Math is a subject that many people hate but all people need it if they want to become productive members of society. Math is something that I have always liked more than most other kids have. When I began grade 8 I was expecting a easy course, and I turned out to be clearly mistaken. If I was to say one thing that I learned most this year it would be learning how to fail. I didn’t like failing, as many people don’t at first, but in math this year I learned in real life that failing is a key to success.
The first project
Our first project may have been considered impossible. Without previously learning anything about Pythagorean Theorem, we were trying to come up with our own personal theories about the relationships between side lengths in a right angle triangle. I took grade 8 math last year and had already learned the concept of Pythagoras’ Theorem, so my teacher Mrs.Klausen said for me to try and advance my understanding of triangles in a different area. I chose to try and understand trigonometry a little better. The goal was for it to be from my mind only with no interference from others, internet, or books. My curiosity got the best of me when I went grinding through and old math book and looked for the answers to trigonometry. At that point I didn’t see the point in struggling to find my answers the way I do now. It was a good way to learn the basic concepts of trigonometry, but I know now that it would have been much better if I had ignored the math book.
The Door
Just when I thought that the first project was hard enough I got hit with another incredibly challenging project. The goal for this project was to increase the surface area on the door in our class by 3 times. The class split the door up into 8 sections and divided the kids into 8 groups of 2 or 3. My group included of Syrah, Sophia and me. We had to increase the surface area of the door by about 7000 cm2. To achieve the correct amount of surface area I created a Excel spreadsheet to help with our math. It took many days of refining the spreadsheet so that it was accurate. Even though it required massive amounts of effort to create the spreadsheet, it did save me a lot of work in the end. Working on the door project required a lot of patience to make sure that my group had the right amount of surface area added to the door. Throughout this project my group had many setbacks and problems that my group had to work out. For the project hitting the required amount of surface area had to be as precise as possible. It was very difficult to get the correct amount. It took my group 2 weeks to get the correct number. As frustrating as that was I learned that if I am going to succeed in PLP, and in all of life, I need to be resilient and ready to take feedback and failure.
On Deck
Currently I am working on a new project where we are creating a business and the math that is involved in it. We are going to create a non-profit business, that sells its product to the Seycove community. Currently we are in the planning phase of this project, and are learning about profitability and the secret behind sales. So far I have learned a lot about business in this unit and I am sure I will learn quite a bit more.
I have learned about many things this year in math and science, and I it has been very challenging. Not just about the concepts of math and science but the concepts of learning . I can only hope for more of these challenging yet fun projects this year so I can continue to learn, even if it means failing first.
