Tag: Scimatics

Linear Labs Artisan Jewelry

Greetings fellow earthlings. Welcome to another scimatics post on this ghastly blog of mine. I am currently writing this in my bedroom where I have been glued to a tissue box and a whole plethora of cold medications in my system. If you didn’t get it already, I’m sick (not covid).

Project Overview

This project was called “Time is Money” but for some reason I’ve been calling it “Time Beith Money” like in an old-English type of flare. Anywho, in this project we were to create a small business selling products or a service and learn about finance though linear relations. I chose to make a small jewelry store through Instagram and sell some cute lil’ accessories to my friends. Now I am no wiz at math but eventually I did catch on to this whole algebra thing and boy is it helpful to know how to do.

Driving Question

How can we predict our finances for the future?

With calculating your expenses (living), startup costs, sale price (income), and time, you can get a pretty accurate estimate of how sustainable your finances are. Using a linear relations equation like where and putting the equation into a graph where the y axis represents profits and the x axis represents hours of work, you can get a visible representation of your financial situation.

Curricular Competencies

Communicating and representing: Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic form

I successfully used a linear equation to determine my profits. I calculated my hourly wages, predicted NET earnings for a year, and how much money I had made (and lost) over the actual amount of time that I worked for. My graphs are clear and functional, and I labeled them for easy understanding.

Understanding and solving: Apply multiple strategies to solve problems in both abstract and contextualized situations

I calculated all of the time, materials, equipment, and impact, in the cost of making my products. I used recycled materials and used a digital method of selling my product in order to create less waste. I chose to make products that I already had most of the materials to make, and still calculated the cost of the items that I had bought long ago.

Connecting and reflecting: Connect mathematical concepts to each other and to other areas and personal interests.

My business is sadly not sustainable as a full time job. I think this is partially due to the fact that I grossly under-priced my products for the security of making transactions. Realistically I should’ve priced my products in a way that would have me make more money on every transaction, which wasn’t the case mainly for the engraved items. Other businesses in the class, like Dana’s cookie sale, would make more money annually than I would but they both would not be sustainable as a full time job. Maybe with some remodelling and another go at this I could make a more sustainable business.

Conclusion

Honestly we do a lot of connecting our projects to the “real world” but I think this one was the first project that I think actually has an important connection to my future. I have always been interested in owning my own business/practice and this type of math is super important in that line of work and just general adult life. So now I can proudly say that I can do algebra and understand linear relations!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

As always, Brooke.

The Wonderful Reproduction of Cells

Wassup y’all. Welcome to another scimatics post on this benign blog of mine. I am currently writing this in the San Francisco airport on my way back home from my cousins wedding. Congrats David and Sam! Ok lets just get this over with;

Project Overview

This project was called “Meiosis Models” and in this project we were to learn about the cellular reproduction processes of meiosis and mitosis. We would be growing our own garlic samples to put under the microscope and take pictures of the cells during different phases. We also made 3D models in Tinkercad to show the different parts of the cellWe then put all of your pictures and models into a video and added voiceovers to explain the processes and our representations of it with the photos and models. Then the final video would be presented to the class.

Project Mind Map

As per usual we started the scimatics project off with a project start mind map. I put in any questions I had for the project, what I already knew about cells and reproduction, the project, and any of the questions that I had.

At the end of this project we also added to the mind map a section about what we learned from this project and I also answered as many questions as possible that I came up with at the beginning of the project. 

Driving Question

How is the reproduction of cells essential to the survival of organisms? 

Cell reproduction helps help organisms growing and healthy. They replace cells that are dying with new cells that can take over the jobs of the old cells. They also can make new organisms and therefore prevent the species from going extinct.

Curricular Competencies

Planning and conducting: Collaboratively and individually plan, select, and use appropriate investigation methods, including field work and lab experiments, to collect reliable data (qualitative and quantitative.)

