Physicist Reflection

1. What type of learner were you in this unit? What specific behaviours/actions led you to your selection?

- I came into this unit wanting to be a committed knower and I think that I unfortunately became more of a received knower. I was genuinely excited to learn more about physics, even though it came with the connotation of being difficult. When we began the unit with such simple and easy to understand ideas, I was tricked into thinking I understood all of it when in reality, I didn’t. I wasn’t able to be a committed knower and take my learning to the next level because I was trying hard to catch up and learn what I was having difficulty comprehending. 

2. What was the hardest thing for you to grasp? How did you overcome the challenge?

- The hardest concept for me to grasp was the idea that acceleration does not only mean speeding up and that it can also be slowing down or changing direction. Also, the idea of constant acceleration and velocity confused me for a while. I overcame this challenge by going over multiple practice problems and labs we did on acceleration and velocity. It was helpful for me to write out the problems from previous worksheets with no answers and solve them again. 

3.   How did you study throughout this unit? Did this work for you and/or do you want/need to adjust your techniques?

-Throughout this unit I did a lot of sample questions and quizzing myself with my own notes. I think it would have been much for helpful if I had spaced out my studying intervals. A lot of the time I would attempt to learn a lot of information in a short period of time, when I should have been doing small amounts each night. My study techniques did not work out for me as well as I would have liked for them to and I plan on making those adjustments for the next units. 

4.   How did you take advantage of the opportunities to learn during class? What about ou of class opportunities? 

- In class I took notes and tried my best to record answers and ideas that I thought may come up later in class or on a test. Outside of the classroom, like in labs and while I studied, I always tried my best to do so actively. If we were pulling a piece of paper out from a bottle, I tried to keep in mind why this is happening and how it relates to physics and my everyday life rather than just trying to complete the task. 

5.   How do you predict you did on the unit test? Were you able to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts on the test? What did you learn from taking the test that you want to remember for future units?

- I think that I did relatively okay on the unit test. I know that I could have done better, but I think that it is a fair and honest evaluation of my knowledge for this unit. The only thing that I think is unfair is that each multiple choice question was worth 3 points, so if I got 3 wrong I got something like a 60% on that section. I found this frustrating and wish each one had been worth only one point but I suppose this helped me learn that I should try to use all of these concepts in different situations to get a more well-rounded understand of them for future units. 

6. What did you learn from my feedback during this unit? What are you hoping to get better at in the next unit?

- I learned that Ms. Lawrence is not trying to trick us. She is trying to help us do well in her class and if we put in the effort, we will do well. So, for the next unit I am really aiming towards trying harder and putting more time into my homework and out of class studying. 

7. What did you get better at during this unit? What are you hoping to get better at in the next unit?

- I got better at using mathematical formulas and switching around what I am trying to solve for. In the next unit, I would like to get better at taking notes and actively participating in every class. 

8. What effort grade would you give yourself for your efforts during this unit? What specific behaviours are you basing this score on? 

- I think that I would give myself a 3 effort grade for this unit. I made an effort to understand everything, but I know that I could have done more. I think that I deserve a 3 because I came into conference period multiple times when I felt unsure about the previous night’s homework or when I felt like I hadn’t been paying enough attention to the class time. 

9. Is there anything else you would like me to know about your experience or approach to the class? What questions do you have at this time?

- The only thing I want to make sure that you know is that I know that I have the potential to do much better in this class and I am ready to be much more determined and focused on setting and reaching goals for myself. 

What Did I Learn In This Unit? 

In this unit I learned about inertia, Newton’s 1st Law, net force, equilibrium, velocity, acceleration, and how to graph the equation of a straight line. At first glance this may seem like a lot of confusing concepts although, if they are all fully explained, they are very easy to comprehend. I will give a brief summary of each topic.

• Inertia: Inertia is properly defined as, “a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged”. An example of this is if you are trying to re-arrange the furniture in your room. It can be extremely difficult to get your desk from one side of the room to the other because it wants to remain unchanged and continue to do nothing. This is inertia.

