2014-2015 C.E. School Year Reflection:
Throughout this school year I was exposed to two broad areas in Science. I gained a basic knowledge in Chemistry and Physics. We learned how to identify general characteristics of elements using the placement of them on the Periodic Table and did not only learn the characteristics by memorizing them. In Physics we learned how to compute basic equations for a variety of different quantities.We can now switch basic equations as we please, to find a variable that is not already set equal to. We learned about how objects move, about energy, and force.
Many times over the course of the school year, we did hands-on activities to learn. Of the many that we did, my two favorite were the Flame Test lab and the Egg Drop lab. In the Flame Test lab we took samples of transition metals and burned them under a Bunsen burner. Different metals burned in different colors, for example Magnesium burned a brilliant white and Copper burned an emerald green. The Magnesium was so bright that we could not look at it directly. The Egg Drop lab was the lab where we had to protect our egg from impact after being dropped from high heights. We had to absorb shock from a variety of different heights and ultimately from a helicopter. We used shock absorbing materials like foam, but the foam was too hard so the egg broke after being dropped from the helicopter. In retrospect, I would have made the design our of egg "case" out of bubble wrap, foam pellets, and polyester fiberfill (stuffed animal stuffing).
The Science final was a very fair test. It tested us on the key points that we had to know. I did not do well on my test partially because I forgot to study for one of the topics that was going to be tested on. Next time I will take a closer look at what I have to study.
We went to Defy gravity. Defy Gravity is an extremely fun trampoline park and we had almost the entire place for ourselves. We could play dodge-ball in a place full of trampolines, and they had a foam pit that we could jump in. After two hours, we were really tired.
The Boat Regatta was the last big Science event we had. We had to race our cardboard boats from one side of the Echo farms pool to the other and back. My group consisted of Ben, Andrei, John Stewart, and me, of course. Our boat may not have been that good, but Ben and I practiced paddling, watched different boat regattas, and developed a strategy. In the end we got the second place time.
Although we were able to participate in the Boat Regatta, I still liked Chemistry more than Physics while studying them, for the sole reason that I am better at it than Physics. This just made it more enjoyable for me because I would understand it faster, and be able to apply it more.
My thoughts on Science changed drastically throughout the year. Because I have almost completely taught all of my prior knowledge of Science to myself, I really loved being taught it in person. Normally if I didn't understand a topic, I would just move to another paragraph in the book, but now I can understand a lot more. This caused me to enjoy learning Science even more because I didn't have all these gaps in my knowledge. During the second semester I also grew less intimidated by Physics.
Now that this year is over, I am looking ahead to next year's topic: Earth and Environmental. We will learn about Geology, the oceans, the atmosphere, and about Astronomy. Of these 4 sub-topics, I am looking forward to Astronomy and Geology the most. It will be interesting to learn about the cosmos.
Among the things I look forward to doing in the next year is improving efficiency. I need to work on focusing for prolonged period to get work done faster. This will drastically increase my efficiency. I also need to adopt better studying techniques, and studying everything that could be on the assessment. Including increasing my efficiency, I also want to get all A+'s on my next Science grade. I didn't achieve that this year.
All in all, this year was a great year to learn and grow. I learned a lot about Physics and Chemistry, and filled in the numerous gaps in my former knowledge. See you next year!
The Science final was a very fair test. It tested us on the key points that we had to know. I did not do well on my test partially because I forgot to study for one of the topics that was going to be tested on. Next time I will take a closer look at what I have to study.
We went to Defy gravity. Defy Gravity is an extremely fun trampoline park and we had almost the entire place for ourselves. We could play dodge-ball in a place full of trampolines, and they had a foam pit that we could jump in. After two hours, we were really tired.
The Boat Regatta was the last big Science event we had. We had to race our cardboard boats from one side of the Echo farms pool to the other and back. My group consisted of Ben, Andrei, John Stewart, and me, of course. Our boat may not have been that good, but Ben and I practiced paddling, watched different boat regattas, and developed a strategy. In the end we got the second place time.
Although we were able to participate in the Boat Regatta, I still liked Chemistry more than Physics while studying them, for the sole reason that I am better at it than Physics. This just made it more enjoyable for me because I would understand it faster, and be able to apply it more.
My thoughts on Science changed drastically throughout the year. Because I have almost completely taught all of my prior knowledge of Science to myself, I really loved being taught it in person. Normally if I didn't understand a topic, I would just move to another paragraph in the book, but now I can understand a lot more. This caused me to enjoy learning Science even more because I didn't have all these gaps in my knowledge. During the second semester I also grew less intimidated by Physics.
Now that this year is over, I am looking ahead to next year's topic: Earth and Environmental. We will learn about Geology, the oceans, the atmosphere, and about Astronomy. Of these 4 sub-topics, I am looking forward to Astronomy and Geology the most. It will be interesting to learn about the cosmos.
Among the things I look forward to doing in the next year is improving efficiency. I need to work on focusing for prolonged period to get work done faster. This will drastically increase my efficiency. I also need to adopt better studying techniques, and studying everything that could be on the assessment. Including increasing my efficiency, I also want to get all A+'s on my next Science grade. I didn't achieve that this year.
All in all, this year was a great year to learn and grow. I learned a lot about Physics and Chemistry, and filled in the numerous gaps in my former knowledge. See you next year!
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