My Declaration for a New Course

In the first unit of Argument at GCE, we learned about how to properly structure our own arguments. To give us historical context as to have this has been done successfully, we analyze the Declaration of Independence and how the colonists made their argument against King George. For our Action Project, we were asked to write our own declaration for a new course at GCE using the concepts that we have learned. For my declaration, I choose to write about an advanced mathematics course.

LS. (2017) Class Discussion

As much as I’ve loved my time at GCE, there are also some things I would change if I could. One of these things is college readiness and the level of math. Because of the way GCE structures and teaches classes, I feel that many students are not as prepared as they could be for the next step in their academic careers.

I believe that education is not a privilege. Every person in the world deserves the right to know how to have the basic skills to function in a sophisticated society. The purpose of school is to prepare for the future. For some people it’s preparing for a deeper level of education and for others it could be starting their careers. Either way we learn things in school that are essential to all potential paths. I propose a class called advanced mathematics. In this course, students will have a personalized program to propel them to the highest level of math before they graduate. However, the goal of the course is not only to help students learn a higher level of math, but to also help them understand why they are learning it and where they could potentially use it later in life. Also, I hope that after taking this course, student will better understand the reason why they are learning math in school.

Personally, I've always loved doing math. Because of this, I think it's easier for me to understand the true value behind it. I've also been in many situations when applying to a school were certain a certain level of math was needed to apply but I hadn't reached it yet.

A good example of how people in the past used math to be successful is how Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan helped NASA do calculations for their space missions. Not only were these three people women, they were also African American. These women used math to liberate them from the idea that women could not do a "man's" job. Also, while not directly related to math, Phyllis Wheatley tried to promote change in other while her poems. In a way, I'm doing something very similar with this course. Something needs to change with how students think of math at GCE and around the world and I hope this course can help to start to do that.

Guiding Question: How can students use math to prepare for their future?

Course Details:

- The course would be one full term towards the end of senior year. However, in order to prepare for the SAT, the school may choose to teach it to juniors during the winter or spring.

- Most deliverables would not be large assignments. Each piece of homework would be small but focused on ensuring each student retained the information taught each day. New concepts would not be introduced in at home deliverables.

- The resources I would need are as follows: math teacher, classroom, writing materials

p1: Math is used in almost every aspect of your day and knowing more about it can save you money and valuable time. Also, even if you do not decide to go to college, knowing math can get you better paying job positions.

p2: A higher understanding of math can help you get into a better school or further your academic endeavors.

p3: The literal learning of math teaches a discipline of memorization and helps students develop conflict resolution/problem solving skills.

c: Math is an extremely valuable skill to learn for futures may or may not contain academic pursuits.

Overall, this syllogism tries to explain that both the principal of learning math and math itself can be valuable in anybody's life. That math can be valuable not only in the way that many people have viewed it, but in new ways that most high school students don't yet understand.

Usually, when people think of an independent study, they think of one person working alone all the time. However, collaborating with others can eventually lead to you being better as an independent learner. This is because after getting taught by someone else or working with another person, you can better apply the new tools and techniques youve learned to your independent studies.

Building a Camera

In the first unit of my STEAM course Light, Sound, and Time, we learned about the many different aspects of light. During our internal investigation, we explored light waves, radiation, and the electromagnetic spectrum. We also learned about similar triangles and graphing skills to help us understand the math concepts behind the waves of light. For our Action Project, we had to make a camera and use it to show our knowledge on the behavior of light and reflection/refraction. To demonstrate our mastery of the math learned in the internal, we applied our knowledge of similar triangles to create a diagram of how our camera captured the light.

LS Camera (2017) LS

In order to capture the light of an image, my camera has a very small pinhole opening in the front as well as a cover to prevent light from entering the camera while I'm not taking a picture. When light enters the pinhole, it gets inverted and projects the image on the other side of the camera. To capture an image, I put a piece of photosensitive paper inside it and let it sit out with the pinhole exposed for 2 minutes However, for some reason, the picture I took did not come out right and just showed darkness. Along with the photo taken with my camera, I also did a photogram. In order to do this, I placed objects on photo paper and while in a dark room, shone light over the objects and paper for 5 sec and then developed the photo.

When constructing my camera, one of the first things I did was paint the entire inside of it black. This is because black absorbs light while white will reflect it. Black will also ensure that the inside of the camera stays as dark as possible and does not ruin the film.

Photogram (2017) LS

During our Internal Investigation, we learned about the differences and similarities between reflection and refraction. Refraction describes light passing into a different medium and bending. Reflection is when light bounces off of surface. Based on these definitions, neither apply to my camera. The light in my camera is simply projected through the pinhole and onto the film. Another thing we learned about was whether light was a particle or a wave. According to our findings, light is both a particle and a wave depending on the situation. Since light can pass through another beam of light, it can be a wave. Since light can transfer energy when it hits a metal sheet, it can be a particle. In my camera, light behaves like a wave because of how it passes through the pinhole and onto the photosensitive paper.

Math Diagram (2017) LS

The diagram above describes the relationship between the object I photographed, the pinhole of my camera, and the distance between the pinhole and the paper. My object was 6.25 in tall, the height from ground to the pinhole is 5 in, and the distance from the pinhole to the film is 5.25 in. Using these three measurements and what I learned about similar triangles, I calculated the distance the light traveled from the object to the paper and the angles between the light and various parts of the camera. As shown above, the light rays pass from the right where the object is, to the left where the film is. This not only gives me a better understanding of the path of the light waves, but also applies the math concepts of trigonometry/geometry that we learn in class.