Comprehension
of Science/Chemistry Content Course Enduring Understandings
I have grown to have a stronger comprehension of science content
as described in the program and course Enduring Understandings.
1. Chemistry of Living Organisms
What this piece of evidence
is...
This is an example taken from the second chemistry
course with Christina Jacobs. Before class began, a
"Pre-Class Assignment" was completed as a baseline of my understanding
of biochemistry and organic chemistry. Below you will find a
section of the assignment as well as a section of a quiz that shows my
new understanding on the fifth Enduring Understanding of the
course: The bonding within a
molecule also determines its stability (and therefore its chemical
properties.) Chemical reactions often can be understood by
analyzing energetic stability of the reactants and products.
Why I chose this and how this illustrates my growth
in the area of comprehension of content enduring understandings...
This piece clearly exemplifies my understanding of
how the bonding within a molecule is connected to its chemical
property; therefore, the physical features of a molecule determines its
chemical reactivity. Because the baseline assessment and the last
item on our Unit 4 quiz provide a clear differentiation of my knowledge
in the fifth content Enduring Understanding, I chose to use this
piece. I realized that I grew considerably in my
understanding of the links between the physical bonding of molecules
and its chemical stability. As
the highlighted
portion of my Pre-Class
Assignment shows, my understanding of the Biology of Living
Organisms course's fifth Enduring Understanding was minimal prior to
taking the course. I was only able to explain the correlation
between
stability and reactivity of a molecule, but I was unable to provide
examples or expand my explanation. By the Unit 4 quiz, however, I
was able to give a concise example of how the bonding within a molecule
determines its chemical properties as the last item of my quiz
4 response demonstrates. On the other hand, I could have
explained ATP hydrolysis more clearly at the end of my response when I
state, "When new, stronger bonds are formed, energy is exerted, and the
new molecule, ADP, contains the energy." Contrary to the last
part of that statement, energy is exerted when one of the three
phosphate groups in ATP is transferred, and the products are inorganic
phosphate and ADP. When a phosphate group is transferred, ADP
does not "contain" the energy that has been released, but the energy
can either be released as heat or transferred as potential energy to
another molecule. Because the bonds that are broken in the
reaction are weaker than the bonds that are formed in the products, the
chemical reaction is an exothermic reaction. This explains why
ATP is high energy, less stable, than the products. With further
analysis and feedback of this item on my quiz, I have a clearer
understanding of ATP hydrolysis and how the high energy reactant, ATP,
and water creates more stable products, ADP and Pi.
2.
Principles
of
Biological Science
What
this
piece
of evidence
is...
This is an example from the biology
course with Ingrid Waldron. Periodic quizzes were given during
this summer course, and below you will find a
section of Quiz 1 and Quiz 4 that show my improved understanding on the
fourth Enduring Understanding of the
course: The word theory (as in
the theory of evolution) is used by scientists to refer to an
interrelated set of principles which explain a broad range of phenomena
and are supported by extensive evidence: importance of multiple
types of convergent evidence, varying degrees of certainty, not just
true or false, and scientific method as an iterative process, with
refinement of hypotheses.
Why I chose this and how this illustrates my growth
in the area of comprehension of content enduring understandings...
The difference in my explanations in item 2 on Quiz
1 and item 1 on Quiz 4 shows that my understanding of what scientists
mean by theory deepened as
the course progressed. It is important to have a thorough
understanding of the nature of science as the fourth Enduring
Understaning explains. Because my responses in the quizzes
provide a clear distinction of my knowledge of the fourth content
Enduring Understanding, I chose to use this
piece to express my growth in content understanding. I noticed
that I grew considerably in my
understanding of science as an iterative process with refinement of
hyotheses.
As the comments
state regarding my response to item 2
on Quiz 1, my
response lacked detail, for I had a vague understanding of the fourth
content EU. Though it was addressed prior to my taking of the
first quiz, my understanding of scientific theory was limited as I gave
an unclear explanation of how scientific method as an iterative
process, with the refinement of hypotheses is illustrated by research
result concerning the relationship of health to overweight and excess
fat in humans. By the fourth quiz, on the other hand, I was able to
give a thorough response to item 1
where I explained what scientists
mean by the word theory and how the theory of evolution meets
scientists’ criteria for a scientific theory. My response
to the first
item on Quiz 4
demonstrates my comprehensive understanding of the use of the word
theory by scientists.
3.
Physics:
The
Foundations of Science I
What
this
piece
of evidence
is... This is an example from the first physics course with Larry
Gladney and Bill Berner where throughout the weeks with the two
instructors, weekly EUs were addressed, and one that was at once and
repeatedly addressed was: What
measurements we make and how we make them are critical. The
piece
I
chose to show my growth in this EU is the second
homework
assignment from the very first week of class where we were
presented with the challenge of accurately finding various measurements
including the volume of my body, the time it takes a person to mow a
football field, the amount of rubber put into the air in the United
States. The highlighted portions of the assignment are the areas
in which I could have been calculated more accurately. To
evidence my understanding of this EU, I highlighted portions of two
separate group lab reports: the Motion
Lab and Granite Lab.
The
motion lab was conducted to test the equations for motion
(acceleration and velocity) with an air track instrument and sonic
ranger, and the granite lab was conducted to determine whether the
Earth was made of granite while using the formula for density.
Why I chose this and how this illustrates my growth
in the area of comprehension of content enduring understandings...
The assignment painstakingly depicted the
importance of the Enduring Understanding as I meticulously measured,
estimated, and researched to find various measurements and to ensure my
accuracy. At the end and after receiving my assignment scored, I
realized that indeed, my accuracy was determined by the measurements I
make and how I choose to make the measurements.
After
receiving my scored assignment and discussing various methods of
measurement, I found that there are ways in which I could have found
more accurate measurements for some things such as the volume of my
body. Instead of measuring the volume of each of my limbs and
body, I could have used water displacement. Though I do not have
a concrete piece of evidence demonstrating my growth, I would have
never expected one form of measurement to result in a more accurate
measurement than another form.
I always believed that as long as
one is careful with one’s measurements, the results would be
accurate. This is not true, though, when it conducting
experiments that have many many sources of error, such as in the motion
lab. Our care in measuring velocity was independent of the
accuracy of our data because how
we made our measurements was very critical. Here, we made various
measurements at different times and places in our graph in order to
collect accurate data about instantaneous velocity. In the
granite lab, we had to use a given measurement of the Earth in order to
compare its density to granite. In the analysis of our work, it
is important to recognize the sources of possible error or
uncertainty. The granite block we used to calculate the volume of
granite was not a perfect rectangular prism, but we realize that the
most accurate measurement we could make is with units of
centimeter. We then
converted the units into meters in order to make an accurate comparison
of densities. We also
measured the mass of the granite to the 0.1 gram with the most accurate
measuring device that was available. Throughout the labs, I
realize that the tools we use to make measurements have a great effect
on our calculations, and my group and I used instruments that we
believed would provide the most accurate measurement.
Since that physics course, I constantly find
possible
places of measurement error, and I find myself regularly questioning
data, statistics, and numbers. Prior to that second homework
assignment,
I would not inspect numbers so critically, and I believe the emphasis
on this EU through the labs we did have made me a better problem solver
and thinker.