Throughout the process of completing Lab 19C (“Determination of a Solubility Product Constant”), I represented the core competency of Communication & Collaboration. I demonstrated that I can communicate with my lab partner so that we can complete each step of our lab procedure with both caution, efficiency, and accuracy. During this lab, my partner and I created “designated jobs” so that we could be precise and thorough with our data and observations. For instance, one lab partner was in charge of measuring out each substance while the other carefully poured the measured substances into the labelled test tubes. As the steps continued and the lab became more complex with its qualitative observations, we then decided to switch to only one lab partner doing the measuring and pouring of the solutions while the other wrote down any visual changes in the test tubes. Then, when heat came into play, one partner held the thermometer and called out the temperature when the other partner kept and eye out for qualitative changes in the test tubes (when the ppt dissolved). By having strong communication/collaboration skills and making a dependable plan, my partner and I have been able to gather sufficient qualitative and quantitative data from not just this lab, but previous labs we have worked on together as well. In addition, I was able to present my communication/collaboration skills while completing the calculations for KSP of each test tube. For instance, my partner and I worked together and figured out the correct way to solve each equation. Furthermore, we were able to communicate and point out where each other made mistakes and helped support each other reach our final answers. My communication/collaboration skills have grown as I’ve worked more and more with my peers. It has also helped me stay on task, take part in fascinating labs, calculate correct measurements, and draw out correct conclusions according to our recorded data.
Explain how this paragraph reflects both the strengths and the weaknesses in your writing. For example, what in this paragraph is good writing that you will continue make sure you do, and then what about this paragraph is something you might change in order to improve your writing.
This paragraph reflects my strengths through using my data and evidence to support my reasoning. For instance, my main topic for this paragraph was to compare and contrast the film “WALLE” and the story “The Machine Stops.” In order to create a strong and well developed synthesis paragraph, I needed to have an advanced understanding of each story so I can pick apart and piece together specific examples from each. My strength to gather data was demonstrated when I created a document that held all of my notes for Walle and compared it to The Machine Stops. I used all of the examples and explanations to help support the similarities and differences in my paragraph. By having a good foundation of reasoning and incorporating it efficiently in my paragraph, I was able to write a concise synthesis paragraph. A weakness that I encountered during this assignment involved making my sentences awkwardly constructed or worded weirdly. In the future, I want to improve on my vocabulary and the ability to construct concise sentences.
Core Competency Self Reflection:
Think generally about you and writing: describe what writing is like for you? easy? Hard? Why is it easy or hard? Or what specific parts are easy or hard? Or what kinds of writing is easier or more enjoyable for you than others? Do you write outside of a formal school situation? How ? when? What is that like?
Writing for me can be easy at times, however, more often, I find myself struggling to be creative with my writing ideas and being able to connect one to the other. For instance, creating my generalization sentences and my “So What?” portions go my paragraph, I tend to have a difficult time figuring out what to write. This is because I feel as though sometimes I have too many thoughts and ideas that I have trouble narrowing it down and connecting the most valuable ideas in an efficient manner. The kinds of writing that is easier for me than others would be explaining a research topic. I find this a bit easier to do because it relies less on my creativity and more one universal facts. For instance, if I had to write a paragraph on why plants contain chlorophyl and are able to carry out photosynthesis, I would be able to explain it thoroughly and connect one example to another because I can rely on scientific facts.
One example of me demonstrating my communication and collaboration core competency skills took place when I was doing quiz corrections for the Efficiency and Power QUIZ. This quiz allowed for me to see what areas of understanding I was proficient in and what areas I needed a bit of support in. For instance, for the most part, I was able to complete almost all of the questions correctly, however, there were still a couple that I was a bit confused on. As a result, I decided to turn to my peers to collaborate and communicate our learning to help each other improve. This is a common thing to occur when doing quiz corrections because it is a valuable skill to be able to help others understand, as well as be able to learn from other’s explanations. By following these core competencies, I was able to learn from my mistakes and gather help from peers, as well as offer support and collaboration
For this project I showed collaboration skills when I asked my peers for inspiration or positive criticism or any other ideas regarding my piece. If I ever had trouble deciding on a certain colour or design of something, I collaborated with the people at my table group to help me form my final piece. Specifically, I used this skill when it came to where I should glue certain card board pieces and where in my setting I should place my clay model. Because we were all sharing the glue gun, we took turns with it and they helped me choose where to glue my cardboard details. In the end, I am proud of what I created and I am happy that I was able to get some advice from my peers to enhance my project.
