Category: Science

All posts made in Science

ITS T TIME!🗣️‼️🔥

Posted on by elsaw

TPOL

Hello you silly goober! This is the blog post all about my very first TPOL! I made it through my first MPOL so hopefully I make it through my first TPOL (I’m crossing my fingers). Just kidding! If you don’t know already, POL stands for Presentation Of Learning and the T stands for Transitional meaning the transition to the next grade. In this blog post I will talk about 10 main things, including the driving question, my growth as a learner in all my courses, my work ethic, my work habits, my areas for improvement, my success behaviours, revisions, teamwork, responsibility, and my production of work. These are just some of the things that make me a learner. Like my MPOL (Mid Year Presentation Of Learning) the TPOL also has a time limit of 7 minutes. In those 7 minutes, I will tell my story of learning. I hope you will enjoy my story. 

POL declaration: 🗣️

“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

Science: 🦠

I have demonstrated my growth as a learner in science by applying critical thinking skills to go beyond the basic requirements and thoroughly answer the driving question. I have also been very active in the classes making it ten times more interesting then if I weren’t actively learning in the class. I think that at the beginning of the second semester when science started I wasn’t exited for science because I thought it would be boring, but as soon as we started working I realized that we were going to be doing some really interesting stuff and soon came to love science. 

Humanities: 📖

In humanities, I have previously struggled a lot with organizing my time well and I would constantly find myself being swamped with work. Now on the other hand, I have gotten much better at organizing my time and work much better. I have made out a system that works really well for me because that way I can balance my school and social life as needed. 

Revisions: My Oregon Ad 🔁

After our trip to Oregon, we were required to make an ad that displayed a certain theme about Oregon. My theme was ‘excitement and escape’ so I had to make my ad correspond correctly to the theme. I had approximately 4-5 revisions, but throughout the revisions I pushed through and came out with a final product that I really liked. You could tell that every time I made a revision, it looked better and better. I’ve always had some struggles with getting told my work isn’t good enough or that I need to re do it, but PLP has taught me that its not a bad thing to get a revision, but instead it pushes you to get your best work done. 

Before:                                                  After:

Teamwork: The Spring Exhibition 🌷

I think that one of my best moments for teamwork was the spring exhibition. Because of our group being the smallest, we all had to put in much more work than some of the other groups. I was very proud of my teamwork in this event because even though I had to put in more work, I enjoyed it and did it to the best of my abilities. I was also responsible enough to make sure that the work that I had to do was done and was also better than was expected. 

High Quality Work: Peanuts Character & Oregon Adventure Book 💯

I have two examples of some work that I am really proud of. Firstly, I have my peanuts character and although I didn’t make this during school year, I’m still really proud of it and I thought I did it to the best of my ability. Knowing that I can’t draw that well, I was really proud of this piece of artwork I made. The task was to draw yourself as a peanuts character, and I think it turned out really well. My second piece of work that I wanted to show you is my organ adventure book. Even though I got a couple revisions on this book, I am really proud of it because I worked very hard on it and I love the way it turned out. I think I put my design skills and writing skills to the test on this book, but it worked in my favour to create a really cool book to remember grade eight by. 

Work Ethic: 👍

If I set my mind on something, I’m really good at getting that done and to the best of my ability but every once in a while, I struggle with putting my best work in for something I’m not very interested in. Sometimes if I’m doing something that I am really interested in I will only focus on that one thing and then get it done really well. on the other hand if if it’s something I’m not very interested in or it’s a job or chore. I tend to have not very good attitude about it and work ethic. Sometimes I will be very obvious with my attitude towards a task or job, but other times I will just quietly judge it. 

Work Habits: 📚

As a person who likes to get something done in one sitting, my work habits aren’t always healthy. But over the year, I have learnt to overcome this and have done really well at spacing out my work blocks and break times. I’ve gotten really good at knowing when I need to stop and have a break and knowing how long I can continue working for. I’ve always been a morning person so for me it’s much easier to wake up at five in the morning to do homework then stay up until 12 doing homework. Being a morning person, I will often leave my work to the last minute and just wake up the very morning it’s due and do it all then, but I have also learnt that that is not an efficient use of my time so I have gotten much better at getting my work done in a little bit instead of in one sitting.

