Sebbi Neises' Digital  Portfolio

 Understanding Topics

In science class, I have grown in understanding scientific principles. These are statements about science that cannot be changed at all. We write these in the first few pages of our science books. At the beginning of the year, I did not know any of the scientific principles or understand any of the types of energy. By asking clarifying questions, I helped myself and other students who may have been afraid to ask questions. My evidence for this is that on my ls2 test, I could correctly determine what energy is and the factors that affect it. I did make a mistake by stating that sound energy is potential because I thought that it had the “potential” to make sound. I studied using my foldable that I made in science class to help better understand the different types of energy. The purpose of this endeavor is to explain my growth in science. Every day, we sit down and do a Daily Prep. The Daily Prep tests our understanding of scientific principles by asking a question that has to do with the scientific principles. Some Daily Preps are easy to answer, and some are not. That is because there are still some terms that I do not understand.

 

For my first artifact, I will use my foldable. This is located in my binder. The purpose of this is because it shows different types of energy. It does not show all types of energy, but we do update it periodically. I will define one type of energy to prove that I understand this. Gravitational Energy is when an object is elevated above reference point. Reference point is the floor or any object that the system is displayed. The factors that effect this type of energy are, the mass of the object and how high it is elevated. The higher the object, the more gravitational energy that object has. This type of energy falls into the Potential Energy group because it has the potential to fall. This shows growth because it shows that I took good notes on this topic and will be able to use them on further tests. This also shows growth because I used this to understand the scientific principles.

 

For my second artifact, I will use my study guide for the test over energy. This is also in binder. The purpose of this as an artifact is because this included all the types of energy that we went over so far. I used this to help get an ok grade on the test. I did not do perfect though because I did not read the whole study guide and find key terms. Maybe on my next study guide, I could R.A.H.A it. R.A.H.A stands for Read, Annotate, Highlight, and Answer. We do this when we do readings for homework. This helps me remember important parts from the reading. The next day after the reading, we usually take a test to see what we learned from the reading. The main topic in this though, is the scientific principles. We had to know what factors affect different types of energy. I think that I did best on that part of the test because I used my foldable to study what the factors are. The factors that affect kinetic energy are mass of the object and speed of the object. Anything moving has kinetic energy. That is actually a scientific principle. This shows growth because I used the scientific principles on the study guide to fully understand the questions that would be on the test, and mentally answer them.

 

For my final artifact, I will use my scientific principles page. This is in my science book. The purpose of this being an artifact is because these are all true scientific statements that I used to not understand. That’s when I started to ask questions about this topic as well as reading over the scientific principles more then once. This would help me remember the principle and make sense about it. After this, we made our foldables. This is the product from the scientific principles. It defines energy and factors about it. It also includes the principle that goes along with that type of energy. A factor is something that affects another thing. When I think about it, factors are almost like controls. The most interesting scientific principle to me is, “Anything that is elevated, has gravitational energy” because it makes me think that any elevated object even if it isn’t moving, has energy. This shows growth because I used critical thinking for the scientific principles, especially the ones that don’t seem possible or are weird. Even the computer that I have typed this on has gravitational energy.

 

This will help the future me because I can know make sense of scientific principles and under stand types of energy. I can use this knowledge from this on future tests and quizzes. I will also use this knowledge when I become an engineer that makes anything.

 

I need to further develop this skill by remembering what sub-energy goes with what energy. I can’t remember what type of energy sound energy is. I know that it is kinetic because it is moving but I always think that it is potential energy because it has the potential to make sound. It’s a terrible habit.