Evidence that I can acquire information about complex and specialized topics from various sources, synthesize it, and present it with thoughtful analysis can be found in my connections made from examples in the novel to the title, with different levels of depth.
I show that I value feedback from others in my group by asking for their opinions or thoughts on my work and adjusting my writing based on constructive feedback given.
I compile and synthesize information to draw reasoned conclusions, such as when I researched through the novel for examples of Holden’s connection to the title through knowledge of his personality and feelings to connect the ideas.
When I need to work collaboratively with people I don’t know well, I… am working towards improving being able to work well with people I don’t know by learning to be able to take the first step and initiate discussion about the topic.
Critical thinking was very important for this lab in order to figure out which molecules diffused through the membrane, which way. Part A of the lab contained the molecules water and IKI in the beaker creating a yellow colour, with starch inside of dialysis tubing submerged in the water with a translucent milky white colour. After 24 hours the starch inside the tubing had turned deep blue and the water in the beaker had turned colourless. We used our critical thinking to identify that it appears the IKI and some water had diffused through the membrane and into the tubing. The evidence that the IKI had diffused was the change in colour, and evidence of the water diffusing was the increase in weight. For Part B the experiment started with glucose inside dialysis tubing submerged in a beaker of water and a glucose test was conducted in the water with the result of 0. After 24 hours the tubing had expanded and a glucose test was conducted again with the results of 300. This glucose test makes it appear that the glucose had diffused out of the tubing and a change in the weight of the tube makes it seem that water had diffused into the tubing. Without using critical thinking we would not be able to have identify what made it possible for the glucose, IKI, and water to move in and out of the dialysis tubing.
Communication
Communication was essential for this lab because we worked in partners to complete it. My partner and I completed Part A of the experiment and needed to be able to work together to efficiently put together our beaker and dialysis tubing. My partner and I split up to obtain the materials needed and then came back together to help each other assemble the tubing and beaker. To fill the dialysis tubing we decided one of us would hold the tube and the other would use the pipette to fill the tubing with ten millimeters of starch. After the tubing was filled, my partner twisted the tubing and I tied the string to secure the starch inside. Finally when one of us was finding a clip to hold the tubing, I filled our beaker with distilled water. None of this could have been possible if we didn’t work well together and communicate well enough to divide up our tasks and efficiently complete the lab.
Thinking critically was very important in this lab to understand the processes going on and learn to interpret what I am seeing and doing. During our test lab, our titration turned out very bright pink, and although it was not part of the procedure, my partner and I used problem solving to figure out what to do to turn it back to a clear solution. Our strategy for solving this problem was something like trial and error or guessing. We were curious what would happen if we put more HCl into our solution, what would happen to the colour? What would happen to the concentration? How much more NaOH would we need to add to create our light pink colour again? We added some more HCl and drew our conclusion that the solution became colourless again and we needed to add much more NaOH than we thought to return it to the proper colour. Next time I think that I would have tried to experiment more while I had the opportunity in the trial titration, to stray farther from the procedure to see what I could do with what I was given.
I enjoyed all the steps throughout this process, some more than others , but I enjoyed them all nonetheless. My favourite part of the process was conducting the interview with my Opa since it was interesting to sit down with him and talk about stories that I would not have known otherwise. It didn’t feel like an interview, it felt more as though I was just chatting with my Opa and sharing stories and experiences, which made it easier to find an interesting enough story to write about. I learned a lot about how to ask the right questions to receive the answers I was trying to find, for example I learned that asking well worded open ended questions elicit a much more thorough response than a simple close ended one. The last thing that I really enjoyed throughout this process was the peer editing portion. It was very helpful to have my peers give their suggestions and it helped me find mistakes or parts I could improve on that I would not have seen otherwise. I like having feedback on my work in general but my peer editors gave exceptional feedback that was detailed and really did help me improve my essay quite a bit. Writing this essay was a bit of a new experience, especially the interview part, so it was a bit awkward at first but by the time I had my final draft I realized that I enjoyed all the fun parts, and I didn’t mind the not as fun ones too much either!
Core Competency Reflection
Evidence that I can acquire information about complex and specialized topics from various sources, synthesize it, and present it with thoughtful analysis can be found in… I proved that I can demonstrate this competency through my collection of information from my interviews, using that information to write a proper essay, and present the final product containing all of the relevant information verbally to the class.
I show that I value feedback from others in my group by… During the peer reviews I was given lots of feedback, which I took into account and added parts that may have been missing and followed advice about how to improve my essay further.
I can contribute to and work with criteria to improve my own work; evidence of that is… I demonstrated that I can follow and work with criteria because I had to rewrite portions of my original draft to make sure that it had all of the points necessary. After my work was reviewed by my peers I compared their suggestions with the criteria and added parts that would improve the final product and check off all of the criteria.
An example of something I have spent a lot of time learning about is… I spent a long while talking to my Opa to hear his stories and asked him to clarify when I wasn’t sure of a detail. This ended up taking quite a long time and I had many recordings of different interviews that I took to go in depth about the stories he told me.
