Final Reflection

Plant life on campus!

When I first heard about group 4, in 9th grade, I was terrified. I remember imagining a very complicated and serious process that I was sure to not do very well in. However, this project was a lot more relaxed, engaging, and fun than I ever would have assumed. I really enjoyed the fact that we could delve into a wide range of topics, choosing something that we were actually interested in and were motivated to learn more about. I am, and was, very interested in plant life - we're learning about this in biology and I love the fact that you can see proof of your research blossoming all around you. When we were germinating our seeds I was so enraptured by the little leaves and plumule poking their way out into the world that I actually took two of our sprouts home and currently have them set out on my windowstill to germinate further. I've also planted some seeds in some soil outside and am going to start a small herb garden. I think that this process is amazing and I'm so glad that I got to explore just how resistant plants are. 

Overall, I think that this project had both it's positives and negatives. I think this project, for me, was all about transformation and learning - my eyes were opened up to so many different things, and I have definitely progressed as a person. I learnt what my own strengths and weaknesses are, and just how important it is to have a positive mindset and collaborate well with others. 

Working with my group members made me realise that though I am strong with regards to organisation, focus, motivation and working, I can sometimes lack the ability to let loose and relax in what I do. I need to be more willing to hand over to others when I take on a leadership position. 

I think a positive development of mine was the fact that coming into the project after the original wednesday meeting I was far more aware than ever of my weaknesses in the group (being overpowering and not letting others do as much work as they would've liked (despite my best efforts to integrate them)) and so I decided to take a big step back from my leadership position and let my other team members take more control. There were a lot of times when my group members would look at me for instructions but I tried to shift things towards their ideas instead. I think that the reason that Leya and I clashed a little on the wednesday meeting was because we both wanted to take on the leadership position, and we were tugging for control. I truly thought, on the wednesday, that I was letting my group members have their say - I would often stop to ask for their advice and offer them roles, and I would compliment people on their work, etc. However, despite my strengths in organisation, motivation and commitment, after some time to reflect I realised that perhaps I had not done as good as a job in teamwork as I had thought. The days after Wednesday were a lot better in terms of cooperation because of my acceptance and awareness of this flaw, and my work to improve it. For example, I tried to let the others, especially Gwynne, take on a major part of the presentation. I think everyone got along a lot better because of this increased collaboration. 

Nevertheless, though I am aware of my original weakness in collaboration, I feel that Leya was slightly harsh in her view and treatment of me during the project. I understood that she had wanted to be more of a leader, but I think she was also weak in teamwork due to the fact that she did not help me to improve through communication and consideration but more through irritation and a stubborn refusal to cooperate with me. During the day she dealt with her annoyance at me by withdrawing into herself and not putting her full effort into the project, spreading some negativity in our group. I think that a big part of working as a team is helping your group members overcome their challenges, and I didn't really feel supported by her. All the same, I am glad that I was made aware of my faults and was able to improve.

Gwynne and Naledi were very cooperative and supportive, and I got on well with them. Naledi was a good member of the group, consistently making quality contributions, whilst Gwynne was a hard worker and seemed very motivated. They were both adept at designing and setting up the lab, and worked very hard in finding articles about plant life on mars. 

I feel that I would probably score a 5/6 on this project. I feel that motivation was not an area that I was lacking in, due to my interest in biology and the natural world, and that I was very aware of my own strengths and weaknesses and have reflected thoroughly. However, I feel that I do not deserve full marks on this project due to the teamwork aspect. I think that I score a partial (1) in this section due to the fact that I did exchange views and put effort into collaboration and communication, but required the guidance of my teammates to realise that I was not putting my best foot forwards to change and collaborate. With this guidance I was able to collaborate with my group members, and I have now realised one of my biggest weaknesses - perfectionism and an overbearing character, when in a leadership role, because of it. I will be able to use this knowledge (and have already used this knowledge) to improve my collaboration in the future, which I am glad about.

This project has been a very educational experience in the whole. I now know what it will be like in the 'real world' after school, where people from all different areas must come together and collaborate. Sometimes collaboration can be a difficult task, but it is rewarding and very much worthwhile. I have learnt a lot about communication and teamwork during this past week, and I think this will be very useful as I progress in life. We could have done our lab slightly more accurately and practiced presenting a little more, but other than that I think we were very productive with regards to our project. I'm pleased with what I have achieved, and I hope that my other teammates are similarly happy!

