Helllooo, welcome back again, the latest project scimatics 8 has done is about…
Drumroll…
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The Kinetic Molecular Theory and the Atomic Theory, super cool I know, I know (by the way I will be saying KMT instead of Kinetic molecular theory and AT instead of the Atomic theory).
We started our projects like usual, with creating a mind map of stuff we know and wonder.
We also wrote on white boards about things we wondered as well. Here are some of the ones my class did:
Fast forward, and we learned more about the KMT and AT using work books and doing a gem stone ID challenge.
Since we now knew more information about atoms and molecules we had to create our own! We were able to use these in our finished project as well (more about what our end project was later). We had to use a chart template to draw our molecules on; here is mine (I’m semi-proud):
We did a quick test to see where we were at, then we headed on to creating our game, which is for your information, the beloved end project. Our game could also be a simulation as well; one thing was mandatory though in that it had to involve the KMT and AT. I chose to create a game.
Coding a game was hard because we had to use a platform called Scratch and I, 100 precent, over shot my planning. We had to plan out what we were going to do for our game in a Pages document. Here was my plan:
Soon I realized I didn’t have the skill to do this so I took away some hard details and I tried again. Yea, that didn’t work either and so I was struggling at this point because we didn’t have very long before it was due. So I ended up keeping things simple and created a question and answer game. It was a very stressful process for me even though it shouldn’t have been. I have definitely learned to shoot small then grow up from there since it will save me a lot of time. Here is my “completed” game:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655864114
When doing this project I found learning about all the different atomic model types interesting. It was cool to see that we have come from having just a plain sphere to understanding there are neutrons, electrons and more. I was able to write down my ideas and I knew what I was going to do. Even though it didn’t always work out I found I was able to spread my ideas easier doing this project. I feel like my coding could have used work and my game needs more finesse. My game does not have many puzzles but you have to use your memory to answer the questions. In my learning plan I said I will ask specific questions to help me understand more, and when I went to tutorial since I needed help on coding I was able to ask clarifying questions that helped me a lot. As I said above I need to improv at aiming at a skill level I am at, and since I aimed high this put me back a lot when coding my game. This project has definitely taught me things about how to improve my learning habits and more about the kinetic molecular theory and atomic theory. You can see how I have learned many things in my end mind map where i answered some of the questions I had: 
Answering the curricular competencies: 
Questioning and predicting: When I could tell I needed to look beyond the resources our school provided I went to my peers or searched online. Also, if any questions popped into my head about the KMT/AT or about how to code, I would try and seek the answers to help predict what might help me code or understand the theories better. For example, as i was creating a game showing many things about the KMT and AT and all we learned, I was curious and kept asking myself how someone could take a scientific topic and turn it into an intriguing game. I think I am a sun.
Scientific communication: When coding everyone in my class communicated with each-other so we all could learn more. Also, when coding my game I felt confident in knowing how to include scientific vocabulary/language.
Reasoning and analyzing: I think I was a sunny cloud since my end result was a bit messy but Im proud of myself for keeping on trying and adapting many times. For each sprite that was moving around I used the same code so it wouldn’t be too confusing for the player (or me). Also, having the sprite move around was supposed to make it more intriguing for the player as well.
I hope you enjoyed learning along the way with me bye <3