Reflection 1 on Progress Till Now...

Reflection 1:

I think I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked to till now. The summer break has actually caused me to become extremely lazy about the Personal Project. It was understandable during the last few days of school as we were having exams and that was the only thing in my mind. I have decided to finish most of my research by the end of the summer break. I have been keeping in touch with Ms. Kannan. I asked her to suggest ideas for my rubric. She suggested that I select levels of proficiency which will describe my final products progress. She gave examples like eggs, caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly or ingredients, batter, cake and then cake with icing. I think I will want to do the plant cycle which is seed, seedling, leaves and flower. Since my project is related to the environment and its growth, this would be most appropriate. 

Yavnika Kumar

21.06.12

AOI Statement - Paragraph 1

First Paragraph of AOI Statement - 

I have drafted the first paragraph of my personal project statement which will be identifying and explaining my topic. It will also include why I show personal interest in this particular project:

"Renewable Energy is a great way of saving our earth from environmental diseases such as global warming, pollution, resource repletion and more. My project is about environment and the consumption of resources, which has increased greatly over past few years. Renewable sources of wind and solar energy can be used to alleviate several issues the world faces today. Biomass, which is the usage of plant growth for energy, can save millions of resources that are being wasted consequently. I have always cared about the environment and followed environment friendly ways, which help the earth become a better place to live on. I have been linked with many energy projects in which I tried to establish the need to recycle and reuse materials. The environment has a huge role because it the first and foremost basis of our lives. Our actions on sustainable development and conservation are what improves and maintains our atmosphere. We have several responsibilities to our environment, which require deep understanding on every consequence that can occur. Therefore, I will be taking action on issues concerning our environment and what should be done to maintain and improve it."

I think I might need to refine some of the information because I feel I am repeating myself sometimes. Overall, I think I have nicely explained my topic and why I want to do this. 

Yavnika Kumar

21.06.12

Day Before PP Adviser Meeting 3

Tomorrow I will be meeting with Ms. Kannan again. I will show her my personal project AOI statement and will also make corrections to it. I will post the final copy as soon as possible. I have been wanting to meet Dr. Abhiyankar for a long time now and I think I should meet him this weekend as time is flying by and I need to get some work done. I haven't started my research at all yet and I hope I have enough time this summer. My goals are to complete the research by this summer. I will start my research report as soon as I come back to school. I hope Ms. Kannan will be assisting me greatly in this process. In the meanwhile, I will also be creating some kind of awareness for the issues I found by my research. This will give me a start on my integration with public process. I have some more things planned to do after I am done with my research. I will be discussing all of this with Ms. Kannan and since it is our last meeting before the school starts again, I would like her advice on some research strategies and how to commence it. 

Yavnika Kumar

7.06.12

Pre - Final AOI Statement

AOI Statement

                Renewable Energy is a great way of saving our earth from environmental diseases such as global warming, pollution, resource repletion and more. My project is all about the environment and the consumption of resources, which has increased greatly over past few years. Renewable sources of wind and solar energy can be used to alleviate several issues the world faces today. Biomass, which is the usage of plant growth for energy, can save millions of resources that are being wasted consequently. I have always cared about the environment and followed environment friendly ways, which help the earth become a better place to live on. I have been linked with many energy projects in which I tried to establish the need to recycle and reuse materials. The environment has a huge role because it the first and foremost basis of our lives. Our actions on sustainable development and conservation are what improves and maintains our atmosphere. We have several responsibilities to our environment, which require deep understanding on every consequence that can occur. Therefore, I will be taking action on issues concerning our environment and what should be done to maintain and improve it.

                The AOI context for my project would be environment because its regards resources found in our environment. I will be linking human activity and its effects on the environment. My focus areas are:

-          Awareness and Understanding:

§  The roles our environments play in our lives and well – being of humankind.

§  The effects of our actions, attitudes, and constructs, such as sustainable development and conservation.