Agency: Seeking help 🙋‍♀️

I’ve always struggled with asking for help whether it’s from a friend, coach, parent, or teacher but over the school year I noticed that I have definitely gotten better. Many times during the school year I found myself stuck on a certain question, or task, but I have been pushing myself to ask for help not just try to figure it out myself and potentially get it wrong. I don’t know why I find it challenging to ask for help but I always struggled with it. I know many people who are told that they ask for help too much but I’m the opposite. This first year of PLP I noticed that I have been in more situations where I needed to ask for help, so that has pushed me to ask for help more often which I think really helped.

Agency: Goals and self assessing ✅

I have never been the type of person to set goals for myself, but with new opportunities like for example, the app Things has really pushed me to set goals for myself so I can grow as a learner. If you don’t know already, the app Things is a great way to keep track of tasks, chores, and of course goals. It is an app you will have to pay for, but it is a great investment. (This blog post is not sponsored). I have realized this year that goal-setting is a great way to push yourself and make sure that you get to where you want to be.

Communication and Collaboration: Peers 👂

I think that overall, I’m very good person to have in a group project because I will do the work that you ask me to do, I will put in ideas, I will provide supplies and most importantly, I will listen and be active in the group. Every single group project that we have been in this year I think I have been an asset to the group and hopefully I will continue to be a helpful and respectful group member. I have been told many times by friends that if they want an opinion on something, they will ask me because they know that I will be brutally honest and give them helpful criticism that they can use to grow. 

THANKS FOR LISTENING TO MY LEARNING STORY!

Thanks for reading all about my first TPOL! I’ll see you silly goobers next year!

Small But Mighty!🦠

Posted on by elsaw

Small But Mighty!

This is the story of the radically awesome science project called Small But Mighty! This project was all about the immune system! Being a person who is really interested in the human body (mostly after it’s deceased) I found this project especially interesting! We learnt about two main topics related to the immune system, different cells that help our immune system and vaccines! The driving question is “How does our knowledge of cell biology contribute to public health?” I think that the more you know about a topic the more you can help other people understand therefore, spreading knowledge of cell biology the more people will understand public health.

Field Journal:

To kick off the project we made a field journal all about the growth of bacteria! Our first step was  to design an experiment that would demonstrate the growth of bacteria. I decided to test which cleaning chemicals best subdued or completely stoped the bacterial growth. I then swabbed my shoe three different times and then rubbed the dirty swab on three different Petri dishes. On one Petri dish I rubbed hand sanitizer, the second I rubbed dish soap on, and the third I didn’t put any cleaning supplies on. Then you just sit and wait! As it turns out, dish soap is the best cleaning supply to slow the growth of bacteria. 

Immune Cell Characters:

For our second stepping stone in the project we made cute little characters for the different immune cells! The white blood cell, the b-cell, the T-cell, the anti body, and the macrophage. I chose to draw all my characters as random people from shows and movies. The white blood cell is portrayed a Shrek, the B-cell as Chicken Joe, the T-cell as Shellington, the macrophage as Toothless, and the anti body as Tunip! 

Vaccine Media Campaign:

For our final product we learnt about Vaccines! There are 4 different types of vaccines, the inactivated vaccine, the live attenuated vaccine, the subunit vaccine, and finally the mRNA vaccine. Inactivated vaccines are vaccines made out of dead pathogens so that the immune system can test run it so that if the live pathogen were to come along, then the immune system can fight it off really easily. Live attenuated vaccines are made out of pathogens that have been attenuated (weakened) so that the body gets the weak version of the virus or disease instead of the full force one. Subunit vaccines come from pathogens that have been cut up into microscopic pieces big enough to trigger a response from the immune system but not strong enough to harm you. And finally we have the mRNA vaccine. Vaccines like these, are completely man made. Scientists study a pathogen until they have the ‘recipe’ to recreate it, then they re-make it to be smaller and weaker so that its enough to trigger a response. Now that you know all about the different types of vaccines, I can tell you what our final product was! We made campaigns to make a point against many of the mis information that has been spread about vaccines. For the campaigns, I was paired with my good friend Evelyn! (I will link her blog post below). We made three different campaigns about misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccine. Two of our campaigns were about how the COVID vaccine would make people magnetic. And our last one is about how the COVID vaccine would make people part of the ‘chess game’ that Bill Gates has engineered into our shots. 