We did a few of workbooks as usual in any scimatics project. I started this project not knowing much about mitosis and meiosis and so I found the workbooks very helpful. As you can see by how much I added in my project end revision of my mind map, I learned a lot of new things. We also did a Khan Academy quiz to test our knowledge on what we had learned from the workbooks. I think this was one way that I really strengthened and solidified my understanding of mitosis and meiosis. It also was a good indicator for where I was with my understanding and what I needed to review. The microscope slides of plant tissues from my garlic were prepared properly using the correct method but unfortunately my garlic did not produce strong images of individual cells so I used the professional cell slides for photographic evidence of mitosis. (Tbh the pictures that I took are pretty cool :p)

Questioning and Predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

 I used all of my class time efficiently for learning without distractions. I was on the opposite side of the room from my beloved friends and even though I felt lonely on my little island, I did get work done a lot faster.

Scientific Communication: Formulate physical or mental models to describe a phenomenon

This competency is well represented by the final narrated video. This was the final moment for us to demonstrate what we learned and created through at the entire project, in our own style. My recorded video with voice narration explains the reasons for and processes of mitosis and meiosis with accurate 3D models and Photographs. I also accurately describe the similarities and differences between the two processes. Check out my narrated video below.

Conclusion

This project has been one of the coolest biology projects I think we’ve done so far. I really enjoyed being able to use the microscopes to look at the cells. I am exploring going into a career in dermatology so I found this project to be very important for that career path. I definitely learned a heap of new vocabulary and can’t wait for the next bio project we do, although since this year is almost over I might have to wait until grade 10 :(.

Thanks for reading!

As always, Brooke.

THE MACHINE

Salut mes amis! Welcome to another scimatics post on this bland blog of mine. I have a few blog posts I have to write at the moment so I’m not going to drone on and on with this intro so lets just hop right on into the project.

Project Overview

This project was called “Metaphor Machines” and in this project we were to create a Rube Goldberg machine that represented the steps of the scientific method. We would be using big wooden boards as the base and then we could use any materials to build the pathways. We then recorded the machine working and added voiceovers to explain the scientific method and our representations of it in the machine. Then the final video would be presented to the class.

Project Start Mind Map

As per usual we started the scimatics project off with a project start mind map. I put in any questions I had for the project, what I already knew about electricity and the project, and all of the questions from the QFTs.

At the end of this project we also added to the mind map a section about what we learned from this project and I also answered as many questions as possible that I came up with at the beginning of the project. 

The Project

We did a fun little experiment where we got to test out making and measuring different types of electric circuits up close and personal and in a simulator online. We worked with making a lot of electric circuits in  this project and it is something that I would say I can do confidently now.

 

We also did quite the bulk of workbook pages to further learn about electricity in all of its wonderful ways. We also learned about the math that can help you find out the current, voltage, and resistance of a circuit. 

We built our first Rube Goldberg machine in the very first class. We used things from around the class to crate a machine that has as many interactions as possible. And I think it was a bit rough but good for our first try.

And a lot of class time went into building our final machine. We each created blueprints individually and then got together in our groups to create one awesome blueprint that our machine will look like. The final machine had to have both parallel and series circuits and we even created switches to turn those circuits on and off independently but only one switch actually ended up working in the end. Ok so here is our final video that was shown to the class

Driving Question

How can we represent the scientific method? 

I have to say that the best answer to this question would be the machine video itself as it shows the representation and definition for the scientific method.

What factors affect the function and efficiency of electric circuits?

Resistance diminishes the current of the circuit. Examples of resistance would be loads (lightbulbs, appliances, etc.) and wires. The voltage also affects how much power is going through the circuit at a time. This can overload loads and cause failure or burnout of the circuit. To much voltage is also dangerous.

Curricular Competencies

Reasoning and Analyzing: Estimate reasonably

Our final blueprint was complete and accurate. It also contained a grid scale. All of measurements are labeled and relatively accurate. It was clean and organized with all lines easily distinguishable.

Questioning and Predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

 I used all of my class time efficiently for learning without distractions. I was a team player and always able to help out my group members.