Presentation Day!

Today we met at school at around 8:00 to practice and finish up our powerpoint before the presentations. We all met in the commons and then went down to the biology lab to collect our lab results. The lab had gone quite well, and we could clearly see that the testas had been ruptured and that the plumal's had grown a great deal. It was interesting to observe the fact that the bean exposed to no light (grown in darkness) had the longest plumals, and that the bean grown in normal light (our control group) was the only one that had developed a great deal of chlorophyll pigment (as seen by its green color, compared to the yellow color of the other beans grown in the light of lamps). This told us that the beans developed different pigmentations depending on the wavelengths of light that needed to be absorbed. Furthermore, we also observed that one of the seeds placed in the cup was always smaller than the other. We thought this was because the two seeds competed for resources.

I thought that our lab results were very interesting indeed, and that we did a good job designing and carrying out the lab.

After we had taken measurements and done some qualitative data collection for the lab we headed back to the commons and put it all into the powerpoint. We sat for a while and practiced our presentation.

Results of our lab - The effect of light on seed germination
Independent variable: The number of cm the bean was placed away from the light source
Dependent Variable: Length of the plumal

We then began the presentations! Watching the other groups present was a very interesting experience, not only was I able to discover and learn about a series of incredible investigations into life at the extremes, but I also managed to observe how team members interacted with each other. I liked how Josh's group did a talkshow for their presentation, I thought it was creative and very informative, and it was clear that they had done a great deal of research. The other groups all worked in various forms of media to enhance their presentations, another group doing a lab as well, which made the day far better. I was originally worried that we hadn't done the right thing and that we had slightly too many slides to our prezi, but by watching the others I grew more confident with what we had accomplished. I think that our presentation was unique due to our 'X-Treme show' clip and lab results, including the fact that we could pass round beakers with our results for people to see. I was glad that our audience found our video entertaining, and I think that our information was well organised and presented as well. The lab and video also added a more interactive aspect to our presentation, and I thought the audience were more engaged because of it. While we were presenting I was pleased to find that we all managed to say a great deal, Gwynne especially being given an opportunity to present her findings.

 I had tried to take on a smaller role in the powerpoint, so as not to control and dominate our presentation, giving my other team members more to do. During all of our meetings after the Wednesday activities I have done my best to surrender some of my control and let my other team members get more of a chance to do work, as I realise that this is something that I was weak at, and I think the group is doing far better because of it. I've been trying really hard to be less commanding and controlling in this project, and I hope that my team members have realised how much effort I'm putting into this.

In conclusion, today was very good for the group, we worked well together and presented the powerpoint really nicely. I'm glad that all of our hard work amounted in something that we can be proud of, and I think that I've learnt a lot from this experience - both about the natural world around me, and myself. 

Meeting 1

Yesterday we met at 7:30 in the commons to discuss our project. We went over what we had already done and spoke about our lab and presentation. Gwynne and I arrived first and did a small reflection for the group, going over our strengths and weaknesses and evaluating our labwork. We also went over her slides, as she was a little confused about what to say. I had done the majority of the research and was studying our topic in bio so I was able to expand on what we had on the slide. The rest of the group arrived at around 7:45 and we practiced reading out our slides together. There was a little confusion at first as to who was reading out what, but we found the plan we had created and everything was made clear.

After we had finished practicing our slides we discussed the lab. Our beans are currently in the biology lab, but there was a little trouble regarding temperature over the last few days. The temperature increased too much and the beans were not adequately hydrated. However, we managed to move them yesterday to a more stable location and we have been watering them consistently. Some of the seeds have broken their testas, but I have not been able to observe whether or not the plumal is actually visible.

To conclude, we still have to do a little more research and put in our lab results, but our presentation is basically complete and we have practiced our presentation and know what we are doing. We are definitely getting better at working as a group and I feel that we have all formed stronger friendships as a result.

Reflection 1

The real day of the project! Generally, I felt that we all did a really good job and worked pretty well together. I tried really hard throughout the day to be open to what other people were saying and include them in what I was doing. I recognise that one of my weaknesses is the fact that I can sometimes be a bit dominating with regards to work and projects, but I think that I improved a great deal in this area today.