I focused on Creative thinking and Communication during the creation of this project. I used my creative thinking skills to make my poster stand out as much as possible while also having all the information that I needed on the poster. I creatively found ways to incorporate elements of the movie and all the criteria, while it was still organized. I used communication skills to effectively convey the information about my movie to any reader that may see my project. It was more difficult since I had to write the board in French, but I used the grammar and vocabulary that we learned in class to share about my movie. I also used communication to present my poster to my teacher, which entailed using vocabulary and using correct pronunciation. I really enjoyed this project because it was interesting and unique since I had to use my creative freedom to design my poster and choose my movie, and I enjoyed practicing how to properly communicate in written French too!
This assignment connects to geographical significance because volcanoes are a significant topic in geography for many reasons. Volcanoes can be a danger but are also very valuable to study which makes them significant in geography to learn more about our planet and the inner workings of the earth, as well as the effects it has on the surface of the earth. This assignment connects to the collaboration core competency because it was a partner project so my partner and I had to collaborate to complete it successfully. Although we could have stayed focused more, we had to share ideas and compromise together to finish our assignment on time and with a product that fits the criteria given.
This project connects to the Personal Social core competency because the dichotomous key was a group project and I had to work with a partner to complete this assignment. I cooperated with my partner and contributed ideas and my thoughts in order to complete the assignment. I shared ideas with my partner and compromised on ideas so that we could create a dichotomous key that combined both of our ways of thinking.
This assignment shows my artistic abilities I think because I drew the entire poster myself and I colored it all in too. I think that this shows the Creative Thinking Core Competency because I had to think creatively to come up with a design for the poster that would meet the criteria and I think that it made me think creatively to find something that looks good and promotes the idea of going to war during WWII. During this project I learned about how the government wanted young men to join the army and fight during WWII so that they didn’t have to make conscription a rule.
Core Competency Reflection
I ask and respond to questions to be an active, supportive listener, I chose this competency because I think that I demonstrated this by asking questions about the criteria and the limitations of this project. I asked about different ways to do this project and different forms of media to demonstrate my learning, but went with the design of poster.
I can show a sense of accomplishment and joy. I take pride in my work and myself, I chose this I can statement because I was proud of myself for this project and I liked what I did with this poster and my work was reflected in the marks that I got for it. I did feel and express a feeling of joy when I received a good mark on this project and I’m glad I put in the work for it.
I work to inform myself about issues surrounding me, I demonstrated this because the poster was a project about WWII and that is a past issue that we were learning about. I think that even though it is not a current issue it is still an issue that is relevant.
I can form new ideas to create new things. I can also build on the ideas of others, I demonstrated this because I formed my own idea for the design of the propaganda poster but I also looked at past examples of posters for inspiration and to get me to think. I built on the ideas that others had come up with and I had combined it with my own ideas to create something entirely new.
I recognize my emotions and use strategies to manage them, I think that I need to work on this because my emotions dictate my life and can end up with missing assignments and being behind in class for me. I think that if I can regulate my emotions better then I would be able to be more productive and not fall behind in class.
During the Minecraft project I used communication with my group members to divide up the work and decide what parts of the project we would each do. We also used communication to update each other on where we were in our buildings. I built one of the windmills that were included in our project during class since it was difficult to work outside of class as my group and I had different schedules and we needed to communicate to organize when to work on the project. Communication was important for this project because we could only join the world when the group member who created the Minecraft world could open it to the other group members. Communication was a big part of this project I don’t think the project would have been successful without it.
Thinking
Thinking is an important part of every project and I enjoyed how this project made me think. This project made me think creatively and it challenged me to find a way to make the windmill with blocks. The biggest challenge that I had to think through was how to make the windmill look like a windmill while using blocks, since the windmill arms are usually and an angle it was a bit more difficult to represent that in my build. I did overcome this by making a zigzag line to represent this with the blocks and I liked the way that it represented the windmill in motion. I think that I used my thinking skills well in this project and demonstrated my abilities well in the area of thinking with this project since I was able to come up with a design and execute it. This project made me think to come up with a design that would fit the criteria and portray the source of energy.
Personal and Social
The personal and social aspect of this was more difficult to me. To be a positive and helpful group member it is needed to be responsible and complete tasks that were agreed upon and assigned to each member which is good since it motivates me to get the work done. I don’t like working in groups as much as I like working by myself even though I have less work in a group project than an individual project. The social and personal side is important because when working with other people it is needed to have a sense of confidence to project leadership and not be pushed around. In our group project the work was divided well but it was a challenge to work outside of class since only one group member had the Minecraft world. Being a member of a group is a responsibility but it is also a chance to show off leadership skills and social skills that you cannot demonstrate during individual projects.
During Power tech 10 Mr. Kent showed us how to change tires on a car and how to make sure that they are at the proper PSI. We had to change the tires on a car and switch them, also making sure that they had the right amount of air in them. My group and I took the tires and checked them, finding that they needed more air to be at the right PSI. I inflated the tire, and thought it was to the correct PSI but when I checked the tire again I realized that I had overinflated it. I realized my mistake and I made sure that it was the correct PSI by asking for my group members to double check my work. I found this mistake by double checking before I put the tire onto the car, and when I realized something was wrong I had to look over the tire to find the issue with it. Since I had just inflated it I tried checking that first, since I had just changed it and that seemed to be the logical issue. I changed the PSI and I installed the tire on the car successfully after I fixed the issue.
