This is my second year of high school engineering! This year's homework is a lot different than last's. Above is the homework we received during first quarter. It's basically a case study using forensic engineering. Each week we watched a video about an engineering disaster. Then, we'd fill out these worksheets to the best of our knowledge. The homework contained questions like, "5c. Why? Failure CAUSES - Procedural Analysis: Summarize Human elements contributing to the failure (lack of training, mis-use)?" and "3e. What? Legal / Financial Liability: Cost of legal penalties and cleanup?". I enjoy this homework and find it interesting to learn about engineering disasters in contrast to engineering successes. (Which is kind of what we focused on last year.)
Which 21st Century Skills do you feel this assignment addresses, and why?
I feel this assignment addresses information skills, because not only am I finding answers in the video given to me, I am doing my own research to find answers not specified in the video.
What are you most proud of from this assignment, and why?
I am proud that I completed one of these each week for six weeks. I did enjoy the homework, but for me personally, it wasn't just a 20 minute assignment. I often had to re-watch sections of the video, or skim through the video trying to find an answer that I missed. Sometimes, just trying to figure out how to word what I want to say is hard. Overall, these assignment take me 30-45 minutes, which is about the same as other classes, perhaps a bit longer, but I'm still proud of completing them and turning them all in on time.
How did you develop and/or improve upon your 21st Century Skills with this assignment?
I improved my information skills, because before this class, I've never tried getting my research information from a video. For some reason I had figured they'd be less credible than an article, when in reality that is not always the case.
What was most difficult about completing this task?
The most difficult thing about completing these assignments was the just the fact that they usually took 30-45 minutes. Most of the information can be found in the video, so the homework is quite easy in that sense, but actually sitting down and doing homework for 45 minutes straight could sometimes be difficult.
How could you improve this work? If you could start over, what would you do different?
I feel that perhaps at the end, (on homeworks 4 and 5) I started slacking a bit. It was at that point when I was getting a bit tired of these types of homework, but I was able to pull through and get a 100% on the engineering test that used the skills I learned from these works.
How does this relate to what you have learned in the past?
As previously stated, these assignment contrast what we learned last year. Although we are basically learning the opposite of what we learned in the previous year, I feel the two go hand in hand. Somehow it just feels fitting that we learned about successful engineering structures, and now we are learning about structures that have failed.
How can you apply this to future learning?
I can apply these skills to future learning, because through these works I've learned how to analyze and asses failed works. I have a feeling these skills will come in handy with our upcoming engineering project. (Building a hydraulic arm completely out of cardboard.)
Which 21st Century Skills do you feel this assignment addresses, and why?
I feel this assignment addresses information skills, because not only am I finding answers in the video given to me, I am doing my own research to find answers not specified in the video.
What are you most proud of from this assignment, and why?
I am proud that I completed one of these each week for six weeks. I did enjoy the homework, but for me personally, it wasn't just a 20 minute assignment. I often had to re-watch sections of the video, or skim through the video trying to find an answer that I missed. Sometimes, just trying to figure out how to word what I want to say is hard. Overall, these assignment take me 30-45 minutes, which is about the same as other classes, perhaps a bit longer, but I'm still proud of completing them and turning them all in on time.
How did you develop and/or improve upon your 21st Century Skills with this assignment?
I improved my information skills, because before this class, I've never tried getting my research information from a video. For some reason I had figured they'd be less credible than an article, when in reality that is not always the case.
What was most difficult about completing this task?
The most difficult thing about completing these assignments was the just the fact that they usually took 30-45 minutes. Most of the information can be found in the video, so the homework is quite easy in that sense, but actually sitting down and doing homework for 45 minutes straight could sometimes be difficult.
How could you improve this work? If you could start over, what would you do different?
I feel that perhaps at the end, (on homeworks 4 and 5) I started slacking a bit. It was at that point when I was getting a bit tired of these types of homework, but I was able to pull through and get a 100% on the engineering test that used the skills I learned from these works.
How does this relate to what you have learned in the past?
As previously stated, these assignment contrast what we learned last year. Although we are basically learning the opposite of what we learned in the previous year, I feel the two go hand in hand. Somehow it just feels fitting that we learned about successful engineering structures, and now we are learning about structures that have failed.
How can you apply this to future learning?
I can apply these skills to future learning, because through these works I've learned how to analyze and asses failed works. I have a feeling these skills will come in handy with our upcoming engineering project. (Building a hydraulic arm completely out of cardboard.)