§  Nature and the role of local and international organizations responsible for protecting our environment.

-          Reflection on:

§  Our responsibilities to our environments

-          Taking actions on:

§  A range of issues related to environments

I will be creating several small products such as models, posters, informational blogs etc. but my main goal will be to write a research paper on renewable energy. My final product will consist of relevant research pertaining to the topic and ways of preserving our environment. This will include reflections, interviews and surveys related to my topic, which will help me understand the basic issues. My specifications depend on the quality of my research work and my presentation of it in my multiple small outcomes. I would really like to make sure I am choosing relevant information pertaining to my topic for the research. If I am able to make a difference in any environment through my products, I will think that I have successfully achieved my personal project goal: to make a difference.

Yavnika Kumar

7.06.12

PP Adviser Meeting 2

On 28 May, 2012,
I met again with Ms. Kannan for my second meeting. I showed her my AOI statements first draft on which she gave me useful detail and corrections which I would have to make. She specifically told me to make AOI learning expectations explicit in my write up. We looked at the new blog I made and she advised me to start posting more posts whether it was research, thoughts, or reflections. So far, I have not been able to work a lot on my personal project. I am planning to finish all my research by the end of the summer break. She also agreed with me on this and said it would be better to start early than to finish late. We fixed that our next meeting would be on Wednesday June 6, 2012.

Yavnika Kumar

4.06.12

AOI Statement - Draft 1

This is the first draft of my personal project AOI statement:

Renewable Energy is a great way of saving our earth from environmental diseases such as global warming, pollution, resource repletion and more. My project is all about the environment and the consumption of resources, which has increased greatly over past few years. Renewable sources of wind and solar energy can be used to alleviate several issues the world faces today. Biomass, which is the usage of plant growth for energy utilization, can save millions of resources that are being wasted consequently. I have always cared about the environment and followed environment friendly ways, which help the earth become a better place to live on. I have been linked with many energy projects in which I tried to establish the need to recycle and reuse materials. The AOI for my project would be Environment because it regards resources found in our environment. The environment has a huge role because it the first and foremost basis of our lives. Our actions on sustainable development and conservation are what improves and maintains our atmosphere. We have several responsibilities to our environment, which require deep understanding on every consequence that can occur. Therefore, I will be taking action on some issues concerning our environment and what should be done to maintain and improve it. I will be creating several small products such as models, posters, informational blogs etc. but my main goal will be to write a research paper on renewable energy. My final product will consist of relevant research pertaining to the topic and ways of preserving our environment. This will include reflections, interviews and surveys related to my topic, which will help me understand the basic issues. 

I showed this to Ms. Kannan during one of our meetings. She appreciated my start and said that I should develop the paragraph more and make it at least three paragraphs. I understood that the first paragraph would be explaining my topic and identifying it. It would also include why I have personal interest in this area. The second paragraph would be identifying the focus areas and AOI context which are three sub topics: 1. awareness and understanding; 2. Reflection; 3. Action. The third paragraph would determine the product or outcome of the project and the specifications which are the criterion's. This would mainly be how I am evaluating the result of my project. 

Yavnika Kumar

4.06.12   

PP Adviser Meeting 1

On 16th May, 2012,
I met with my personal project adviser and we talked a lot about the project. The first thing I did was explaining the topic furthermore to Ms.Kannan so that she could understand it better. She gave me a couple of sheets on the AOI context and criterion sheet. She asked me to write my AOI statement based on a couple of things such as explanation of topic, basis of personal interest, focus areas, reflections, actions, products and specifications of the products. The meeting basically initiated the process of written work. Ms. Kannan explained to me what my project could lead to and what precautions I should take before it is too late. She even advised me on my product which is a research paper. At the end we simply discussed how the Area of Interaction deals with our project. My AOI is environment because I am doing research on our surroundings, resources and how they can be saved and preserved for future. We planned our next meeting would be Monday 28 May, 2012.

Yavnika Kumar

4.06.12