Throughout these weeks I’ve been working on a project called ‘Laser Laws’. This project is about representing mathematical ideas in different forms. The way I lead up to the understanding of representing mathematical ideas in different forms was by answering the driving question ‘How can we test the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection. To get to the point where I could answer the driving question I had to complete several milestones and stepping stones.
The first milestone I came in contact with was called ‘project start mind map’. In this milestone I made a mind map that showed my current understanding of laser laws (which wasn’t much). 
the next main learning mark that I would like to give information on is ‘milestone three: law of reflection experiment’ in this milestone I was testing the law of reflection. To work up to the point of where I knew what the Law of reflection is I did a science workbook (3.4). This taught me what the law of reflection was all about. I really connected with this workbook because it gave me an understanding of what the law of reflection is. 
The concept of ‘laser laws experiment’ was to make an experiment based on the law of reflection (this was a team milestone). To create an actual experiment me and my team laid out the experiment in multiple sections. 
these sections were filled will information that we created with the content of our experiment.
The next learning platform I interacted with was the Pythagorean theorem experiment. This team experiment was all about testing the Pythagorean theorem. We used the same layout concept that we used in the ‘law of reflection experiment’. The main thing that me and my team did in this experiment was using the Pythagorean theorem ( A²+B²=C²) to see if we could calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle. 
The next milestone I did was ‘milestone four: laser triangle design’. In this milestone I made an experiment to test the law of reflection and Pythagorean theorem together. I did this experiment using the same layout as I did throughout the other two experiments done in this project. This experiment really got me thinking about the law of reflection and Pythagorean theorem because I had to use my own knowledge to communicate throughout an experiment. My result was that the the law of reflection and Pythagorean theorem can be used together. 
after I received feedback I decided to go above an accomplished stage of learning. On the ‘laser triangle design experiment’ I added another section to answer the question ‘Is an outline of a start, using a light beam, able to test the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection?’. After calculating triangles within the star I showed a extending representation of my learning by answering the question that I created. 
moving on to the next milestone, “milestone five: laser laws”. In my mind this is the most important milestone because this was the creation of the actual end product. The way me and my team created the final creation was by putting all of our knowledge from milestone four. The steps we went through were…
- Make an idea sheet to pick to know what sorts of shapes we should make
- Pick a shape
- Design the shape using mirrors and lasers
- Take a photo of the design
- calculate the angles of a triangle using the Pythagorean theorem and law of reflection
This is an example of the steps to make a calculated shape…
The last milestone is milestone six. It’s about cooperatively presenting the product the was built. The way I did this was in many different forms such as this blog post and a class presentation (you can find the final product at the start of this post).
To achieve these milestones I used three curricular competencies:
Questioning and predicting: The way I’m incorporated this skill into my learning is by demonstrating a sustained curiosity about a science based topic. The point where I show this curricular competency is in all of the milestones I completed. The reason why I showed this curricular competency in all of my milestones is because I was on task and using class time in a efficient way. I was also on task with my group when we were making the overall laser design.
Communicating and representing: I incorporated this skill in my learning by representing mathematical thoughts in symbolic, concrete forms. The place where I showed this skill was in milestone six because I showed my knowledge of scientific information through symbols. This curricular competency is what I based the content structure of my experiments.
Applying and innovating: I showed this skill in my learning by co-operatively designing the project. The area where I showed this skill was in milestone five because I work with a team to design a product. This skill was needed to get an end product and it give me a base to go off of when I work with a team.
The last thing I need to share is my answer to the driving question (How can we test the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection?)
The way we can test the Pythagorean theorem and law of reflection is by actually doing the Pythagorean theorem, you can then measure everything and if the measurements are the same as your calculations using the Pythagorean theorem you will know if you can test it. To test the law of reflection it’s the same concept to test the Pythagorean theorem. Just do the law of reflection and then see if your calculations are right. That is my answer to the driving question.
That concludes my blog post, hope you enjoyed!
Alicia 😀
Make sure you check out my group’s blogs:
(Credit to Sylas for letting us use his fog machine)