Semester 2 Reflection

During science this semester, I have developed various skills through our lab experiments and research. This semester, we worked through our physics unit and biology unit. This is a reflection of how much I have grown as both a scientist and learner this year.

In the biology unit, I practiced the desired student learning outcome(DSLO) of collaboration. This was when we had to dissect a cow's eyeball. I practiced this skill because to dissect this eyeball I had to collaborate with my partner to ensure that both of us were splitting the work equally but also doing the work correctly. In addition, I believed that it was important for both of us to understand the steps we were going through, not just blindly following directions. It was evident that my partner and I both understood and learnt a lot about the dissection of a cow's eyeball in this document, where we realised the purpose of parts of the eyeball and compared them to a human's eyeball.

Dissecting a cow's eyeball

My collaboration also improved this semester because I got to know my peers much better since we had all of the first semester to get to know each other. This helped me feel more comfortable when talking during labs so I asked more questions which enhanced my knowledge. This applied to several labs in which we had to collaborate in to achieve a common goal. For instance, when we had to extract DNA from a wheat germ, I had to trust my partner since this was a delicate procedure, as you can tell from this document. This semester, it was much easier to put my trust in my partner and collaborate to complete this procedure correctly.

During the biology unit, I not only practised the DSLO of collaboration but also that of cultural competence. This is because when we discussed about genetics, cloning was a touchy topic. Some believed that people should be allowed to create clones while other's completely opposed the idea. Therefore, I had to ensure that I respected both opinions and took into factor the ethical morals of doing such a thing. We went deep into this topic and even viewed examples in nature, Hollywood, and the science lab, as you can see in this document.

While I have written a lot on biology, in addition to this unit, we also had our physics unit. For our very last project, we had to create a mouse-trap car(a piece of wood with DVD wheels that moved because of the force a mouse-trap created). This project really tested my creativity, one of the DSLO's. This is because my partner and I had to come up with a way to make our car move a long distance which was difficult considering our materials. In the end, we decided to use a triangle design which wasn't a very original idea, but we had to be creative on how to make it work. 

As you can tell from above, I have improved a lot this semester. My ability to collaborate with my peers, my creativity, and cultural competence, have all grown, thus not only making me work better in a science lab but improve me as a learner!

Science Reflection of Learning #1 - DSLO

Throughout this unit in science class, we have been developing our scientific investigation skills, with particular emphasis on identifying sources of error, designing and setting up experiments, and analyzing data. Here at Singapore American School, we have Desired Student Learning Outcomes(DSLO), which are basically outcomes that we are expected to have in our classes. Below, I have written about how these DSLO's have connected to our science class.

One of the Desired Student Learning Outcome's that was addressed during this first unit in Science was Collaboration. Collaboration played a key role this unit as most of our projects were done with a partner. This partner was not a partner by choice, Mr Wilcox had chosen us specific partners that we were forced to work with.  An example of one of the group projects we had to do was the "Flame Out Lab" In this, even though we didn't write the explanation and make the graph together, the whole experiment was done by my partner and me.

Working with a person I didn't know, helped me understand how to work with people I wouldn't normally work with. I had to cope with this by collaborating my ideas and making sure that my partner and I both contributed equally. We had to also collaborate efficiently so that we were both doing something at all times to use our time productively. We had to assign jobs and help each other when needed. In addition, we had to trust our partner and that our partner would do the experiment right through collaborating and ensuring that our partner was doing fine and didn't need help.

Another Desire Student Learning Outcome that we focused on during Science was Critical Thinking.
We had to critically think specifically in the assignment, "Hot Water Problem". In this assignment, we had to do an experiment, gather data, but then had to write a claim, evidence and our reasoning, as well as our errors. This made me critically think because I had to connect my evidence to my claim through strong reasoning. I also had to think critically because I had to write down my errors, I had to reflect on my work and find out what I could've done better.

In addition to the writing aspect, we also had to critically think about other things. On the lab sheet, "Hot Water Lab.", we used our critical thinking to decide how our data should be shown, where and how the experiment should be run, as well as finding out the independent variable, dependent variable, and inferring an educated hypothesis.
This all required critical thinking as if we messed these up, our whole experiment could be thrown into jeopardy.  Therefore, critical thinking is not only used in reflecting but also in the whole process of doing the experiment.

In conclusion, I believe that the two most important Desired Student Learning Outcomes that we addressed in Science were Collaboration and Critical Thinking, as we used these too outcomes in the majority of our assignments. I believe that these two outcomes are extremely important no matter what age we are so I think that it is great that we are using them right now!

KEPE Investigation Question

How does the height of the can before release affect the time it takes for both cans to stop?

Solving Climate Change

CER

Why are there uneven distributions of oil, natural gasses, copper and geothermal activity around the world?

There are uneven distributions of copper, oil, natural gasses and geothermal activity around the world because when the Pangaea broke up into seven continents, they each carried separate natural resources with them therefore different countries got different natural resources.