 

Thanks for reading this post! I really enjoyed this project and I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

Evelyns blog: 

MPOLSSSSSS!

Posted on by elsaw

FIRST EVER MPOL!!

Hello you silly goober! Welcome back to my blog! Todays post will be all about my first POL (presentation of learning). In this case the POL will be a MPOL (Mid-year presentation of learning)! Basically an MPOL is a student led conference where you tell a story! Not just any story though… Your learning story! It’s a story that you will tell to your teacher and your parent (and anyone else you have invited). It’s a good opportunity for your teachers and parents to understand more about how you are and where you are as a learner. It’s a 12 minute conference ( 7 min for your story and then 5 min for parent/teacher questions). Lets begin!

“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

My learning plan: 💡

At the beginning of the year, we created learning plans that highlighted areas we wanted to improve in different aspects of learning, like taking initiative, staying engaged, behaving well, being ethical, preparing effectively, managing ourselves, communicating, and working together. We also wrote down our goals and intentions for what we wanted to learn and achieve.

My statement of learning intent: 🎓

As part of the learning plan, we made a statement of learning where we write about what we plan to do, learn, act, and grow as learners. This school year, I’m eager to deepen my understanding of science, humanities, and maker. In science, I aim to grasp key concepts in biology, and other aspects of science by conducting hands-on experiments and exploring how these subjects relate to everyday phenomena. I want to develop a strong foundation in scientific inquiry and problem-solving. In the social studies aspect of humanities, I want to explore history, and geography, to better understand the world around me. By studying different cultures, historical events, and societal structures, I aim to develop a broader perspective and critical thinking skills. In the language arts aspect, I plan to dive into literature, writing, and communication. I want to improve my reading comprehension, writing style, and ability to express ideas effectively. By analyzing literature and engaging in creative writing, I’ll enhance my communication skills and appreciation for diverse perspectives. I’ll showcase my learning by participating actively in discussions, writing thoughtful essays, and demonstrating a strong grasp of key concepts in both parts of humanities. Similarly, in Maker, I plan to learn practical skills like coding, digital design, etc, using them to create innovative projects. I’ll demonstrate my proficiency by actively engaging in building projects, and presenting my work with confidence and creativity. This year I want to really get into the High-school lifestyle and grow as a learner. I also hope to learn new and interesting things that I can grow my knowledge of. 

Strategies and habits I will work on: 🧠

  • I need to work on having better time management so that I’m not handing things in late or just barley on time.

Getting better at managing my time is crucial for meeting deadlines and reducing stress. Setting clear goals, prioritizing tasks, and minimizing distractions during work will help me stay on track. Regularly checking my progress and taking breaks for relaxation will keep me productive. By doing these things consistently, I’ll improve my time management and get things done on time with less stress.

  • I think that by upping my self regulation I would have a healthier balance between school and my own time.

Strengthening my ability to manage impulses and stay focused on priorities will help me allocate time more effectively for academics and personal activities. Setting clear boundaries, like establishing specific study hours and designated relaxation periods, will contribute to maintaining this balance. With better self-regulation, I’ll make smarter choices about how I use my time, leading to a more satisfying and well-rounded daily routine.

Science: 🧪

For my first reflection, I wanted to start with science, because it is the easiest. I have only finished one project in science so far, but it was a blast. We made a video game to display our knowledge about atoms. It helped me use my tech skills and also experiment with the website scratch, and coding! As of now, we are working on a project about cell biology, which I find really interesting, so that has been fun so far as well! I think based on my level of understanding on atoms, I could have gone more into depth and made a more advanced game, but otherwise I was really proud of my final product! This is my science blog post!

 

How have I demonstrated my learning? 💁‍♀️

I have demonstrated my learning in science by using my critical thinking skills to look past what I need to do and try to answer the driving question to the best form of my ability. I also was very active in the learning so that helped me stay interested in the learning and also be more into the classes. 

