Reflection Week: Week 1

On the first week of school, I learned about the fundamentals of chemistry, such as the process is more important than the answer, it is important to form a consensus, and to not worry about grades and to know everything.

On the first day of school, I learned that the process is more important than the answer. Even though an answer is important in order to know something, the process is really important because if you only know the answer and not the process, then you can't explain how you got it. So, I realized that a correct process helps get to the correct answer.

During this week, I participated in two interesting games both involving a consensus.

For example, I played the cube game where we all had to guess what the bottom face was. My group and I guessed it was 20 because we were noticing the tape on some of the faces, and we saw two of them on the #5, #4, and #1. Ee multiplied these numbers by two and added them together to get 20. Most of the class, however, said 6 because some of them thought of the cube as a dice, or some of them thought that it was logical. Others said 0 because it came before 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, or one group suggested that it could have been nothing.

Next, we had to come to a consensus, and we agreed that it was, most logically, 6.

But, we found out that there wasn't a face at all. The cube was really a box. I realize it now because I noticed a black line on the bottom of the box, indicating that it was a box because the inside was not exposed to any light.

In a class activity during this week, I participated in an activity, which consisted of 32 cards, and that in eight groups with four students each, you have to meet up with people based on a grouping of these cards in categories.

In this activity, I learned about a consensus, which is an agreement that everyone makes based on their conclusions of their experiments and whether or not they think their data is correct, and the golden rule is that everyone has to agree.

Of course, there was some conflict. For example, many people argued about the placement of Mars in the candy group and believed it should have placed in the planets group, and whether Mercury should have been placed with cars or planets. However, everyone eventually agreed with the organization and categorization of these objects.

During this week, I learned about the basic purposes of Lino and Evernote in the computer lab. Lino is a site where you can post notes, and you can connect with ChemT3am to post notes during class so that everyone can see them during class discussions and lab experiments, and Evernote is a site where you can schedule the dates of your tests and the dates to take reassessments. But, I also learned that these sites are important in this class so that I can use them to learn about chemistry with technology "at the tips of my fingers."

In the computer lab, we also learned that we could use Google Drive to exchange class documents and perhaps homework assignments. Also, I learned that day that I could just use Google Chrome instead of the outdated Internet Explorer, so I am very glad, and I use Google Chrome whenever I am in the computer lab.

Also, we learned about TwitterProject180, which is used to post tweets on Twitter involving reflections on class discussions and lab experiments. Additionally, I noticed that this could be used to predict what might be on the assessments. These discussions on Twitter, in my opinion, are used to discuss many things that we have learned, so that we can be more prepared, and it makes learning unique and exciting.

Lastly but most importantly, I have learned that in this class, grades don't matter. I realized that it matters if you really learned it. A grade only indicates, as my dad once said to me, how well you take tests. But, how well you master the criteria is really important in helping you succeed in this class.

Based on what I have learned this week, the connections and ideas I can make are that in life and in this class during the year, a consensus has to be made in order to solve a problem without conflict, and everyone has to agree. I learned that technology can be connected to my education, and I learned that I could use these sites in order to participate in class and after school.