Summing it up...
Looking back on my year, the one project that really stands out to me is the encyclopedia project. This was our final project of the year, and for this project, we each chose our own math topics from the whole year and researched them. The ultimate goal of this project was to create an encyclopedia entry, complete with definition, examples, and skills, for our topic. I chose exponential functions, and spent about a month conducting interviews, researching, and working on examples. After I finished my definition, I collaborated with the other people who had done the same topic as me, and we created one large final encyclopedia entry. The project ended with a 5-10 minute presentation in front of our class to "teach" them our concept. I think that the reason that this project stands out to me is that it had relevant connections to what I'd like to do later in life. In my research, I found that exponential functions are used in the real world in biology and geology, which are both areas that I am interested in.
Semester Reflection:
Overall, it's been a pretty good semester. I have learned many new interesting and useful math concepts and applied them through several different projects. Throughout the year, I have developed and refined many new skills, but out of all of them, I think that the most important one is studying. Last year, and even last semester, I wasn't nearly as good at studying. Last year, I was fine not studying and was able to get a good grade even though I wasn't studying. However, at the beginning of last semester, I realized that I would have to step up my level of commitment in order to keep my grades up. This skill has helped me in all of our tests and projects this semester. Speaking of projects, I found that our final project, the encyclopedia project, was informative, but the working process was very challenging at times. During the group work part, I had a hard time successfully communicating with my group, partly because I was sick for much of that part of the project, my first partner was as well, and my second partner had a family emergency. Because of all this misfortune, I think that our final product was slightly less refined that it should have been, but I am proud of it nonetheless.
Semester Reflection:
Overall, it's been a pretty good semester. I have learned many new interesting and useful math concepts and applied them through several different projects. Throughout the year, I have developed and refined many new skills, but out of all of them, I think that the most important one is studying. Last year, and even last semester, I wasn't nearly as good at studying. Last year, I was fine not studying and was able to get a good grade even though I wasn't studying. However, at the beginning of last semester, I realized that I would have to step up my level of commitment in order to keep my grades up. This skill has helped me in all of our tests and projects this semester. Speaking of projects, I found that our final project, the encyclopedia project, was informative, but the working process was very challenging at times. During the group work part, I had a hard time successfully communicating with my group, partly because I was sick for much of that part of the project, my first partner was as well, and my second partner had a family emergency. Because of all this misfortune, I think that our final product was slightly less refined that it should have been, but I am proud of it nonetheless.
Exam Project
For this project, we wrote our final exam for the semester. To do this, each student wrote ten problems: three easy, three medium, three hard, and one ridiculous problem. We were also required to write problems from a variety of different chapters and types of problems. Over the next few days, we will go over everyone's problems and decide as a group which ones will be on our exam, which is scheduled for next Wednesday and Friday. By writing our own exam, we get to practice for our test and gain some insight into how to write a test. It is also a good way to revisit topics that we covered early in the year.
Linear Equations Mini-Project
One of several mini-projects that we have done is the linear equations mini project. Our assignment was to make either a graph or picture, then translate it onto a coordinate plane. Finally, we wrote equations for six different lines in our pictures or graphs, using different forms of linear equations. For my project, I drew a picture of a peak near Durango, then graphed six of the many lines that were made when I drew the mountain. This project was useful because it linked math to another subject: art.
Math So Far...
Math is going very well so far, and I have found that, like most classes, there I am better at some things than others. One strength that I have in math is being done on time. I have only missed one homework assignment, and the only reason I didn't turn it in was that I lost it. Other than that however, I have been very successful in turning in all my work on time. I think that this is very important because it helps me keep my grade up. One thing that I have struggled with in math this year is testing. I have gotten pretty solid A's on all of my tests, but I think that the number of corrections that I had on my last test (a total of six), was more than I should. To help fix this before the exam, I will study more than I have in the past.