What are areas of growth? 🌱

I think that some areas of growth are for me to be more prepared and have better management with my time so that I’m not procrastinating and handing things in late/last moment. I have so many tools on my IPad to help me with these things, so I think that I need to get better at utilizing these incredible tools. I think based on my level of understanding on atoms, I could have gone more into depth and made a more advanced game, but otherwise I was really proud of my final product! I also think that instead of going a little beyond (for example, doing five pages instead of four) I could be going a lot more beyond, (for example, eight pages instead of four). Because I know I am capable of doing it. 

Maker: 💻

For my maker reflection, I wanted to reflect on my favourite project, called Becoming a PLP Learner! It was our first maker project and it was all about getting to know the tech we were given and getting to know our selves as learners. We made some really fun things such as my User Manuel! It’s was a fun way to write about yourself, in the form of a user guide. I am also really proud of my Memoji! As another aspect of the project, we made a customized Memoji using stickers and images to display who we are as learners. This is my maker blog post!

How have I demonstrated my learning? 💁‍♀️

I have demonstrated my learning in maker by being active in the learning, and having a open mind when it came to learning things I wasn’t super interested in. Like for example, I wasn’t exactly stoked when I heard about the project “Finding Fun with Drawing”, but I kept an open mind and it ended up being rather fun!

What are areas of growth? 🌱

I could work on many things as a learner, but I think the things I could work on most, especially in maker is, my ability to stay on task, and be productive with my time. I found myself low on time to hand in something or get something done plenty of times. I think I grew more nearing the end of the semester, with more time to get things done and having things handed in on time more often!

Humanities: 📖

As my reflection for humanities, I would like to mention how many projects I’ve done in humanities, so this was hard to choose. I think my favourite project was “Bon Voyage”. It it was on an interesting topic and it allowed me to use my (mediocre) drawing skills and (mediocre) video editing/making skills to create a AR video, that displayed the causes and consequences of colonization. This is my humanities blog post!

How have I demonstrated my learning? 💁‍♀️

I have demonstrated my learning by being interested in what we are learning (except for our poetry project🤫), and being able to share and collaborate with my classmates to gain a deeper understanding of what we are learning. 

What are areas of growth? 🌱

Some areas of growth for me are being able to go more beyond of what’s asked of me in order to expand my learning. 

THATS IT!

Thanks for bearing with me and reading this post (I don’t mind if you didn’t actually read all of it, I wouldn’t)! That is the long and boring story of my learning. Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check out some of the links and media I added (again, I don’t care if you don’t)! 

To make a video game!

Posted on by elsaw

To make a video game!

Hi and welcome back to my blog! It’s been a while hasn’t it? Anyways, for this blog post your in for a treat! This will be my first ever science blog post! In this super amazing and radical post, you’ll be learning about my first ever science project! The driving question for this project was “How can we communicate our knowledge of atoms in a fun and creative way”? To communicate our knowledge we made video games! On a website called “Scratch” we made some pretty cool video games with coding to display and communicate our knowledge of atoms. There are many different types of games you can make, but I decided to make a trivia game!

Amazing radical science quizzzzz!!!

Since I’m not that creative when it comes to naming things (except for my dog) so, I named my game “Amazing radical science quiz” with a few extra “z” and some exclamation marks for dramatic flair. My game is all about using your knowledge to complete a quiz. There are some simple questions and some more advanced questions to test your knowledge. It uses relatively simple coding to be able to click on icons to answer the questions and to get replies weather the answer is incorrect or correct, also to be able to hide and show answers based on the questions and backdrops. If you would like to give my game a try, you can search on the website “Scratch” or you can click on the embedded website I have put into this post. 

 

Reflection

I think this project went really well and I am very proud of the finished product. It was a great opportunity to test my thinking and technical skills while still doing something fun! I was presented with many challenges like ‘how do I get this to change when I click it’ or ‘why doesn’t this move when the backdrop switches’ but I was able to use my critical thinking skills and my communication skills to either ask for help, or find the solution on my own. 

Thanks for reading my blog post! I hope you enjoyed learning about my first ever science project! Make sure to check out my game, and or, read about some of my other experiences!