This is a photo of the Golf Ball Tower that my lab partner Karolyn and I made.

This photo is of the Egg Dropper that Karolyn and I made.

Curricular Response

Overall, both of these labs have helped me understand the scientific method in various ways. I think that the best way it has helped me form a better understanding is by forcing me to come up with a hypothesis. A hypothesis is very helpful when you do a lab because it makes you think about what you are doing in a deeper, more meaningful way. The hypothesis’s I created for both of my labs made me visualize all of the different outcomes of my experiment, before we even tested them. I find it very helpful because it helps me imagine different problems that I could possibly face if I do certain things, therefore making it easier to overcome and fix those issues.

Core Competence and Creative Thinking

• Personally, I think it is important to celebrate your accomplishments. Not only does it make you feel more proud of what you did, but it just makes you feel better overall. Say you won a gold medal in a sport that you have trained your whole life for, a celebration for that accomplishment will show and reflect all of the hard work and time you invested for that medal. Although Karolyn and I did not win for the Golf Ball Tower Challenge or the Egg Dropper Challenge, I am still very proud of our outcomes, and I would say that I am the most proud of our Egg Dropper. The reason behind that statement is because even though our egg did crack, I had the most fun with this project. It made me want to try again and elevate our design to withstand the 18 foot drop, although the lab had ended.
• During the labs, we faced various challenges. Our most prominent challenge was during our Golf Ball Tower lab. The issue that we faced was that when we placed our golf ball on the top, our tower would lean to the side, knocking the ball off and onto the floor. To overcome this challenge, we decided that our tower needed more support in the middle section so that it could hope the weight of our golf ball. What we did was we attached three pieces of rolled up newspaper connecting the base to the pole that held the golf ball. When we made that adjustment, out tower could easily hold our ball without leaning.
• Overall, my understanding for the scientific method has expanded tremendously. The five steps that you must do to execute any kind of lab really help you have a successful experiment will always be in me head when performing a lab. Without them, labs and experiments would fall apart and you will not have the most accurate information.
• I demonstrate that I can create new things when I talk to my partner and communicate for the best outcome possible. I find it very helpful when my partner and I put our ideas together and combine them so we both have the best version of our ideas. I have found that by doing that simple task, my outcomes have been positive and successful. I demonstrated that I can build on the ideas of others when I asked Karolyn about her thoughts and ideas. We both figured out something that would work. In the beginning out ideas where quite opposite, but we worked together to make things that we both found to be successful. Along the way our designs changed dramatically, but we both found that it was the best idea for the best outcome.
• When trying new things, I expect setbacks and failure and use them to develop my ideas. An example of this from the Scientific Method labs would be when our egg cracked during the Egg Drop Lab. The fact that our egg cracked made Karolyn and I reflect on our creation and what we could have done to improve it. Coming into the challenge we did not have high hopes, but we still wanted to see the outcome of our dropper so we could see what to do in the future.