Leya

We came together to brainstorm initially and decided to focus on our powerpoint and lab for the first part of the day. We had been thinking about the topic of our project for a while beforehand and decided to focus on plant life in the extremes, specifically in hot and dry locations (the desert). I was very enthusiastic about the project coming in, as I know that we all do biology and I think that it's really cool that we were exploring a topic that we were simultaneously talking about in class. Expanding on my knowledge in this way was definitely exciting for me. I felt like everyone was working pretty well together, and I pushed myself to be open to the ideas of the group members. There were times at which I disagreed with them, but I feel that I was open to new suggestions. For example, I wasn't sure that doing life in the desert was our best option, but I took into consideration the viewpoints of my other team members and we worked together to reach common ground. We bounced ideas off of each other, playing on our different strenghts and weaknesses - Naledi did a really good job collecting research about labs and plant life, and I feel that I contributed an equal amount of work (I had done a fair amount of investigation and thought about the prezi). I think that we were both very motivated and enthusiastic about the project - I am very interested in this topic, especially as we're covering it in biology, and I was eager to put together what we had all learnt to reach some conclusions. However, some of my other group members weren't as engaged at the start of the day, but I feel that they got more into it as we went on.

Naledi in her costume for the X-treme show

I could tell that Naledi and I were taking on the leadership roles in the group, which was a little strange for me (as I've never really been a leader before and have always been self-conscious about putting forward ideas), but I think was a good experience. I think taking on a role that had always been a little scary to me was one of my strengths on the day, and I'm happy that I managed to put myself out there.

Gwynne and Naledi decided to work on the lab together while Leya and I did the powerpoint. Leya and I summarised the data we had found for the powerpoint and discussed how to format it together. We all made a google docs where we put in our findings. This was useful as it helped our communication and collaboration considerably. I think it was a little hard for us both to share one laptop, but I feel that we both contributed fairly equally to the final product. Leya helped a lot in refining the information and assigning speaking roles to people. However, there were times when I felt that she wasn't putting 100% of her effort into what we were working on, and I was concerned that she wasn't as motivated as some of the other team members. There were a lot of times when I would let her take over the majority of the work and watch her focus waver a great deal. Nevertheless, she grew stronger as the day progressed and I think developed her understanding and outlook on the project a great deal.

Notes for the video

After we were done with our different parts we came together to make the video. I thought a video would be a good idea as it played on Naledi's talent at acting, which I thought would be really good to show off. I brought in some costumes for everyone and a camera, and then Naledi and I went around school and planned the video together. I recognised that I'd done a lot of the planning, so I gave Leya and Gwynne the majority of the lines in the video.

By the end of the day we had finished most of the powerpoint, our video, and the outline for our lab. However, we still have to perform our lab during the course of next week, reflect as a group and practice presenting. We're going to be checking up on our seeds in our lab each day of the week (I'm going to be doing it on Wednesday), and on Thursday morning we're going to meet to practice and finish our prezi.

Gwynne while filming for the video

I think that I progressed a lot as the day went on - I was originally very nervous about the project, but I grew a lot more comfortable with my teammates and the task at hand throughout. I got a lot more comfortable being a leader, but I did try to let my other teammates play an equally active role in the group. There were times at which we all retreated into our work and weren't really collaborating and I would often speak up to get ideas flowing and suchlike. I think that my strengths were my organisation, passion and excitement, and focus during the day, and my effort in trying to be a good leader for the group. However, I think one of my weaknesses was the fact that I could've done better in sharing out the workload. I feel that Leya and Gwynne may of felt that I was doing too much of the work and not giving them enough opportunities. It is sometimes difficult for me to trust in others and let go of control.
This was a very interesting learning experience for me. Projects and work are usually classroom based and quite restrictive, and this project was full of opportunities and freedom. It gave me a really good sense of what it will be like working after high school, with people with a wide range of talents and who you don't necessarily get to pick.

Flowers of a plant we looked at in the video

In conclusion, overall the day was a success, and I pushed myself to work well with the other members of my group and tone down my OCD regarding work. However, I feel that I could've done better with regards to collaborating with my teammates, and I recognise this as a significant weakness of mine.
Nevertheless, I can't wait to get back together with my group and continue working on the project next week - I will try to improve in the areas in which I am lacking and make use of my strengths. I definitely learned a lot about myself during this first part of the group 4 project.

THE X-TREME SHOW!