Critical and Reflective Thinking:
For this project, I demonstrated critical and reflective thinking when molding my clay fairy. For instance, the hair strands of my fairy were beginning to fall and break off as it dried. To fix this, I restarted the head of hair and made it so the hair was a bit thicker and not as long. I also added a lot of slip so that each strand was secured in place. Another issue that I had to face was that my clay mushroom was a bit wobbly. This was happening because the support cap of the mushroom was quite large compared to the stem/base. It had to be fairly big so that the fairy could fit and sit on top of it so instead of shrinking the cap, I added some clay to the very base of the mushroom. Adding more structure to the base allowed for the mushroom to hold up the fairy
What is something you feel you are doing well at and/or are proud of in this course? Which skills do you think you have developed the most?
This semester, I am proud of my ability to stay up to date and earn decent grades in this course. So far, throughout the semester, I have been challenged to work on my comprehension of kinematic word problems and scenarios. In the past, word problems (in general) were my weakest area of critical thinking. This semester, I have further developed my skills in understanding word problems and implementing them into physics equations and calculating multiple answers. Although I am still learning and strengthening my skills when it comes to word problems, I have been able to receive my goal of an average of developing to proficient grades for my tests and quizzes.
2. What is something you feel you still have to work on? What goal do you have for the second half of the course?
Moving forward in this course, I feel that I still have to work on completing as many practice questions as possible to prepare myself for upcoming quizzes/tests. Currently, I have been doing some practice questions prior to assessments, however, I could definitely improve on this and complete more that are provided on TEAMS.
3. What is working well for you in this class? what do you find is helping you learn?
Something that is working well for me in this class is the various occasions when there is group work or partner work. For instance, this involves doing group practice questions on white boards or partner work for labs. I appreciate this style of learning because I tend to learn the most when I can work with peers. I enjoy communicating with class mates to figure out a problem, as well as the dynamic of everyone helping each other out if one person doesn’t understand but another person is able to explain the scenario to them in order to answer the question. I find that using my resources from class peers has helped me better understand this physics course better.
4. what is missing? what additional supports would you like/do you need to achieve your goals?
There aren’t too many ideas that come to mind when it comes to any “missing” or “additional” supports that I’d need to achieve my goals. As of right now, if I do find myself in a situation where I need some extra support, I will sign up for FLEX or contact any peers that could help support me achieving my goals.
What grade or grade range would you assess yourself to be achieving right now? are you happy with this or do you have plans to work to improve further? NOTE: feel free to either just get an “overall” mark or break it up into the two areas of content and competencies (which includes skills like evaluating, questioning, predicting, analyzing, communicating etc)
As of right now, I would assess myself to be achieving a B level grade in this course. I am happy with this letter grade, however, I do believe that I can do better, so I plan to work on improving my test scores in the future. In order to do this, I can work on improving my consistency in completing practice problems prior to quizzes and tests so that I am more prepared.
