Does it matter?

Welcome back to my blog! Today I’ll be writing about my recently completed Scimatics project, Chemistry Coding. We did this project on Scratch, where we coded particle movement and states of matter. There was quite a bit of freedom in this project for what we created in the end as long as it displayed our learning. I decided to code a matter simulator that had a few different molecule and atom options.

Here is my project mindmap with some answered questions: 

 

 

 

 

Like all PLP projects, all the Milestones we did surrounded some core competencies

• Questioning and predicting: How can I demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

I think I used this competency particularly well in Milestone 1 where I made the mindmap above. I used this competency to ask all sorts of questions about the focus of the project and through the course of the project I was able to go back to the mindmap and answer most of them.

• Reasoning and analyzing: How can I use logic and patterns (including coding) to solve puzzles and play games?

I used this competency in Milestone 4 and 5 to come up with ideas and to code my matter simulator. Coming from little coding experience, this project was difficult for me. However, using the helps of my peers and problem solving, I was able to code a functional matter simulator and use code successfully.

• Scientific Communication: How can I communicate ideas, findings, and solutions to problems using scientific language, representations, and digital technologies?

I was able to use this competency in Milestone 3 where I created different models of atoms and molecules to use in my matter simulator. In this Milestone I used a Bohr model and a Dalton model. 

Answering the driving question:

The driving question to this project was how can the behaviour of matter be explained by the kinetic molecular theory and the atomic theory?

I believe that the best way to explain the way matter behaves is through simulations and models which is exactly what we created. Atoms and molecules are so tiny that we can’t even see them through microscopes which is why models help us understand better. I think that through coding a matter simulator, I have definitely grasped a better understanding of the way matter behaves and that I’ve learned a lot about particle motion.

My Learning

A milestone I particularly enjoyed was Milestone 5. Milestone 5 was coding the actual simulator. I mentioned previously that I didn’t have much coding experience going into this project. I thought it was a fun challenge to teach myself about coding and problem solving. If you’d like to try out my simulator, here it is!

Thank you for reading my blog! 

Sincerely, Me