Chemistry Coding Blog Post

This project was all about the kinetic molecular theory. The driving question was “How can the behaviour of matter be explained by the kinetic molecular theory and the atomic theory”. To answer this question we had to create a simulator or game that shows the kinetic molecular theory, and has two or more atomic models. 

Before we could do any of that though we had to do our start mind map. Mine was mostly questions as I didn’t know much about this unit. Below you can see my end mind map which was just me adding and answering my start mind map questions.  

 After that we did a few experiments the eye dropper and gemstone 💎 experiments.

Then we started coding using a website called scratch. I found this a very fun and interesting part of the project as I got to learn to create games and simulators. By the end of the project I had created an scientific simulator with oxygen and water particles that change states. Even though it is a little glitchy I am very proud that I created it. Below is the scratch code that i used for one part along with my completed simulator.


Curricular competency’s 

Questioning and predicting: demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest.

The start mind map was where I best showed my curiosity on this scientific topic. During the creation of the start mind map I was thinking about what I needed and wanted to know about this project, showing my curiosity. 

 

Scientific communication: communicate ideas, findings, and solutions to problems using scientific language representations and digital technologies.

I think that this was the competency I did my best on. I showed it in my simulator when I made it so the particles are always  moving, when I made it so the particles change states with the temperature, and when I showed both oxygen and water particles.

Reasoning and analyzing: use logic and patterns to
solve puzzles and play games. 

This competency was showed when I created the code for the simulator. I had to find out what each line of  code did and figure our how I can make it do what I wanted. I used logic to make it so when someone changes the temperature/pressed a button it changes the state and speed of the particles. It seemed at times that my code was broken and I used logic to fix and improve it. I also helped some of my classmates understand how to use scratch to better improve their simulator.

So after all of that I think I am really to answer the driving question “How can the behaviour of matter be explained by the kinetic molecular theory and the atomic theory”. Matter has three different states the kinetic molecular theory explains that when heat is added to matter it changes states. This has been a fun, hard and interesting project it made me think about how I want to learn more about coding in the future. I also learned that I work well collaboratively. This project was a very enjoyable way to learn science.