Measuring your world DP write up
Project overview:
After wrapping up our "scaling your world" project, we began to expand our measurement course by diving into volume as well as dimensions. We launched this unit by reviewing one dimension, mainly focusing on Pythagorean theorem. Then we began to work with the second dimension, which strengthened our skills in sine, cosine, and tangent. Then, using right triangle trigonometry, we began to solve for more complex two-dimensional shapes. We closed this project by using the areas of circles and polygons to master volume: the third dimension. To showcase our growth and learning the class wrapped up the unit by creating our own mini project and using the skills we've gained to achieve a final product and presentation.
"Design your own project" portion:
Description: |
For this portion of the measurement unit, students were tasked with creating their own project around volume, all with the goal of finding the volume of a certain object. In a group of two, my peer and I decided to measure the volume of a bundt cake before and after it was baked to see the increase-or decrease in volume. For our end product we created a presentation that displayed our findings as well as our success and challenges.
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Project sheet: |
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Math content and solution:(Click through slideshow to see maths solution/process)
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Reflection: |
Personally, I love creating my own mini projects since it showcases student work that is led by their own passion and creates a project that the student can connect to best. This portion of the project allowed me to grasp volume in my own way and have fun while doing so. A success I faced was applying this math concept to the real world as well as presenting my findings to my peers about a topic I felt confident in. A challenge me and my partner saw was during the baking process when we didn't follow the habit of a mathematician "staying organized" and missed a step to our recipe. A reason this is a challenge is due to the science behind baking and how the cake rises in the oven, which could of been jeopardized had we not caught our mistake early on.
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Overall reflection:
Through our measurement unit I feel that I have grown academically and become a more confident mathematician due to class notes, one on one questions, and being able to explore measuring volume through an interest of mine. The unit itself has proven to bring me and my peers one step closer to understanding the world of maths. The biggest takeaway i got from this project was that when you're able to find something in the real world to connect the maths to, it helps visual learners like myself and helps us to grasp the concept even more. Through this project I also relied on habits of a mathematician to guide me, such as "starting small" when me and my partner completed multiple drafts to ensure we had a game plan as well as all our ingredients. Another habit I used was "staying organized" when it came to our math calculations as well as catching our baking mistake due to our organized layout. Overall, I have gained skills from this unit that I will use to further my knowledge on the concepts we covered as well as the mathematical concepts that are yet to come, and I look forward to taking on the next unit we cover and taking on more challenge options.