ER GCE Portfolio

9.25.22 This week in Unit 1 of my STEAM class called population, we learned about many different animals and how scientists use the defining characteristics, and taxonomy (studying living organisms to classify them in different categories to study further and identify) to identify and categorize organisms. We also learned about elements of a set which is any collection or group of objects which may be mathematical (In our case it was not mathematical but instead about organisms and their taxonomy) . For our first action project we had to pick an animal and research its characteristics and taxonomy. Additionally, we were assigned to create a collage representing those characteristics. We next had to compare each other's organisms to one another to create a Venn diagram comparing their features. For the math portion, we had to come up with 5 math statements about our animal using the sets and elements we learned. I decided to research the Serval (L. Serval). Here is my table on the c...

In our humanities class 'Stories' we have done lots of writing work and metaphor analysis. This past three-or-so weeks we have been working a lot with figurative language, and etiology (the study of causation or origination) specifically in mythological standards.  For instance we examined Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology to find origin stories like the formation of earth through the dead body of the giant Ymir in Norse mythology.  Using this as a basis we moved on to our action project.  Writing our own creation story for something and creating etiology for how it got its name.  I personally loved this Norse story for the creation of earth or Midgard, so I wrote the creation story for Earth with my own twist.  Hope you enjoy...                In the beginning there is only MT (Em - tee), a vast blank place with nothing but a void. MT was created when the Gods breathed life into the void. From this came a cataclys...

 Today my class finished up the first action projects of  our sophomore year!  We have begun the first week of our Humanities core class: Stories.  Since we had little under a week to learn about and complete this 'trial AP' we focused mainly on a mini-unit that involved mythological creatures and their symbolism. On Wednesday August 31st we took a trip to the Poetry Museum where we explored the Monica Ong exhibit.  We visited this exhibit to try and elicit some inspiration for the project.  Monica Ong had unique ways of portraying her poetry and artistry.  She used things like tarot cards and a 'viewmaster' to display her work.  Unfortunately due to lack of time I was not able to implement any of the ideas this trip provoked... Perhaps in a future AP or FP something inspired by this visit may still  come around.  Our project was to create a mythological creature of our own that symbolizes positive change in one of the sustainable develo...

      Today we finish up the first action projects of our sophomore year. Week 1 and done!!! We have begun the first week of our Steam class: Population.  Our AP’s this time involved 2 concepts phylogenetic trees and taxonomy. Our project was to create a mythological creature of our own that symbolizes positive change in one of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s).  My mythological creature was the Beagle. A bee with eagle wings.  The Beagle was thought up to represent SDG 7 -sustainable access to energy.  Here’s my slide show with some facts on the beagle and it’s phylogenetic tree.      After completing this short AP I have a few things to note.  First, since we have only been in school for less than a week there wasn't a whole lot of material to learn from.  This in my opinion made this action project the most engaging to me.  It gave me more room for personal creativity, and since we had more than enough time in ...

  This blog post is a special one! It marks my last Action Project for Freshman year.  In our Food For Thought class we talked about agricultural revolution and Borlovs place in cementing cross breeding into our eating habits forever.  We spoke about the down sides of the things we eat and the way we produce them.  For instance we saw how monoculture caused the death of millions in Ireland.  We worked to understand Pollans 5 food transformations and how they changed the way we eat. For this action project we took the opportunity to make our own version of Anthony Bourdains 'Without Borders'.  We tried making our own food comparisons and reviews using as many creative descriptions for what we were eating as possible we would buy one from a restaurant and the other we made ourselves.  I decided to make spaghetti simply because I wanted it and I decided to follow my ayurvedic taste.  Above is my video of my food review. My ingredients I used to make ...

 Over this whole year our GCE  STEAM class took 3 thematic courses - Water, Fuel, and food. All three classes connected to one another, here how. Water is a basic necessity required for many processes. It can be used both as a fuel - hydroelectric plants and in fuel since water or H2O is a result of the combustion equation.  These both connect to food because through the fact that water is an important component in cooking as well as growing the food, and fuel also necessary to cooking and denaturing the ingredients.       During this last course - food  we talked a lot about the Green Revolution, and Norman Borlov.  We learned about how he learned to cross breed to create stronger more resistant crops for use in countries like Mexico that were starving due to crop diseases like the rust fungi. We considered the upsides and downsides to this such as the way it made plant resistant to the rust fungi but required extensive amounts or water and ...

 During this unit, morosely titled 'Death'  of our Food For Thought class we looked into the past to see how food and and food production had its negative effects on the world.  We explored things like the Irish potato famine, slavery, wage slavery, and even more recent topics like baby formula shortages and industrial farming.  For this unit we made our own model version of a UN position paper that focused on SDG 2 zero hunger. We all chose our own target to report on, I chose SDG 2.4 - ensure sustainable food production systems. Here's my video on how we can start making agriculture more sustainable. Script: Did you know agriculture is responsible for 10 to 24 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Ironically, according to the University of California, agriculture is also quite sensitive to the changing climate that has followed. The target of SDG 2.4 is to ensure sustainable food production systems. This target's focus is on the farming techniques used b...