Communication & Collaboration

Lab 19C

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.

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

1. 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.

1. 1. What is your Inquiry Question? Has the focus of your inquiry shifted or changed since you wrote your Personal Learning Plan? Explain. 

   My inquiry question is “How does social media affect our Mental Health?” 

   The focus of my inquiry has shifted since writing my Personal Learning Plan. At the beginning of the year, my inquiry question had to do with the study of human behaviour, specifically, learning styles (different types of learners – auditory, visual, kinesthetic, independent vs group work, etc.). Even though that topic of research was interesting to me, I figured out a new inquiry question to research with a couple of my school peers (Ana Massola, Jayden Kent, and I are all working on the project together). I can relate to this new topic and know that many other people can relate to it as technology and social media have grown and developed around everyone’s lives nowadays. It could be as simple as searching up the local news or texting friends and family. However, especially with people my age, social media has become a large part of what we spend our time doing daily.  

2. How is your time management? Are you using CENT time weekly to work on your Inquiry, or are you finding other time during the week? 

   I would say that my time management is proficient as I have consistently been working on the project and have basically completed it a couple of months early. I have not been working on it every single day, but I have at least thought about it and made mental notes, as well as physically worked on it 1+ times a week. I have been using my CENT time weekly to work on my project, however, since I am basically done, I will be using my CENT time for other work and will just complete any other reflection work or extra work having to do with my project other days during the week. 

3. What resources (people, websites, apps, videos, etc.) have been most helpful? 

   Some sources I have found to be the most helpful are the people around me; We created a survey specifically about our inquiry and sent it to many people to gather data. I also enjoyed gathering data from multiple TEDTalks, one of which we linked in our presentation; Impact of Social Media on Youth | Katanu Mbeyi | TEDxYouth@BrookhouseSchool – Bing Video 

4. What challenges are you currently facing with your Inquiry? What challenges have you overcome? 

   I am not currently facing any challenges with my inquiry as I have basically completed my project by now. However, along the way, one challenge I did face and was able to overcome was how much studying I had to do for my finals or work in general leading to the end of the semester. I found it a challenge to find time outside of my school subjects to motivate myself to work on the IDS project after hours of studying, plus the two part-time jobs that I attend to. I was able to overcome this challenge by pushing through the final couple weeks of the semester by staying on task and using the limited time I had wisely to complete any work and studying.

5. Describe your growth of a Core Competency through this inquiry process. 

   I believe that my Communication Core Competency showed growth through this inquiry process as I didn’t find it too difficult to gather information, more so, I found it a challenge to constantly be in touch with my group members and make sure we were all working together to create our project. For instance, most of the time, we were never really all in the same room whenever we worked on the project, so we had to use our resources to contact and communicate with each other. 

6. How will you share what you have been learning, creating or planning in this Inquiry? Are you on track to share your learning by the end of May or early June? 

   I will be sharing the PowerPoint of my inquiry that my peers and I have already completed, as well as a conclusion paragraph about my experience with IDS. I am on track to share my learning by the end of May or early June as I am already done with my research and PowerPoint, I just need to write my conclusion paragraph. 

7. Will you continue working on this Inquiry, or parts of it, for your Capstone next year? 

   I will keep this inquiry in mind for my Capstone next year, but I am not yet 100% sure what I’d like my Capstone to be about yet. 

A core competency that I used while creating this art piece is Critical Thinking. I can develop and design my own original art piece while using inspiration and research to prompt some ideas. I developed a basic outline of what I was going to draw by using my inspiration picture that I took on a trip to Victoria as a guide. After I got the basic outline complete, I designed the placement of layering and cubic shaping with my personal point of view with some help of the research I gathered. I had to think critically when figuring out what colours, shapes, shades, and layers went where so that it still followed the criteria of the cubism movement but didn’t look too cluttered or unorganized.

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, many views on morality were displayed. One example consists of the ability to control personal emotions or past dilemmas in life. This refers to how the Capulets and Montagues bickered and fought continuously over minor disagreements that took place years ago. Unfortunately, this involved both Romeo and Juliet as well, drawing them into the whole family feud. Another example ties to the idea of how the fathers of both families attempt to control how Romeo and Juliet live their lives. Along with influencing their “instinct” to hate each other due to family issues, Lord Capulet continued to direct Juliet away from Romeo by trying to arrange a marriage for her with another man. In response to this, both Romeo and Juliet felt an obligation to their families and the desires of their parents. Throughout the story, Romeo and Juliet were conflicted with choosing whether to stay true to their families, and deny love to one another, or if they should pursue their love for each other but betray their families wishes. After reflecting on the view of morality in Romeo and Juliet, I’ve learned that I can relate to them in the sense of obligation towards my family. This obligation regards what my future will look like and what decisions I make in life. This sense of obligation is still common in society today as many people are influenced (positively and negatively) by their parents/guardians. Personally, due to the fact that my parents do so much for me and how they cherish, spoil, and care for me, I feel obligated to make them feel mainly proud but also impressed by how well I can replicate what expectations they have for me. To go with this aspect however, I do understand how some people in our society do find ways to learn who they truly are independently despite their parents’ opinions and wishes. As a result, some people become more diverse and independent for the better, whereas others may have trouble finding their own path without somebody leading them in the right direction. I think Shakespeare decided to write about this topic of morality to show how people had less of a choice back then in terms of following life by “book/rules” (parent’s choice) rather than living with independence. In conclusion, there are many pros and cons about the morality of respecting the wishes of others and pursuing your own life by redirecting/disrupting the “pattern” of life.