Planning and conducting: Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data

Hand built series and parallel circuits are used to good effect with efficiency in your metaphor machine. Accurate circuit diagrams are included in the final blueprint. Our diagrams use proper symbols and are neat and easy to understand. Measurements of current, voltage and resistance are included.

Scientific Communication: Formulate physical or mental models to describe a phenomenon

A video is recorded of the complete operation of the machine and voice overs are added which explain the sequence of the scientific method as the machine progresses.

Conclusion

So this project definitely expanded my knowledge of electricity and the different things that can affect it. In conclusion this project was quite cool and I think that I did a pretty good job overall. Also shout out to Walter the emotional support kangaroo-

Thanks for reading!

As always, Brooke.

mPOL 2022 Here we go

Hello and welcome to my first mPOL (mid-year presentation of learning). Now normally, this would not be my first mPOL, but because we did not do them in grade 8, this will be my first one. In this mPOL, I will be answering 2 driving questions. “How have I demonstrated growth as a learner so far this year?”, and “How can I sharpen my Learning Plan to ensure I will reach my learning targets by the end of this school year?”

I shall start off with the first question. 

How have I demonstrated growth as a learner so far this year?

I feel the best way to show the answer to this would be to start with the projects that I think demonstrated my best work for each class (except maker because that is next semester).

Humanities

“Working with Words” 

You can check out my blog post for this project here.

I chose this project because it has been my favourite humanities project that we have done so far. Because of this, I worked hard in the project, and I am really proud of the outcome. I think I enjoyed this project the most because I love poetry and liked how we could really make this project to our own specifications and tailored to us as an individual.

I learned a lot about poetry in this project, as well as presentation skills and public speaking. This project taught me the importance of creativity, looking inward and trying to decipher who you are, and how to bounce ideas off of peers. I think during this project is when I grew most and had the most fun in school since the beginning of the year.

Scimatics

“Chemistry stories“

You can check out my blog post for this project here.

I chose this project because I think it shows my perseverance. I was struggling internally a lot during the time of this project so I am proud that I was still able to produce good quality work. I also enjoyed learning more about atoms and the processes that go into making the matter that is all around us.

How can I sharpen my Learning Plan to ensure I will reach my learning targets by the end of this school year?

Though I think that my learning plan is has good goals for me to work towards in the rest of the year, I am actually quite content with not meeting the proficiency requirements that I have set on my learning plan. Due to the recent influx of stress, I have come to the conclusion that my mental health was being damaged greatly by trying really hard for extending marks and always being 100% attentive. So yes, I would still like to get extending marks whenever I can but I am not going to be disappointed if my grades do not match what I have set on my learning plan.

Some things that I feel I have done well at that are in my learning plan would be;

  1. I have been using things regularly for both school and non school related tasks and it has helped me greatly.
  2. I have set up routines that help me focus on my homework and help me not to get discouraged.
  3. I have been using more positive affirmations to help me balance mental health with academics.
  4. I have been asking my peers/parents more often when I need clarification on concepts that I do not understand.

Some areas that I want to have more growth in by the end of the year would be;

  1. Asking my teachers for help when I need it.
  2. Give myself more time to write better reflections and responses (humanities).
  3. Take more notes when I think I may forget the information that if being shared. Especially when I am having a hard time being “present” in class.
  4. Starting homework asap so that I don’t put it off until the point where I am then rushing to get it done.

I hope you enjoyed my mPOL and I will see you again at the tPOL’s! (Transitional presentation of learning)

As always, Brooke.

Loooook It’s Sodium Hydroxide!

Hola mi amigos 👋🏼. Welcome to another scimatics post on this lovely blog of mine.  I have quite a few blog posts I have to write at the moment so im not going to drone on and on with this intro so lets just hop right on into the project.

Project Overview

This project was called “Chemistry stories” and in this project we were to create an animated video about chemical bonding. We would be using keynote to create the animation and then voiceovers would be added in a separate app like iMovie (but i used a great app called InShot). Then the final video would be presented to the class.

Project Start Mind Map

As per usual we started the scimatics project off with a project start mind map. I put in any questions I had for the project, what I already knew about atoms and matter, and all of the questions from the QFTs.