Communication/Collaboration– The Cell Membrane Diffusion Lab required strong communication with my partner and group peers. To participate in this lab and carry out both Part A and Part B, our group of 4 people was split into two pairs. One pair was in charge of testing the diffusion of the starch cell, while the other pair was responsible for testing the diffusion of the glucose cell. Because we were working in pairs, we had to communicate and collaborate with each other for every step of the experiment to ensure we both understand was is happening and what steps to follow. Specifically, one step that required both individuals was creating the cells using semi-permeable dialysis tubing, and filling them with the correct contents. The pair in charge of part A (starch) worked together to tie the strings on each end of the dialysis tubing and also communicated to measure the starch solution and releasing it into the cell accurately. We then worked together to secure the cell onto the edge of the beaker and submerged it into the IKI water by using the plastic holder. Furthermore, each partner used their communication skills to evaluate and analyze the experiment’s qualitative and quantitative data/observations. All of these steps that were done for Part A were done the same for Part B with the glucose instead of starch and distilled water instead of IKI water. Finally, I used my communication skills to discuss our results/observations with all four group members to create an agreement on a conclusion to our hypothesis.
2. CriticalThinking – The Cell Membrane Diffusion Lab required me to use my thinking core competency skills to come up with answers to the analysis questions, as well as to write/form my conclusion paragraph. For instance, to answer all of the questions for the lab, I used multiple sources to support my reasoning. I used information from my notes, as well as communicated with my group peers to agree on an answer. Furthermore, Part A (the starch cell) of our lab didn’t result the way we predicted in our hypothesis. Due to this unexpected result, I used my thinking to discover where we went wrong/what errors may have occurred, and how the errors can be prevented next time.
What aspects of this course did you enjoy the most? Why?
I enjoyed learning about cnidarians the most this year! It was interesting to learn and identify the different classes and their anatomy and how they live. It was really cool to dissect the squid and find the radula and other parts of it’s body!
2. What aspects of this course did you not enjoy? Why?
I wasn’t as interested in learning about flat worms and round worms but they were still pretty cool to look at their anatomy and how they reproduce and digest foods, etc. I am not overly interested in the lives of worms and how they have evolved and how they live but it was still a good topic to include in this course.
3. Were there any topics or activities that you are interested in that were not covered in this course? if yes, explain.
No there were not any topics or activities that were not covered in this course that I would be more interested in.
4. what skills did you improve on during this course?
I improved on lab work and working in a group to complete assignments. I strengthened my communication skills to learn more from my peers and better understand the material.
5. Do you have any recommendations for how this course was taught?
No I do not have any recommendations. I think this course was taught in a organized and detailed way. I learned a lot in this course.
6. If you had the chance to do this course again, is there anything you would do differently?
If I had the chance to do this course again, I would focus on re-reading all parts of the textbook multiple times and answering all of the review questions. I would also do all of the Kahoots more than once so I will be fully prepared for the quizzes/tests.
7. Do you plan to study Biology in the future?
Yes I do plan to study Biology in the future as I hope to become a physiotherapist. I will take a few different courses revolving Biology and Kinesiology in post-secondary school. I will also be taking Anatomy and Physiology 12 next year.
This semester, I have focused on learning and using mathematical vocabulary, as well as working collaboratively with others. I demonstrated progress within these two topics when I reviewed the class notes multiple times in order to learn new proper math vocabulary. This occurred whenever I found myself stuck on a math question, so as a result, I would seek help through the notes and lessons. In order to comprehend the notes, I needed to make sure that I understood what words were being used in the lessons. After learning what specific words meant and what to use them for, I incorporated them into my personal vocabulary when figuring out or teaching others math concepts. Fully understanding these concepts and the vocabulary used in them helped me expand my ability to answer questions correctly, as well as teach peers how to solve them. The other topic that showed progress this semester is being able to work collaboratively with others. At first, I had to adjust to working with new people, and from time to time, I found it a challenge to communicate with peers I didn’t know very well. However, as I learned more about the math concepts and got more comfortable with my group members, I was able to have more efficient communication with them. In addition, as the semester went on, my teacher allowed us to pick our group members for group work. This allowed me to take a step further in communicating with my peers as I had picked to work with people I was previously comfortable with outside of math class. Even though at times it could be a bit distracting, I do believe this helped me expand my learning. While working in a group I was able to discuss the process of solving math problems through different perspectives. Some people would have strengths in specific topics while others struggled, so group work was a great opportunity for everyone to help each other better understand math. Throughout this semester, I have demonstrated growth in learning and using math vocabulary, as well as working collaboratively with others.
