Pre-Calculus 11 Core Competency Self-Assessment

Core Competency Reflection

This semester I think that something I did well was using vocabulary and terminology to answer questions in both tests, and assignments. Using vocabulary helped me understand concepts and use my words to explain them effectively. This was helpful for me due to the fact that I learn concepts better when I can use terms or vocabulary to help me get a better idea of it, even if I’m not the best at solving the questions in that specific unit. Fully understanding the terms and concepts I was taught helped me understand and connect concepts I actually understood together in a way where I could express my learning effectively. Knowing the vocabulary was also more efficient for me because if I was struggling to solve a question, I could connect it to the terms I had used and it occasionally helped guide me on where to start or finish with certain questions. For example, using terms and vocabulary also made it easy for me to memorize formulas which help when solving questions in a variety of units.

Another thing that went well for me this semester was working collaboratively alongside others. In this course we did a lot of group work where we would solve questions together and communicate with each other so that everyone understood what was happening. I think group work was very helpful for me because if I didn’t understand something I could ask my peers and they could help me out. Group work was also beneficial because one of my group members could bring up something they use that helps them and it caused the rest of us to think about it and it could help us all. During group work it was also nice to see how others use techniques they have to solve questions and use them as well which broadens my own knowledge on how to answer certain questions as well as tech us new techniques we could potentially use in the future. In the beginning of the course we had to work in groups with people we didn’t really know so it was important to have effective communication to make sure everyone was on the same page and was following along with what was being done. I feel that those skills were transferred over when we got to pick our own groups due to the fact that my group was really good at making sure everyone was on the right track and even supported each other by offering assistance when anyone needed it, and helping each other when we were either struggling or doing a question wrong.

Next I want to reflect on how I was able to treat both myself and others with respect. This kind of builds off of the communication point I had made when talking about communication within group work as well. Within our group whenever a mistake was made, nobody was ever rude or mean to the person who made it. Mistakes occur in math and many other subjects as well, so it is important to be respectful and kind when correcting someone or helping them solve a mistake they made in the equation, question, formula etc. Lastly, this semester I learned a lot about growth in my life. I found out both areas I’ve grown in, as well as areas I want to see growth in, and I can act on them or create a plan accordingly.

Advice for Future Students

My biggest piece of advice for future students in math would be to not let work pile up. It’s really easy for you to fall behind and miss certain units or not understand them but once you are behind it’s easier to let it continue rather than put in the extra effort and get back on track. Other pieces of advice would be to 1) do the assigned workbook questions on time, 2) don’t be afraid to ask for help whenever you find yourself struggling with concepts, 3) pay attention to vocabulary just as much as solving because it can help with questions, 4) Make sure that you use class time effectively to give you more time to study and prevent you from falling behind.

Core Competencies Self Reflection

Economics 12

The assignment I chose was my foreign economies project. This project is one that shows many different core competencies and how I displayed them as well. Due to the fact that this was a partner project, I was able to effectively communicate with my partner in order to generate our best work. Whenever, either one of us had questions or ideas we were able to effectively communicate those so that we were both on the same page and both of our ideas were included in the project. During the course of this project, I was also able to use both my critical and creative thinking skills as well as build on them. I used creative thinking skills during the design process of the project, in order to decide how the layout should look and what photos an colours to use etc. My critical thinking was used when doing the research because I had to focus and decide what aspects of my research were needed and what parts were extra information that wasn’t necessary to keep in the project. I was also able to question aspects of my research to further understand the concepts not only for me to understand but to also make it easier for my class to understand when I presented the project as well.

Transforming Parabolas

my given equation
parent function of parabola

Desmos Graph of Equation and Parent Function

Parent Function and Given Parabola

Significance of a, h, and k Within the Equation

In my equation, a was represented as ½. Due to the fact that the coefficient on the x² value (a) is a positive number the parabola created by my equation opened upwards rather than downwards which is what would’ve occurred had the coefficient been a negative number instead. The coefficient of the equation also determines what the parabola will look like in terms of width, shape and direction. The coefficient of my equation is ½, and because the coefficient is in between 0 and 1 it means that my parabola will be wider, which can be seen on the graph, rather than compressed had the coefficient been greater than 1. The value of h in the equation I was given is 6, it is a positive number due to the fact that when it is plugged into the equation y = a(x – h)2 – k, the 6 becomes a negative number. This means that the parabola’s vertex will be shifted 6 spots to the right of the parent function which in this case is 0. Lastly, in my equation the value of k is -7. This value gives us the upward or downward shift of the parabola meaning that the vertex moves up or down whatever value k represents. In this case my parabola’s vertex was shifted down by 7 places.

Self-Assessment

During this assignment I was able to show my mathematical learning by using the material learned in order to further my understanding of parabola’s and make assumptions regarding how they’d look without the need of a graph. I demonstrated this throughout my explanations of each different variable and how it influences the parabola’s appearance and equation. In order to both show my mathematical understanding I had to use mathematical vocabulary to fully explain the points needed and my thoughts behind them. For example, I used words like coefficient, compressed, vertex, and parabola to have better descriptions of what exactly I was trying to say in a precise and accurate way. Lastly, in this assignment I used formatting to provide a clear and visually appealing way to present my learning so that others could comprehend it better. In my assignment I specifically used the formatting to apply headings and subheadings to represent changes in topics, colours to coordinate images and words, as well as labelling all images and equations to avoid confusion on what is being described and shown to provide more clarity.