At the end of this project we also added to the mind map a section about what we learned from this project and I also answered as many questions as possible that I came up with at the beginning of the project. 

The Project

We did a fun little experiment called “Investigation 2A” in this project where we got to see some chemical reactions up close and personal. But before we did the experiment, we practised creating an animation by showing the steps that we would be doing. We used keynote to create the short animation and I used the instant alpha feature to take stock images and turn them into moving pieces for the animation.

Lab animation

 

We also did quite the bulk of workbook pages to further learn about this new thing called ionic and covalent bonds and how they are formed. We also learned about writing chemical formulas and learning how to say the names of different covalent compounds.

And as per proper video composition, we created storyboards to help us plan out what we would be putting into the animation;

Driving Question

How do the electron arrangements of atoms determine the chemical and physical properties of elements and compounds?

I have to say that the best answer to this question would be the animation video itself as it talks about the attraction of the atoms based on their electron arrangements. So without further ado, here is the final product;

Curricular Competencies

Processing and Analyzing: Construct, analyze and interpret models and/or diagrams

My story boards had accurate Bohr diagrams and clearly showed the processes of both ionic and covalent bonding. I think I demonstrated a sophisticated level of understanding because I added a lot of different components and prior knowledge along with questions that we had for the project. I was able to articulate my ideas cleanly into my mind map layout.

Questioning and Predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

My Project Start Mind Map shows how I can display my prior knowledge and prepare for new evidence. The Investigation 2A Lab Report showed that I can form a reasonable hypothesis using what I already know. I demonstrated an accomplished level of understanding with this milestone. My storyboard was well thought out and accurately showed snapshots of what would take place in the animation.

Communicating: Formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon

My voiceovers are mostly clear and synced with my animation. I find that my video has a solid amount of humour in the voiceovers mixed with scientific language and motion in the animation. I feel I demonstrated an accomplished level of understanding with my animated video because I meet the expectations in the evaluation rubric. Plus I think that my video is quite entertaining.

Conclusion

So this project definitely expanded my knowledge of atoms and the different things that they can do. In conclusion this project was quite cool and I think that I did a pretty good job overall. Also shout out to Walter the emotional support kangaroo-

Thanks for reading!

As always, Brooke.

A ✨Snazzy✨ Correlation

Have you ever heard someone talking about correlation vs causation? Perhaps in the latest season of Manifest on Netflix? Well that was the topic of this project, correlation vs causation.

Driving Question

How are correlation and causation different?

Causation is when A causes B or vice versa. It could also be when factor C causes both A and B. Correlation is when there is a relationship between A and B but there doesn’t necessarily have to be causation.

Project Overview

In this project we were to create a survey and video or formal presentation that compares a correlation with no causation and a correlation that does have a logical explanation of causation between the variables. We used numbers to create graphs to show the data that we collected from our surveys. This was also a partner project where we would be collaborating on creating a single project with our partner.

Project Start Mind Map

As per usual we started the scimatics project off with a project start mind map. I put in any questions I had for the project, what I already knew about correlation vs causation, and any ideas that I had for survey questions.

At the end of this project we also added to the mind map a section about what we learned from this project.

The Project

I think that the best way to show you the bulk of our project is by the keynote presentation that we presented to the class.  The presentation included information about our survey audience, our graph results, and our definition to the driving question. Here is the link:

A survey pour toi 

Curricular Competencies 

Planning and conducting: Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data;

We found at least 3 correlations using our well crafted survey results. The survey results and correlations were displayed and explained through a keynote presentation to the class. We analyzed the graphs to confirm if there was cause for correlation because the line that automatically shows up was often misleading.

Communicating and Representing: Use mathematical vocabulary and language to contribute to mathematical discussions;

We created our presentation with helpful visual aids and well crafted written explanations. We had two main examples where we showed a correlation that we falsely thought would have causation and one that actually had correlation and causation.

Applying and Innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches;

We used good ethics when creating the survey questions and conducting the survey. In class I was very focused and productive. I am very pleasantly surprised with my ability to stay on task while working on this project.