Advice for Future Students
My advice for future students is to not let workbook questions build up. This means, from the very beginning of chapter 1, you should try to finish all workbook questions in class before you go home. From my personal experience, I tried keeping up with the workbook homework pretty well in the earlier chapters but began to lose motivation and didn’t use my class time as wisely as I could’ve. This doesn’t mean that I just sat around doing absolutely nothing, but I would end up leaving most of my workbook questions to do at home. However, I’ve realized that this was not a sufficient way to prioritize my homework as outside of school, I have a very busy life. For instance, I have two jobs that I attend to after school and on the weekends. To add on, this semester, I have had all academic courses, meaning that I have no electives to give me a chance to catch up or take a break from the academic courses I find more challenging. Knowing this, I advise that you evaluate your priorities both in and outside of school, and figure out a stable way to manage your time to complete work. This means you should try your best to sign up for FLEX, CENT Time, or even come in before school starts so that you never fall behind in workbook questions. Falling behind in workbook questions causes you to fall behind in understanding each lesson. Workbook questions allow you to better understand a chapter and practice solving problems. Without doing workbook questions, you will fall behind drastically in the course, and find yourself lost, unable to answer questions. However, if you do complete all of the workbook questions in a considerable amount of time, you will most likely do significantly better on assessments.
This year, I have gotten a lot of work experience outside of school:
During the both semesters of this year I have worked part-time as a gymnastics coach as well as a server at a restaurant. Both of these jobs helped strengthen my leadership and communication skills. Apart from these jobs, I have also recently been offered a volunteer opportunity to gain experience and learn about what it’s like to be a physiotherapist at a local physio clinic. This opportunity is greatly appreciated as I am hoping to become a physiotherapist when I’m older. Through volunteering, I hope to learn valuable skills from my mentor, further expand my knowledge about how the human body works and recovers, as well as learn more about what a physiotherapist’s typical day at work can be (learn from patients, coworkers, etc.).
This year, I have worked hard to get almost all A’s (one B):
Even though the second semester is not done yet, I am proud of the grades I have accomplished so far. At the moment, all of my semester one courses earned A’s and my semester two courses are currently at A’s except for one B (in math). Even though I still see a B as a good mark, I will continue to try my best and increase my grade in Math. To do this, I will meet with my tutor on a consistent basis and ask for help from my teacher and classmates when needed. Considering my busy schedule outside of school, I am proud of how hard I have worked to keep up my good grades. Finishing off the school year with just a few weeks left, I plan to continue to work hard and push for straight A’s in all of my classes.
I made new friendships and created lifelong memories:
I am not known for being an outgoing, extroverted person, so making strong friendships can take a little longer for me. However, this year, I was able to meet many new people who have become my best friends and the people I cherish most in life. One of the most memorable activities that I did withy friends was when we all went to a concert together.
Areas to Improve:
Goals:
Action Plans (over the summer):
Get more exercise outdoors
There are many different ways to get more exercise outdoors during the summer. For example, I plan to go on many hikes with friends, go swimming at lakes, beaches, and pools, as well as walks with my dog.
I want to get 90% on my finals for Math and Life Sciences.
Right now, I am at a 79% in math. I still have two more unit tests before my final so I plan to study a lot for those tests and get good marks. This will help me get a better mark on my final. In order to get good grades in math, I will meet with my tutor regularly, study with my classmates outside of school more than once a week, and complete all of my workbook and practice questions. In terms of Biology/Life Sciences, I am currently at an 87%. In order to get 90% on my Bio final, I plan to complete and study all my labs thoroughly, read the textbook more than once, sign up for flex when needed to do some extra studying, and study with my classmates more than once a week. I still have one more unit test and one quiz before my final, so I will focus on getting high marks for those two assessments and they will help boost my grade and motivation to do well on my final.
