The corona virus or COVID-19 is not very fun. We’ve had to adapt, struggle and find new ways to live life. One of the hardest parts of these times and especially quarantine is connecting with others, or more specifically online learning. We had to connect through zoom, and at times it was a bit confusing and hard to understand what our objective was. Our first quarantine project came as a fusion between our Sciematics and Humanities classes. It was a project about diseases and explorers. Since this project was 2 classes combined, it also had 2 driving questions. The driving question for Sciematics was very simple. It was “How do cells and diseases interact”. The driving question for Humanities was “What is the significance of YOUR explorer”. The driving question made it easier for us to understand the project and presented a clear view of what we would be in for for the next month or two. This project would include a comic book, where we would have to present a story for the explorer we chose and display an advanced understanding of how diseases interact with cells and the body. This is my comic book.

Since Sciematics was included in this project, we used MINDNODE to create a project start mind map. This mind map helped us comprehend the big idea of the project as we could lay out our ideas, questions, and the facts we already knew on a simple and easy platform. The mindmap below is the mindmap I created after our project ended. It answered my questions I had before the project and gave some insight on some some questions I still have.

After the mindmap, we watched a movie called Osmosis Jones. This movie (linked below) was about Osmosis Jone. A cell in a body working his normal job to fight off the viruses entering. One day, a really bad virus comes in and he has to work with his friends to destroy it. This movie really helped me visualize and come to terms in a first view of how viruses worked and what our project would be about. After this movie, we went through the process of learning about our explorer and learning about diseases. We watched videos on our explorer and even took a test on cells and diseases. After this, we created a storyboard for our comic book. Then we transferred the storyboard and made the comic even better. The comic I made is at the top.

Throughout this project, we had many competencies to guide us through. We were also being assessed on these competencies. These competencies are the same throughout all our projects to make it simple and easy, also the government.

The first competency was “Questioning and predicting”. Keeping a sustained interest in the project. I showed that I am proficient and even extending in this competency by completing all the milestones, and asking questions and doing my own research on this project. I kept asking myself “how can I make this better” and it paid off in the end.

The next competency was “Scientific communication”. Or in other words, making sure that your drawings and words were accurate in a scientific sense. Not making mumbo jumbo up thinking that will work. I showed proficiency and extending in this area as I created a simple way to understand how cells and diseases interacted in my comic book and even went into depth, giving scientific names and descriptions.

The next competency we were assessed on was “evaluating”. Or showing the symptoms and logical outcomes of the diseases in the story. I showed proficiency and extending in this competency as I showed drawing of the symptoms of smallpox, described them accurately, then showed what happened in the aftermath. I even showed how it spread and how you contracted it.

The first competency we were assessed on the explorer side of things was “Connect”. Or creating a basic understanding of our explorer. I showed proficiency in this competency by learning thoroughly about my explorer, then implementing that knowledge into my comic book with helpful drawings.

The final and second explorers competency was “Establish historical significance”. Or showing what he was remembered for. I showed proficiency and extending in this competency as I explained who my explorer was, what he did and what he was remembered for all while creating drawing that helped get the point across.

Overall, I enjoyed this project. I loved showing my creativity through drawing and making a comic book. I also learned so much about cells and diseases and explorers. I learned how the explorers of the 1500s influenced so much of today and we probably wouldn’t know half of the stuff we knew today if they hadn’t took the time to explore, map out and take initiative to make a new place to people to live. I learned how cells and diseases interact and I now have more than just a basic understanding of how the human body works and how it works on a microscopic level. I think this project was important and I think since both classes were combined, I learned a lot more through just one project.