Conclusion 

So our correlations were not incredibly strong, but we were able to identify correlations and some causations in our graphs. We also found this project fun and it expanded our brain cells. I really enjoyed working with my good pal Dana and I hope to work with her again soon.

As always, Brooke.

IT’S THE EXPONENT APOCALYPSE

HellooOOooOooOOOOoooOOO and welcome back to another year of PLP blog posts. As you may have guessed, we just finished our first project in Scimatics 9. I found this project to be similar to the game about tectonic plates that we did in grade 8. The end result of this project was to be fun game that used exponent laws. And without further ado, I shall take you through the ins and outs of the creation of my partner and I’s game, the EXPONENT APOCALYPSE.

Starting off

As per any usual scimatics project, this project started with a project start mind map. The project start mind maps are a way to gather all of your knowledge and questions before starting the new project. I tried to write down all of the ways that math is included in games and what I already knew about exponents.

The project

We launched this project with a practise in creating game rules. As a group we were asked to create games that used a certain number of dice and involved addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, in the rules. It was basically a toned down version of the final game that we would be making.

A huge part of this project was incorporating exponent laws into our games. And in order for that to happen we had to first learn about what exponents were and what laws they followed. We did a multitude of Kahoot! quizzes and workbook pages to really start to understand how exponents function.

Throughout the whole project we were thinking about what we wanted our game to be. The rules, the points system, the objectives, even the game pieces. We made many drafts and had our friends test out our game constantly to see if there were any gameplay issues. Weeks later and we had our final game ready for game day. We call it “Exponent Apocalypse”, a mashup between Zombies and math. The goal is to get to the “Lab” at them end of the game board before the other player. You move up spaces by correctly answering the prompts on the cards flipped in front of you. Here, it makes more sense if you read the game rules; Exponent Apocalypse

Core Competencies 

Reasoning and Analyzing: Use logic and patterns to solve puzzles and play games

The points system in our game is quite simple, answer a question correctly and you get to move up one space. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t make it super hard or complicated to win because it’s more fun when you’re not confused half the time.

Communicating and Representing: Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms

This competency mainly focuses on the game rules themselves, if they are clear, complete, interesting, and personalized. Having an obvious theme to the game helped make the game more interesting to play because it gave it a bit of personality. We were going to add in a 5th exponent law to the game but we thought that that may get to complicated for people to remember while playing. Looking back we probably could’ve added another law without jeopardizing the simplicity of the game.

Applying and Innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches

This year I am trying to stay more on track in class. I found that having a good partner like Faith really helped me to use my class time efficiently. Faith and I made an excellent team because our different skills worked alongside each other very smoothly.

Thank god this post is almost done

Well overall I’d say that this project was a success. I learned a lot about exponents and continued to learn about what makes a great game. Hopefully the rest of the projects this year go as smoothly as this one did.

Thanks for reading!

As Always, Brooke.

The Body vs Bacteria

Hello everybody 👋🏼

Tis’ me, Brooke.

It’s almost summer! I am writing this with 3-ish days left of school and let me tell you, this year has flown by. But this post is not about that.

Driving question

How do cells and diseases interact?

The truth is, different cells will react differently to different diseases. One type of cell has a different job than another type of cell and each would have different jobs when it comes dealing with a disease. In my comic, you will see that some cells are battling head on with the disease and others have jobs that work in the background.

The Project

Our last project for scimatics this year was called “Comic cells”. Basically we each had to make a comic about some sort of cellular process. And as per usual with science projects like this, we started off with a mind map.

I’m really sorry that the photo is so blurry. And if I’m being honest, I’m not incredibly proud of this mind map. I feel like I definitely could’ve added more especially to the questions section.

I came into this project not knowing much about cells, so building knowledge was a very important part of this project. Khan Academy was helpful for general cell knowledge but we also had to do our own independent research for our comics. I decided that I wanted to make my comic about how the body reacts to a wound. And, just for added flavour, tetanus would also enter the wound.