First Reflections

Our group has done a fair amount of brainstorming thus far regarding the project. We were very interested in plants tackling extreme conditions on Earth, as about 94% of Earth's surface is covered in vegetation and must therefore differentiate and adapt greatly to effectively tackle various habitats - from cold to hot, dry to wet. We wanted to explore how certain plants have evolved to deal with environments such as Antartica and deserts, whilst also considering germination and the basic features of xerophytes and other classes of plants. We wanted to incorporate chemistry into our presentation somehow as well.

Guiding Question: To what extent have plants adapted to suit the extreme conditions on Earth, and what opportunities does this present us with (with regards to climate change and astrobiology)? 

Natasha:

In our group 4 project thus far we have decided to base our project on biology - specifically the study of how an organism has adapted to extreme conditions. In biology we have been learning about the fact that seeds, even after placed in glaciers and very extreme conditions, have the ability to take in water and germinate. I found this very interesting, especially with its potential to aid humanity after deforestation has occurred. Seeds found in extreme conditions can still be used. Could these be placed on other planets to create life? Will plants evolve further to deal with problems that arise through global warming? These are all very significant questions at this point in time, and looking at how plants have developed thus far will give us a pretty good idea as to what will occur after temperatures rise and dramatic natural disasters occur. 

I expect to learn a great deal from this project, though I am slightly confused as to what it entails. Though we know we want to focus on plants we're not sure how to format our powerpoint so that it stays within the 30 minutes we have to present, and design a lab that can be performed within the amount of time we are given. However, through my research thus far I have already discovered a lot about plants (for instance about a resurrection fern, willow that grows horizontally to escape the wind, and lichen and algae that have adapted to survive the cold). I think that if we manage to do a lab we will learn slightly more, as we will be able to see the power of plants (with regards to surviving extreme conditions) in person and be far more motivated to dig deeper into this topic. If we do a lab I hypothesise that if we expose a seed to extreme conditions (for instance, temperature, pH, salinity, etc) then we will become enlightened to one or more resilient characteristics of seeds. Nevertheless, if we do not manage to perform a lab it will still be extremely interesting to analyze our data and draw conclusions about the potential of plants to survive global warming, the storage of seeds due to deforestation, and plant life on other planets [etc]. 

I'm really excited about this project - I think that it will be an amazing opportunity for me to learn to work well with those I don't necessarily know or have worked with much. This is such an important skill later on in life, as you never know who you're going to come across and have to collaborate with to reach a goal. Gwynne and Leya are fairly close friends with me, but outside the classroom, and I don't really know what it will be like to work on this sort of a project with them. On the other hand, I had never spoken to Naledi before this project and I look forward to getting to know her during our time working together. I think I know a fair bit about the strengths and weaknesses of my partners already and I look forward to letting them work with what they do best during the course of group 4. For instance, I personally feel that Naledi is quite good at coming up with lab ideas and working in this area, whilst leya and Gwynne are adept at research and analysis.
Personally, I feel strongest with visuals and creative aspects of the project, as well as research. I have already done a fair amount of work with regards to this project, deciding to make a video for our presentation and a powerpoint. I thought that the video could involve all of us dressing up as scientists and reporting on the plants around ISK and how they have adapted to suit conditions, as this would be really fun for us all as well as very engaging and cooperative. Making a video together will test our ability to work as a team and place us all in a more carefree and fun environment, allowing it to be easier for us to all open up.

 I feel that I have taken on a leadership role in this group, as I was the one who originally came up with this topic (using what I was learning in biology as inspiration) and organised the planning and work. I don't often step into a leadership position, and I think it's nice to be so very involved in this project - it shows I am comfortable with my teammates and confident in my abilities and knowledge. Even so, I have already encountered a few challenges with this position. I have constantly been reminding my teammates to reflect before the project or meet with me for brainstorming and received very little in response. However, I recognise the fact that I can sometimes be slightly imperious and overbearing due to my perfectionist nature and the fact that I get stressed very easily, and that, as a result, I need to work on fully listening to the advice of others. I can foresee myself becoming slightly frustrated with my group if work is not done quickly, but I recognise the fact that I need to immerse myself in the cooperation, communication and other team skills involved in group 4 rather than becoming too worried about our final result and letting this cloud my progress in these other areas.

I plan to take photos of my group and I throughout the day tomorrow, keeping track of our progress for this blog. I hope that everything runs smoothly and that we're productive and work well together!