to plan out and make the actual box. My theme was corporate greed so I planned to have the humans destroying the home tree and blowing up the Na’vi peoples environment which showed how the humans would do almost anything to get rich and successful and displayed greed. It was sort of tricky at first but after deciding what to do and planning everything out carefully it actually became kind of a fun challenge having to mold things together and glue objects into my box. In the end I think my box turned out pretty well looking a lot like Pandora with the humans attacking the Na’vi people. Unfortunately I was sick for the exhibition so I wasn’t able to attend it but I will definitely make sure to attend it next time because it seemed like a really cool experience. I think the Avatar project was very cool and I hope to do something similar in the future!

First Learning Portfolio

By

On January 23, 2023

In Maker

Dream Board: For the dream board activity I imported images on stuff that I wanted to accomplish and eventually achieve. I talked about stuff like successfully skiing a double black diamond or beating a top 50 extreme demon in Geometry Dash and stuff like that. After I finished my dream board I learned that I really like to challenge myself and that I like to try to accomplish very difficult tasks.

User Manual: For the user manual activity I talked about myself and hobbies that I do such as gaming and solving Rubik’s Cubes and stuff like that. I also talked about my schedule and I just sort of talked about things that I do in my general day. After this activity I learned that I like to try new things and challenge myself.

YouTube Channel: For the YouTube Channel assignment I talked about my YouTube Channel and what I would do if I had one and what kind of content I would create. I did also create a channel banner. The name that I would chose for my channel would be Wizard Grape and the content I would be making would be mainly on gaming. After this assignment I learned that I am actually very creative. For example, the channel name, the channel banner and my channel plan for what kind of videos I would be making were quite creative.

Feedback Form

By

On January 23, 2023

In Maker

Geek Out Reflection

By

On January 23, 2023

In Maker

I think the blogging process went well. This is different from my other posts because I posted about something that I really liked and found interesting (Geometry Dash, Minecraft). I did also indeed feel like I was writing for a different audience, mainly the gaming audience because that’s what my 2 pages were about. And Yes I do think it sort of influenced my writing because I was writing about something that I had a passion for.

Upon this experience, I learned that I like finding small interesting details about topics that I like. I found the part where I had to find some not known facts about Geometry Dash and Minecraft hard. The easiest part was the writing part. I found that putting everything into sentences and writing everything down pretty easy. And Yes I will continue to post to my blog because I actually find it kind of fun.

 

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