Before we jumped into creating the actual comic, we made a rough draft storyboard. Let me say that again before showing you, it is a ROUGH DRAFT storyboard.

And the moment you hopefully have been waiting for, here is my final comic;

p.s. I couldn’t get it in here as a PDF because the file was too big so instead it is an image metaslider.

Core competencies 

Questioning and predicting

This competency is usually hard for me because it includes using class time efficiently and I am a person who gets distracted easily. But in this project I feel that I did the best I’ve ever done in this competency. I guess that shows lots of improvement compared to the beginning of the year.

Scientific communication 

I really like using interesting vocabulary so this project was a great way for me to use and extend this skill. Learning and using new words is something that I have done a lot of this year and I think it’s pretty cool that I know the pronunciation and meaning of ✨immunoglobulin✨.

Evaluating 

I did SO much individual research to insure that my comic was as accurate as it could be. I think that this project might have actually sparked my interest in biology. Trying to make the comic accurate  without making it overwhelming was something that I was constantly thinking about but I think that I did a pretty good job at.

Conclusion 

Well thank you for reading my post and I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about what you body does at a cellular level. Have a happy summer!

As always, Brooke.

The Ultimate Bedroom Setup Noº3

Hi there 👋🏼

Welcome back to another scimatics blog post.

Fair warning, I am writing this post extremely tired.

Project description

In this scimatics project we worked in a small group to create 3D objects. We had to calculate the surface area and volume of the object we created and then put together a presentation for the class.

Driving question 

How can I design a bed to optimize its volume?

The main contributor of a bed’s volume is it’s mattress. A thick and fluffy mattress makes for added comfort and volume.

The project itself 

My group decided that we wanted to make a three part bedroom set. The set consisted of a bedside table, a bookshelf, and a bed. The object I was going to create was the bed. Before we started creating, we had to decide whether we would be designing the object for maximum surface area or maximum volume, I chose maximum surface area (but that didn’t work out for me in the end).

We would be using a 3D design website called Tinkercad.com  to create the object. At first, I found it difficult to understand the controls but after completing lots of the Tinkercad  tutorials I finally started to get it. I made a few sketches on procreate to help guide me with what the measurements of my bed should be.

My bed ended up looking like;

I also recorded a video where I scroll around to all sides of the bed. Just in case you were curious about what it looks like to use Tinkercad.

As I said in the project description, we needed to create a presentation about our 3D models to show the class. My original plan was to record us giving our presentation but I was so nervous that I forgot ☹️. So I made my group do a screen recording with voiceover so that I could still show y’all our presentation. Here it is;

The curricular competencies 

Applying and innovating: Contribute to self, others, community, and world through personal or collaborative approaches.

This competency was both harder and easier to achieve when working in a group with your best friends. On one hand we really worked well together and had no problem helping each other out. On the other hand I think that we could’ve done better at trying to keep each other on topic.

Reasoning and analyzing: Model mathematics in contextualized experiences. 

My model consisted of 11 basic 3D shapes and of those were 3 kinds; rectangular prisms, triangular prism , and cylinders. Sure my model wasn’t the most complicated but I made the design clean and it matched the other models in my group. I had originally intended the bed to have maximum surface area but later realized that the bed would end up having maximum volume if I designed it as I had planned.

Communicating and representing: Explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions.

The calculations I made for my model were accurately measured and calculated. My milestone 3 shows the calculations which you can also see in the YouTube video presentation.

Milestone 3 calculations

Conclusion 

In conclusion, it was really fun working with my friends in a group project. I enjoyed learning how to use Tinkercad and I am proud of how I was able to create the model. I definitely feel like my math skills in calculating surface area and volume have improved a TON during the project.

Here are my group members posts on this project

Dana – The Ultimate Bedroom Set Up Noº1

Makenna – The Ultimate Bedroom Set Up Noº2

 

Thanks for reading!

As always, Brooke.

 

 

 

 

PEW! PEW!

For this project we had to make a fully functional laser gun to use in epic battles with aliens……..