My Given Parabola EquationMy given parabola and parent parabolagraphed on DESMOS
The Significance of a, h, and k in My Equation:
Significance of “a”:
In my equation, “a” is represented as -1/2. Since the number is between 0 and -1, the parabola became wider than the parent equation. I know this value is between 0 and -1 because it is a fraction of “negative one half.” When “a” is in between the values of 0 and -1 or 0 and 1, the parabola curve expands wider. In addition, “a” is also a negative (-) number, causing the parabola to open downward on the graph. This is because whenever the “a” is a negative value, the parabola will open downwards and when it is a positive value the parabola will open upwards.
In this case, my given parabola equation consisted of “a” being in between 0 and -1 (also a negative number), causing the parabola to extend wider and open downwards.
Significance of “h”:
In my equation, “h” is + 7. It may be confusing when looking at the equation itself as it reads as +7, however, the “h” determines the x-value in the vertex which is actually -7. The vertex is (-7, -4). The +/- signs change when you plug -7 into the standard equation of y = a(x – h)^2 + k :
Plugging in -7 into standard formula: y = a(x – – 7)^2 + k –> y = a(x + 7)^2 + k
Demonstrated above shows how plugging in a negative number (-) with another negative (-) changes the value into a positive (+). This follows the rule of how two negatives equals a positive.
In addition, the “h” value also represent the horizontal shift of the parabola. In this case, for my given equation, the vertex of the parabola will shift 7 points to the left towards -7 from the origin of the parent vertex (0,0). This is because when the shift in a parabola equation is negative, it will shift to the left, and when it is positive, it will shift to the right.
Significance of “k”:
In my equation, “k” is represented as – 4. In any quadratic equation, the h value determines the y-valueof thevertex in the parabola. In this case, my given equation shows that the parabola’s vertex is (-7, -4). The “k” also affects the vertical shift of a parabola. For instance, if it is positive (+) it will shift upwards along the y-axis, and if it is negative (-) it will shift downwards. In this case, my given parabola equation shows that the vertical shift will move down by 4 spaces on the graph.
What my given equation would look like without an “a” value:
y = (x +7)^2 – 4 :
The parabola is now opening upwards rather than downwards as it doesn’t have a negative “a” value.
What my given equation would look like without an “h” value:
y = -1/2(x)^2 – 4 :
Since there is no horizontal shift, the vertex’s x-value stays at 0. The parabola does not shift left or right. The vertex stays at (0, -4).
What my given parabola would look like without a “k” value:
Self-Assessment:
y = -1/2(x + 7)^2
Since there is no “k” value, the parabola will have no vertical shift along the y-axis. “K” resembles the y-value of the vertex so if there is no “k” the vertex will stay at (-4, 0).
Give an example form this assignment where you represented the same mathematical idea in multiple ways.
While completing this assignment, I represented the same mathematical idea when demonstrating what my given equation would look like without the “a,” “h,” and “k” values separately in order to evaluate the differences and how each of these values affect the parabola in significant ways.
2. Give an example of this assignment where you used mathematical vocabulary to demonstrate your understanding.
During this assignment I was able to use mathematical vocabulary to demonstrate my understanding when explaining the purposes/significance/roles of each “a,” “h,” and “k” values. Specifically, I used mathematical vocabulary to explain the horizontal and vertical shifts of my given equation and they have shifted in that direction. In addition, I also used mathematical vocabulary when explaining why my “h” value/horizontal shift is represented as +7 when the x-value of the vertex (h) is actually -7. In order to explain why the +/- signs changed, I discussed how two negative numbers equal a positive, and I showed it by written formulas and bolding/colouring what numbers were being affected.
3. Give an example from this assignment where you used formatting to share the information in a clear and organized way.
In this assignment, I used formatting to share the information in a clear and organized way by visual images, typed equations, bolding and highlighting/colouring important texts, etc. As a visual leaner myself, I found it helpful and easier to use DESMOS and screenshots to show my thinking and understanding revolving parabolas. I was able to use these images, as well as bolding/highlighting text to explain the significance of a, h, and k in my equation and also what the parabola would look like without/if I changed one of these values.
