Complex Model Reflection

When I began this project, the problem I came up with revolved around the relation of food to population. I wanted to know why we grow so much food, and yet there are still people who are starving. I came across a wonderful article that gave me percentages of countries by class that use how much food. Click here to see the article


After studying the pie chart, as shown on the left, I wondered how the countries were organized into classes. I looked at the resource that this pie chart use at this site.

Then I tried to brainstorm a way to show the relation of world population to the consumption of food in a system. I became stuck. I then was using the "Stumble Upon!" tool that was showed to us in class, and I came upon this amazing website called "Breathing Earth".

This site blew my mind! It shows the population of each country, the birth rate of each country, the death rate of each country, the world population, etc. (Keep in mind that the death rate does not include terrorist acts, natural disasters, etc.) It has so much useful and interesting information. I then started to think...how is the birth and death rate going to change the population of each country in the future.

I then settled on my new problem statement:Problem Statement: What will the population be in a specific country on a specific date be in the future? I went through the website "Breathing Earth" to gather information about eleven different countries. These countries represent a 50% sample of the world's population. I made sure to choose countries from different parts of the world from different classes. My first brainstorming list is in the following screen shot (click it to enlarge):

I gathered my population information from the "Breathing Earth" website on February 28, 2010 at 8PM. I make sure to specify this because that website is constantly changing because it is realtime. Before I created my system, I made sure to create a map of exactly what I want to do. Here is a screen shot of my map (click it to enlarge):











I then knew exactly how I wanted to build my system. To see how I built my system using formulas in Excel watch my video by clicking on this link.

My finished system is so fun to use now that it is finished! I can now choose any of the countries and type in any date in the future to get a predicted population of that country. Here is a screen shot of my finished system (click on it to enlarge):

The user can input data into the yellow boxes: a future date and then click the drop down box to choose a country. Then automatically the predicted population, net change, and percentage of change appears. The system takes into consideration the chosen country's starting population on February 28, 2010, it's birth rate, and it's death rate.

Overall, I really enjoyed building this system. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about Microsoft Excel. I discovered many tricks and formulas that I did not know before! Students can use this system to see how population can change in different countries and see how the change is different all over the world. Students can also use this system to compare different countries around the world! I hope you enjoy and find it useful!

Reflection on Mini-Unit

When I was first heard the assignment for my problem-based mini-unit, I wanted to use Microsoft Excel. I started with a project revolving around the question “How can you tell how many peas are in a pod?” After listening to different examples of problem based learning in class, I realized that I would not be challenging my students enough if I went through with this project.

I then began to think about the different content areas that I am currently covering in class. One of the first content areas I was drawn to was Social Studies. I say this because the students in my class love it when they have an opportunity to have a discussion. My class also loves to disagree with each other with facts, brainstorm, and think things through.

I decided to open their world to the idea of freedom and civil rights. I decided to first show them many examples that surround people who are fighting for their freedom in different situations. One story that we read in my classroom is called “The Disguise”. It is about a young girl in Korea who at the time could not go to school because she is a girl. Her father and brother both die. In turn, her mother decides to dress her as a boy and send her to school. I love the fact that this story revolves around a young girl who is the same age as my students. It really puts things into perspective.

I also chose to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks in my mini-unit. These two people are very influential in the area of civil rights. After all of this information is presented to them, they have a good idea of different rights that may be important to them.

After having these ideas presented to them, I want my students to make a concept map surrounding the word “freedom”. A great website for students to make concept maps can be found at Webspiration. Here is a picture of a sample concept map that I put together using ideas from my students:

The students then have a chance to write their own Bill of Kid's Rights using the ideas that they brainstormed about! This was something I definitely wanted to try in my classroom. When I actually did this, the students were absolutely amazing! They loved sharing their ideas about what rights they should have. They also loved disagreeing with each other and sharing with each other what they believe. The discussion was well thought out and it definitely made them think!

Here is a sample Bill of Kid's Rights that one group of my students wrote:

As kids, we deserve the following rights because grown-ups have a Bill of Rights. So, this is our turn, except it is the Bill of Kid's Rights. We the kids want the right to vote! If we voted we think kids would make the right choices! And it would also make the election a lot bigger! Kids should and can have a job only during the summer. They should have this right because some kids don’t get an allowance. We want the right to ride around the block by ourselves on our bikes, and the right to ride in the street because we should be careful. We also want the right to call our friends just to talk to them. We want the freedom to talk to our friends on the phone because some kids can’t do that. We want the right to learn what we want to! We want to learn what we want because we can learn more about what we want to be when we grow up!

This was just one example, and there was a lot of discussion that just came from this. For example, many students disagreed with students being able to ride their bikes in the street. Their argument was that not all kids are responsible to do so.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this mini-unit. I also enjoyed making my presentation with a new tool that I found. Instead of using PowerPoint, I used Prezi. It is an online presentation tool that is so easy to use and it makes your presentations flow so nicely! I really enjoyed using it! Check it out!