For this reflection, I chose my artifact to be my concept map on Indigenous storytelling. This assignment helped me understand how Indigenous stories are passed down and how they connect to land, culture, and identity. I liked this activity because it was more visual and helped me organize my thinking in a way that made sense to me. I was proud of how I showed the themes and meanings from the stories, and how they relate to real-life values and teachings.
Curricular Competency Reflection: Create and Communicate
While working on this concept map, I learned that Indigenous stories are not just made-up tales but hold deep lessons and connections to the land. I got better at showing my ideas clearly through visuals and short explanations. It helped me grow in how I communicate ideas in a creative way. I also learned that Indigenous stories are a way to teach younger generations about respect, community, and nature. This made me think more about the importance of storytelling and how I can show respect and understanding toward Indigenous knowledge.
Core Competency Reflection: Thinking
I grew in my critical thinking while making the Indigenous Storytelling concept map. At first, I didn’t fully get how deep the stories were, but after reading more and thinking about what the characters and events really meant, it started to click. I used class notes and teacher feedback to help improve my work and made sure I showed the key themes clearly. It wasn’t just about copying facts, it was about really thinking through what I learned and putting it into my own words and making my own connections between topics learnt in class. I feel like I understand storytelling in a new way now. If I were to do it again, I would try to connect even more examples from different stories to build a stronger map.
For this reflection, the artifact I chose from the Acid-Base Titration Lab is my solution made from NaOH and HCl. In this lab, me and my partner Bella titrated an unknown concentration of hydrochloric acid using 0.100 M of NaOH to determine the molarity of the acid.
Curricular Competency Reflection
A titration is a lab technique that is used to find the concentration of an unknown solution by slowly adding a solution of known concentration until a chemical reaction is complete. In this lab we used titration to find the concentration of HCl by reacting it with NaOH solution. The endpoint is when enough base has been added to fully neutralize the acid and we knew we had reached the endpoint then the indicator we added changed colour for at least 30 seconds to a very light pink colour. This showed us that all the acid had reacted. our average volume of NaOH used was 14.44 mL which we used to calculate the moles of NaOH and HCl. From this we found the molarity of HCl to be 0.144 M. Our trials were consistent towards the end and our final results showed good accuracy and technique.
Core Competency Reflection: Communication
In this lab, it really showed how important communication is in chemistry group work. Bella and I had to stay focused and talk clearly through every step of the lab. We made sure to double check each others burette readings ands helped each other know when to slow down to drops so we didn’t overshoot and go past the endpoint. Additionally, we worked together partially on calculations, such as finding the average volume and moles, and made sure our answers matched before writing anything down. We were both patient and open to eachothers ideas, and made decisions together as a team. If we hadn’t communicated well, the lab could have easily gone off track or given us bad, inaccurate results. One thing we could definitely improve on is being a bit more organized when recording data such as assigning roles like one person calls out numbers while the other writes. This would help us be more efficient with our time and stay more accurate by making sure one person always has eyes on the lab. Overall, me and Bella worked well as a team and communicated clearly to get solid results from our lab.
Share the experience of personal awareness/responsibility for your artifact
During the Planarian microscope lab, I gained personal awareness by actively taking responsibility for my own learning and concentrating on accurate observation techniques. to avoid feeling overwhelmed during the detailed examination, drawing and labeling process, I kept myself and my workstation organized and worked at a steady pace to avoid falling behind. To track my progress and stay on track, I created small checkpoints for each step of the lab such as drawing the planaria or documenting its behaviours. Whenever I was faced with some sort of challenge such as difficulty focusing the microscope or not being able to find certain body parts, I advocated for myself by seeking help from my teacher and classmates. Moving forward, I would improve by preparing more in advance and getting familiar with the microscope settings to increase my work efficiency.
Significance of a, h, and k in My Chosen Equations
In the graph that I’ve created, each parabola shows how changes to the values a, h, and k affect the parabola’s shape and position along the graph.
The a-value controls the parabola’s vertical stretch or compression and direction. When a-value is greater than 1, the parabola becomes narrower, meaning it is vertically stretched. If a is a fraction between 0 and 1, it means that the parabola widens. If the parabola is a negative number, it opens downwards instead of upward, flipping it vertically. For the green parabola, my a-value was 5 making it more narrow, whereas, the blue parabola’s a-value was a fraction, making it wider. The blue parabola’s a-value was also negative, making it open downwards, and the green parabola’s a-value was positive so it remained opening upwards.
The h-value of a parabola shifts it horizontally along the x-axis. Positive h-values move the vertex to the right, while negative h-values move it to the left. This horizontal movement changes the location of the parabola’s vertex and points, but it doesn’t affect the parabola’s shape or direction. The purple parabola had a h-value of 3, making it shift to the right by 3, which changes the parabola’s vertex and other points.
The k-value of the parabola shifts it vertically along the y-axis. Positive k-values move the parabola upwards, and negative k-values move it downwards. This change impacts the y-coordinate of the vertex, which changes the minimum or maximum value, depending on the direction the parabola opens. The orange parabola’s k-value was 2, making it shift upwards along the y-axis by 2. This changed the minimum value of the parabola and changed its location.
Self-Assessment
How did you represent the same mathematical idea in multiple ways in this assignment?
In this assignment, I represented the same mathematical idea of transforming parabolas in multiple ways. First, I used the graph on Desmos to show visual changes to the parabolas, which shows how adjusting the a,h, and k values affected each parabola’s shape and positioning along the graph. After that, I included the equations of each transformed parabola, which represented these transformations in an algebraic form. I think by combining the visual and symbolic representations, I demonstrated the impact of adjusting the a,h, and k values on parabolas in multiple ways.
State some of the relevant mathematical vocabulary words you used to demonstrate your understanding and their definitions. State where you found the definitions
All the definitions I have used in this Edublog have been words I have learned in class either from our lessons or from other students.
Vertex: The vertex is the highest or lowest point of a parabola, depending on which direction it opens. For parabolas we have been learning, in form y = a(x-h)^2 + k, the vertex is located at the point (h,k). This point determines the position of the parabola on the graph.
Transformation: A transformation is like an operation that changes the position, shape, or orientation of a graph. In this assignment, the transformations include shifting the graph horizontally, and vertically, and stretching or compressing it. Each transformation changes depending on which values are changed in the equation.
Vertically Stretching or Compressing: This describes how the parabola’s width changes based on the value of a, in the equation. If the a-value is greater than 1 the parabola stretches vertically, if the a-value is less than one and larger than 0 (a fraction) the parabola becomes compressed, making it wider.
Horizontal and Vertical Shifting: Horizontal shifts move the parabola left and right, controlled by the h-value. Vertical shifts move the parabola up and down, controlled by the k-value. These shifts adjust the position of the vertex and parabola without affecting its shape.
How did you use formatting to share your information in a clear and organized way?
I used formatting to keep my information clear and organized in several different ways. First off, I used headings to separate each section, making it easy to find specific parts like the equations, paragraph explanation, and self-assessment. I also used bullet points to organize my definitions and make them clear and easy to understand. I used bold text to highlight key terms and my questions so they don’t blend in with the rest of my writing. This formatting made my post look clean and will help guide the reader through my assignment.