Convection caused the tectonic plates to move all around which is how Pangaea broke up. When Pangaea broke up and South America separated, Chile became the world's largest copper producing country because there was an ore deposit forming subduction zone. This meant that when the oceanic crust and the continental crust met, ore rose up to the earth's crust carrying copper inside of the ores. When the tectonic plates crashed into each other, the Andes, the largest mountain chain in the world, formed. Beneath the Andes, a copper porphyry was made. Chile got the longest mountain range which meant that Chile got majority of the mountains found in one place. Chile also has about 500 volcanos which means that many tectonic plates crashed into each other causing more ores to rise and more porphyry's to form. Therefore, when Pangaea divided, the resources were unevenly distributed since Chile got majority or the mountains and volcanos. 

When the tectonic plates moved around and Asia broke off from Pangaea, Saudi Arabia was placed in a location that was right above sea where lots of oil lay beneath the seabed. Just like how Russia was placed above a sea where lots of natural gasses lay beneath the seabed. Oil and natural gasses are formed the same way, sometimes natural gasses are formed and sometimes oil is made. They were both made by decomposed matters, mainly of marine microorganisms, which were buried under many layers of rock and sand in an oxygen free environment. Underground, they were exposed to extreme heat and pressure. They underwent a thermal breakdown process where the matter was converted into hydrocarbon, which is natural gas. As for oil, it undergoes one more step, where after it is converted into hydrocarbon, over time, the hydrocarbon gets converted to a liquid which is petrol and migrates up to the surface. Therefore, when Pangaea divided, the resources were unevenly distributed because Saudi Arabia and Russia were located above parts of the sea which are rich in natural gasses and oil.

As for geothermal activity, when the tectonic plates crashed into each other, many subduction zones were created, where the heavier plates slipped under the lighter plates which created deep trenches. The plates moving cause the dense mantle material, which is the interior of the earth, into buoyant magma. This magma rises through the earth's crust and onto the surface. Over millions of years, the magma has created a series of active volcanos which are called the volcanic arc. The volcanic arc makes up the ring of fire. So, when Pangaea broke up, the resources were unevenly distributed because the countries making up the ring of fire around the pacific ocean, have more geothermal activity going on than others since there are more volcanos which create geothermal energy. 

In conclusion, there are uneven distributions of copper, oil, natural gasses and geothermal activity around the world because when the Pangaea broke up into seven continents, different countries got different natural resources than others because of their location.

Seed Germination

This the procedure I used to germinate my seed. This procedure is for lettuce seeds.

1. Fold a brown(if possible) paper towel in half and moisten

2. Lay the moistened towel at the bottom of a plastic container

3. Place seeds about ½ inch apart on towel(if doing more than one)

4. Place cover on the container and keep inside the classroom where it is away from direct sunlight and where the the aircon is coldest, as it cannot be kept in places with the temperature below 22 celsius.

5. Take of the lid of the container to let oxygen in daily for about 10 - 15 minutes

6. Add moisture, if necessary, by spritzing it with water. Spray the towel and the plant to prevent saturation with a spray bottle, if you have one.

7. If you notice mold growing on any seeds, remove them immediately from the container to prevent it from spreading.

Materials needed:

(Brown) paper towel

Plastic container with holes on top

Spray bottle(if possible)

Temperature:
22 celsius at the highest

Mid Unit Assessment

Question #1

Water Project Week 3

Originally, as I stated in my last blog post, Isabel and I had decided that we would participate in the bake sale but then we changed our plans because we thought that more people would come our goods were sold in a neighbourhood. We had already targeted our neighbours as we were handing out our brochures to them, so we decided that we would ask the people in our neighbourhood if they wanted to buy a bag of caramel squares and along with the squares I gave out my brochures. We encountered a problem as our brochures were printing the wrong way because of the format so we talked to our friend, Adya about it and she told us how to change the format so that it would print properly.  So we solved our problem. We also worked on our presentation that we are going to present to our science class.

Looking through a microscope: Onion Inner Membrane and Cheek Cell

My partner, Shreya, and I together looked through a microscope. Through the microscope we looked an the inner membrane of an onion and Shreya's cheek cell. We had to use iodine for this procedure to make contrast. Iodine causes stains that will never go and unfortunately Shreya got a splotch of iodine on her shirt. After we examined the cheek cells as well as the onion cells in low power(40x), medium power(100x), and high power(400x), we sketched out how both the cells looked in high power. We created two circles of which different cell sketches were drawn in each circle. Below are my sketches of the cells:


The first sketch is of the onion inner membrane. The second sketch is of Shreya's cheek cells.

Water Project Week 2

This Week, I printed out the brochures that Isabel and me are going to hand out to our separate neighbourhoods. We also finalised what we are going to do at the bake sale - as we still were decided on what to do last week. I talked to my mother about the bake sale and she gave me the idea to make caramel squares! Caramel squares are basically three layer biscuits which have caramel, chocolate, and a biscuit base! Isabel is going to write facts on the water crisis on the paper plates that I bought. We are pretty sure that we are going to do the bake sale on Wednesday as it seems more likely that more people will come on the first day, as people are excited for the first open of the bake sale!