Chemistry Acid-Base Titration Lab

During this lab, the purpose was to titrate the HCl solution with an unknown concentration of NaOH solution. A titration is a method used to determine the unknown concentration of a solution by adding a solution with a known concentration into it to trigger a reaction and establish or calculate the concentration of the solution.The titration used in this specific lab was to calculate the unknown concentration of hydrochloric acid using a known concentration of sodium hydroxide. The endpoint of a titration is observed when the colour of the solution changes depending on the indicator used. During this lab, the indicator used was phenolphthalein therefore the endpoint of the titration would be when the solution become a shade of very light pink. In order to confirm that an endpoint of a titration has been reached the solution must remain the shade of pink for a minimum of about 30 seconds for the titration to be considered complete. In our lab the results for the concentration of hydrochloric acid was 0.1487M. To calculate our concentration we used the average volume of NaOH used (14.87mL), converted it to litres, calculated the moles of NaOH and used that number to find the moles of HCl and then divided that by litres of HCl to determine the molarity/concentration of the solution.

Buret Titration Volumes
Initial Volume Reading= 0.14 ± 0.01mL
Final Volume Reading= 14.96 ± 0.01mL

Throughout the time that this lab was completed, communication was a large part in the success of it. Being able to work alongside and discuss what steps must be taken in order for this lab to work is really important and my partner and I were able to work together in order to help each other complete the lab to the best of our abilities. We communicated by doing things like reading out the amount left in the buret in order for us to have an estimate of how much more NaOH needed to be added and not move too fast. My partner and I also divided the roles amongst us in order to be efficient and work together to ensure the results come out as successful as possible. Lastly my partner and I were also able to communicate with our teacher if we ever needed guidance or assistance of w were ever unsure about something regarding the lab, resulting in a successful titration lab.

Biology Core Competency Self Reflection

Communication

My Artifact: Button Dichotomous Key

During the course of creating this artifact my partner Lily and I worked well and were great with how we communicated. We demonstrated communication by actively working together and providing ideas to help support each other and the success of our assignment. Our communication helped us work together, as well as listen to each others ideas and how we can build off of each others to create work that we equally contributed to. Through this activity my communication skills were strengthened and I saw that I’m able to work alongside others in order to create work that covers all aspects discussed within a group. In our group we discussed the similarities and differences of the buttons and how we thought that we could separate them, we also reached out to our teacher when we felt we needed extra support in our assignment. Although a few of our opinions on the characteristics of the buttons didn’t fully correlate, we managed to work together and find similarities between our opinions and work from there.

Our Utopian City (Courtesy Land)

Courtesy Land

Values: Kindness, Safety, Education and Health

Kindness for our city is making sure that the people living here are kind and respectful to one another. This means that everyone is kind all the time and when there is an issue, we resolve it to make sure everyone is on good terms. Kindness is something you need in a town, or everything wouldn’t work out because everyone would be unhappy. In our town kindness is represented using orange or yellow and using the skiers holding hands to show kindness between people. Safety for us is that everyone is and feels safe in the environment that we are in. This means that no one would feel unsafe when they leave their house and that they feel comfortable to be themselves all the time. Safety could also be that there are no dangerous things in our town that can cause harm or cause anyone to hurt themselves or anyone else in any way. In our town everyone is always there to help one another and to make sure that everyone is always safe, and if someone does get hurt there are always people to help them out. We incorporated safety in our town by using blue and the fallen skier character to signify the distinct place where safety would be (even though the whole town is safe). In our town we think that education is important because everyone should receive equal opportunities and chances. Everyone in our town would be able to learn and it would also be a space were people could meet others and build relationships. Our education system would not just teach regular subjects we would also teach how everyone can be educated. Being educated means being aware of those around you, how you act and how to treat others, everyone in our town would always respect others and make sure everyone felt welcomed as well.  Our town represented education using red, we also used the Santa figure to show where in the town we have areas of education. Health in our city means that everyone can live a healthy lifestyle and not have to worry about basic human needs. In our town we have gyms and hospitals (including mental health facilities) so that everyone in our town can live their happiest lives. Health can also be having access to healthy foods so everyone can eat healthy as well and don’t have to worry about another human necessity. Our town would be encouraged to take care of themselves and make healthy choices, but they would also have the resources to do so. We represented health within our town by using green buildings and the characters having a snowball fight. 

Communication Reflection

For this project I was in a group with Sienna, together we talked about our values, why we had them and how we wanted to show them within our town. This project was about using both of our values to create our ideal town and incorporate those values into the town using colors and characters etc. We used City Creator to make this project, I really enjoyed using this program because it was easy to navigate and very straightforward. We communicated by texting through snapchat, we both would express our ideas and we were both willing to listen making it a lot easier for us to agree on things and include each other’s ideas. Since there was only 2 of us, we split the responsibility’s equally, I talked about health and education, while Sienna talked about kindness and safety. For the creation of the map, we both contributed and used both of ideas to create the map together. We were very good at using our time wisely and completed almost all our project during the first class, we were very focused, and we didn’t cause distractions for each other which is why we were able to complete our project efficiently. I don’t think we face any problems or disagreements while working together because were able to combine both of our ideas and display it on the map/ in the project. I really like how our final project turned out because we put in a lot of effort to make it look as good as it could and I think we did a really good job, I don’t think I would change anything because we were very focused and used our time wisely to get it all done.