• Newton’s 1st Law: Newton’s 1st Law states that, “things want to keep doing what they are already doing.” This law actually has a direct connection to inertia. Now we have realised that things do not only want to continue doing nothing, they also do not want to stop doing something once they begin. And example of this is kicking a rock. It may take some effort at first but once it begins to move, the rock will only stop eventually because of an outside force such as air, the ground, or an obstacle. 

• Net force: Net force is the total force placed on an object. Net force is measured in Newtons (N). Do not get confused with net force and mass. Mass is a measure of inertia which is measured in kg. If a man is pushing a box to the right with a force of 5N to the right, and a woman is pushing the same box with a force of 6N to the left, the net force on the box ends up being 1N.

• Equilibrium: Equilibrium is the point in which opposing forces become balanced. Take the same box as in the previous example. If the mad continues to push the box with 5N of force, and the woman now also pushes the box with 5N of force, the net force on the box will be 0N, creating equilibrium. When an object is at equilibrium it can either be moving at a constant rate, or remain in the same place.

• Velocity: Velocity is the rate at which an object is moving. For my podcast I actually explained velocity in less than 3 minutes. I think that Alexander da’ Costa and I did a pretty good job summarising velocity there. You can watch out video below . 

• Acceleration: Acceleration can be any of three things. Speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction. This can be very confusing as acceleration has always been grouped with the increase of speed, however that is not the case. The formula for acceleration is a=∆v/t (change in velocity / time). There are two more formulas that we are using for constant acceleration. These are the how fast equation which is v=at and the how far equation which is d=1/2at². If you remember these three formulas, calculating acceleration and other things based off of constant acceleration becomes very simple. 

• Graphing the equation of a straight line: Graphing an equation was one of the hardest things for me to do in this unit but now, I think I finally understand it. It is easiest for me if I look at the equation of the line in words/symbols instead of solely numbers.

An example of this would be 

y=4x + .002

If we put this into words we get 

Distance=.002(time²) 

A sample problem : A car increased its speed from 10m/s to 40m/s over 10 seconds...

What was the acceleration of the car?: 
a=∆v/t

a=30/10
a=3m/s²

If the car continues to accelerate at this rate, how fast would it be going after 10 seconds?:

v=at

v=3(10)
v=30m/s

If the car continues to accelerate at this rate, how far would it be after 10 seconds?:
d=1/2a(t²)
d=1/2(3)(10²)
d=1/2(1.5)(100)
d=1/2(150)
d=75m

Overall, every concept we learned in this unit is extremely relevant and important to our everyday lives. Think about it, almost everyone gets into a car on a daily basis (unless you are a boarder at Asheville School) but excluding us, a car is a daily mean of transportation. Understanding Newton's First Law and Inertia would have been really helpful in the beginnings of construction and manual labor. On the very first day of class, Ms. Lawrence told us that we would not be learning anything this year that was not 100% relevant to our lives, and she has kept that promise so far.

Hovercraft

Hovercraft

A) Riding the hover craft feels very different. It is fun because you can tell that you are being suspended in mid-air. If someone hasn’t tried it, I would recommend to hold on tight at the beginning and end. The start and stop can be abrupt and you can feel unstable. Riding a skateboard or sled is much different from riding a hovercraft because you do not feel the traction on the group as you would with the wheels on a skateboard or the flat surface of a sled. 

B) I learnt that inertia is present when riding the hovercraft. During that 2nd phase, gliding, you can experience inertia as you continue to move without a net force. Net force is present in the beginning and end of the hovercraft ride. You need a push to both start and stop. Equilibrium is found during the 2nd phase where the hovercraft is gliding again. 

C) Acceleration depends on the force applied to an object.

D) Constant velocity can be found during the 2nd phase.

E) Some members who had a bigger mass than others were more difficult to start and stop.

F) ...