Water Project Week 1

I decided that for my Water Service Project that I will work in a partnership with Isabel. The goal for our project is to raise awareness about the water crisis that we are facing right now in our world. Isabel and me decided that we would raise awareness through three major topics. The first topic that we figured out was presenting to a 4th or 5th grade classroom but then we decided that it wouldn't really spread awareness as the kids were too young to donate and they wouldn't really understand the topic so we replaced our first major topic with another topic - which was handing out brochures to our neighbours. This was a new audience that we targeted that we thought would understand our topic better. We have already finished the brochures so we're going to target our last two major topics. The second major topic is to bake baked goods for the bake sale which we will participate in. This will be held in the MS Foyer. Isabel and me will together next weekend bake the goods and will work on our third major topic which is to create a poster for our class. This poster will be presented in our separate 6th grade science class. The poster is our main priority and our next steps will be to complete the poster and to bake the goods.

People, theres Polio

Observing Daphia Through a Microscope

Today in science class, we observed Daphia. Daphia is also known as water fleas because of their appearance. Together my partner, Shreya, and me observed Daphia. We used a microscope as they are very small and hard to see with the naked eye. It surprised me on how the tiny water fleas looked as with the naked eye, they look slightly longer than a dot and are a murky brown, but on the microscope you a see a transparent curvish body with a brown head and brown tentacles. Their black eyes are very big, round, and clear. To capture pictures and videos of Daphia, we connected our microscopes with a plug to our laptops. That way we could see the water fleas on our laptop screen - preventing us from squinting at the tiny water fleas. We saw babies, mothers and fathers! Some people even so the mother giving birth, accidentally, some people smushed their water flea as they are very tiny.

Dogo News

Rainbow Bagels:
One thing that I found interesting was that the workers, and the restaurant owner would make "rainbow" bagels even if they can only make 100 bagels in 5 hours, in comparison to being able to make 5,000 ordinary bagels in the same amount of time. Maybe it's because they want their shop to be unique and get better business. I think that the rainbow bagels attract business because when you say, "I ate a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast" it's not very interesting but when you say, "I ate a rainbow bagel with funfetti cream cheese for breakfast" it's more exciting and interesting to hear. Perhaps they also make more business because the rainbow bagels give the illusion that it tastes better I mean if it's rainbow, it has to taste better, right?


Rainbow Bagel Information Link
Rainbow Bagels image link   



















Paper Battery:
One thing that I found interesting is that scientists and engineers have now evolved technology to create an invention that is a battery made out of paper! While scientists and engineers state that this is environmentally friendly, I cannot say I completely agree. I understand that it is better than polluting the air, but by using paper, they are cutting trees and destroying animal habitats. It is a step towards reducing air pollution and green house gases so perhaps near the future, the paper battery will evolve to something that doesn't cause air pollution but also doesn't cut down so many trees.

Paper Battery Image Link and Information Link

Chemistry Unit Reflection

Regarding chemistry, before I thought that chemistry was just a couple of flasks and beakers with perhaps a couple of droppers on the side. Maybe there were a few substances with many colours or some sort of liquid in the beakers or flasks, but that was it. That was all that I thought was chemistry.

Now I think about chemistry in a whole new way! I know what acids, bases and pH indicators are. I can now connect chemistry to my daily life. For example, the food that I eat like Oreos and cereal, all have chemicals as wells as acids/bases in them. From icepacks to glow sticks, everything has chemistry in it! From this chemistry unit, I have learnt about how acids and bases work as well as what pH indicators do. I thought that acids were all dangerous chemicals but now I know that acids can be dangerous as well as safe, I didn't even know what bases were! I even know the properties of acids and bases. For example, bases usually make good cleaning products and taste sour. There are many types of pH indicators as well like phenolphthalein and cabbage juice. I know connect acids and bases to my every day life. 

Submarine Reflection

Above is a photo of someone's submarine that they made using the equipment we were given.

When my partner, Shreya, and me, built our submarine we faced one main problem. We added an extra hole at the bottom of the bottle causing our submarine to only work once. In order to solve our problem we tried to cover up the hole with duct tape. Unfortunately no matter how much or how straight we applied the duct tape, it seemed to never close the hole completely. There was always some water leaking out. In the end we got a meeting expectations which was good although we knew that if we hadn't made the hole, we would of gotten exemplary. A life lesson that we learnt was problem solving. We were asked to write about why problem solving would help us in life so this is what I came up with. Problem solving helps you in life because as you grow older, even now, there will be problems that occur that you will have to solve. Whether its in maths, science, just a problem at home, you will need to solve it in order to complete what you wanted to complete. Our project taught us how to come up with strategies in order to find a solution, which we did as even though we didn't get exemplary we got meeting expectations.

Body volume

Volume

My friends and I estimate that I will be 50 cubes/litres/kg.
The actual result was 33.5 cubes/litres/kg!

Here is a photo of my results:

Science Poster