Just kidding

This project is about using the Pythagorean theorem and the laws of reflection to        create a laser triangle. 

“LASERS?!? Aren’t those dangerous?”

We aren’t using those types of lasers you see in movies that can cut through metal and slice off fingers. The lasers that we use are just rays of coloured light. Just like those laser cat toys:

Building knowledge 

Atthe start of this project I had no idea what the Pythagorean theorem or law of reflection was. So obviously we had to do lots of building knowledge. We were out into our project groups to come up with all the questions we had for this project.

We then started a project start mind map just to gather all the information that we already knew. Here is a comparison of my mind map at the begging and end of the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also did a really cool lab to learn about frequency and amplitude in waves.

Now what is the law of reflection? The law of reflection is the fact that the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection will always be the same distance from the normal. As you can see in the diagram below, the normal is an imaginary line that is perpendicular to the reflective surface. We did lots of practise measuring the angle of incidence and reflection with accuracy so that our final project could be precise.

We also had to learn about using the Pythagorean theorem. Pythagorean theorem is used to measure the side lengths of right angle triangles. The formula is A ² + B ² = C ² or Leg ² + leg ² = hypotenuse ². The Pythagorean theorem also states that the area of the square formed by the longest side of the right triangle (the hypotenuse) is equal to the sum of the area of the squares formed by the other two sides of the right triangle, the hypothetical squares look like this;

Our final laser triangle- milestone 5

The end goal of this project was milestone 5, where each group had to create an accurately planned laser model that included at least 1 right triangle. My group didn’t have a lot of ideas for what we wanted ours to look like but we decided that we would try to create the laser off the ground by elevating everything with stands and clamps. The whole point of the model was that it was supposed to be able to be measured accurately, especially the angle of incidence and angle of reflection. We ran into a big problem when every time we tried to set it up something had shifted or changed in height. With only two days left until the project was due we decided to scrap all that we had worked on and remake the triangle on the table like everyone else. We were able to measure more accurately and it was much easier to mark the position of the mirrors and laser. On the final day I brought in my glue gun and some glitter because we basically just had the project sitting on a white piece of cardboard that had marks all over it. What I’m trying to say is that even though our project was fully functional it looked….. bland. But there is almost nothing that glitter cant fix so with a little bit of white paint and pure creativity our project started to look pretty good. Here are some photos of what we made + a short write up;

Final triangle design pdf

 

 

 

 

   Core competencies

  • Questioning and predicting: How can I demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest? The milestones that correspond with this competency are; Milestone1- project start mind map, milestone 3- law of reflection group lab, milestone 4- lazer design lab individual, milestone 5- final laser model. This competency is about using your class time efficiently to do your work without distractions. This competency might not seem hard but definitely is something that I know I can do better on. In the final days of making the physical model my group had to scrap our original idea and start from scratch. It was really hard to stay focused on the project when it seemed like a sinking ship. We ended up pulling ourselves together and I am very proud of the final stage of our laser model.

 

  • Communicating and representing: how can I represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms? The milestones that support this competency are; Milestone 2- Pythagorean khan academy quiz and milestone  6- the blog post. This competency is about being able to develop a scientific procedure that is accurate and includes all required steps of a scientific method. Even though the project outline only links two milestones to this competency I would actually like to add more. I think that I used this competency in milestones 3, 4, and 5, when I had to write up about the experiments. Overall I think that I improved the most on this competency compared to the other two because I got more comfortable and confident the more I worked on this competency.

 

  • Applying and innovating: how can I co-operativly design projects? This competency is used in; Milestone -4 individual lazer design, milestone 5- final laser model, and milestone 6- the blog post. This competency is about having an accurately planned, labeled, built, and measured laser triangle. This competency also talks about all group members contributing equally. Yet again I would also like to add milestone 3, the law of reflection group experiment, to this competency because that was a group project that corresponded with the values of this competency.

 Now its time for my goodbye statement.

This project was really fun and I obviously couldn’t have done it without my group. Big thanks to Claire, Ariane, and Theryn.

As Always, Brooke.