What was the hardest part of this task? Easiest? I think the hardest part of this task is figuring out your dependent variables and how you’re going to measure them. For me, I didn’t really want to do anything with frequency because I thought everyone would do it, so I decided to measure amplitude. However, I didn’t really know what units amplitude used, especially since it’s measured in meters. I had to do some research about how to measure of amplitude using digital apps and digital measures. I thought the easiest part was making the instrument because it was actually fun, so it didn’t feel like work.
One of the Approaches to Learning (ATL) suggested for Science in the MYP is stated below:
Social skills–Practise giving feedback on the design of experimental methods
Discuss the statement above as you reflect on your planning and building of your instrument. I thought the way that this summative was designed, it gave a lot of room for others to reflect on our instrument and for us to reflect on our instrument. By having to explain to the class and give a demonstration, I think the students were given a chance to think about what they wanted their variables to be and how they wanted the class to view their experiment. It makes people really think about what they want to do in their experiment if they know other people will listen to them talk about it.
How successful was your instrument in the 5 tests? Which test(s), if any, did your instrument fail? Be honest! Discuss your ideas on how to improve your instrument. I think my instrument didn’t do very well in holding up throughout the whole of the project. The cardboard that held up the instrument was too flimsy to keep holding up the milk bottles, so we had to make some adjustments to the design of the instrument in order to help support the weight of the bottles and take pressure off of the thin piece of cardboard. We ended up having to cut foam and put it underneath the glass bottles.
Discuss why you built the instrument you did? Do you play a similar instrument? Was it an instrument you thought would be easy to be successful building, intrigued or challenged you? I play piano and violin, but it wasn’t really like them. It’s probably most similar to the piano however, the mechanics work differently. I would like to explore wind instruments like the flute Paul made because it seemed to work really well.