BE ENTREPRENEURIAL!! 10M SST

This is something we did a while ago, but I did not blog on. In social studies we had been working on a future planning unit- working on concepts such as money management, future career and entrepreneurship. I created handmade cards to sell, designing the packaging, and organising the cost and shipping. The aim was to create a product that was going to bring in profit. We needed to do the necessary research into marketing and online financial transaction methods- this was a big focus for me as I already had a functioning product. We moved on before I got a chance to properly finish my research but I still thought it would be a good thing to have on my blog. Below is the slideshow containing my work. 

Genetic Disorder Poster: SCI 10M

During Science, our class has been working on a topic called Genetics and Evolution- as part of this unit we are required to research a type of genetic disorder/disease/condition and present it in a poster format. This will then account for 50% of our overall mark for this topic. The reason for this is because we have been doing student oriented learning system- this is where the members of the class get to design how we are going to learn. Most of us liked the idea of creating something visual to represent our work, so we compiled our work into a poster. Another factor that influenced our poster making was the feedback Matua Ihaka had received from the class- a large amount of us disagreed with having our entire grade based on the results in our tests, as most of did relatively well throughout the unit, but might not do so well in the test. Anyway, this is the poster I created on Albinism. 

DTY Y10: Cybersafty

 

Level 1 Physical Education: Renegade Hockey Reflection

 Today I would give myself a 5/5 for effort and participation in this training because I believe I participated fully in the lessons activities and tried my hardest to improve the skills I have developed. As far as skill progression is involved, I would give myself a 1/5 for development and performance- not to downgrade or downplay my efforts, I simply believe that recognizing the potential for improvement is one of the keys to success in sport. We have also only scratched the surface of renegade hockey, learning the fundamental basic skills needed to be able to play effectively. I can’t wait to see how much I am able to improve myself in this sport, even in the short amount of time that we have. 

Although we were not given a name, our team worked hard to communicate in the short time we had to play. It was our first chance to practice the skills we had developed in a ‘game’ environment. It was interesting to see how much we retained, and how much was disregarded the moment we were put in a slightly more competitive situation. I believe that there is a difference between being able to effectively perform the skills in a controlled setting, and being able to perform the skills in a game. If we are able to semi-master this by the end of this short unit, it will be a big improvement both in our ability as team players and in our own individual selves. 

I’m proud that I improved my ability to trap and dribble the ball, as both of these are essential skills when playing the game. It also showed the improvement in my hand-eye coordination ability over these past two lessons, which as I mentioned earlier, is one of the factors I want to improve in this unit. I also feel that any opportunity to test and strengthen your teaching and leadership skills is important- these opportunities are enabled by the peer coaching system of learning we undertake in this class. I feel that ‘practice makes perfect,’ and I am proud that I am able to test myself each time I make an effort to teach other people about a particular skill. As important as that factor is, it is also equally important to be an effective listener and I believe that my desire to achieve as much as I can in the short space of time is driving my ability to make the most of the information I am given. I also scored a goal, which is a once in a blue moon occurrence so I was very proud of that. 

Something I found challenging was working in a team- however, just because it is challenging does not mean that I did not enjoy it. I believe that working with other people is always going to test your abilities both to communicate and work as one with other people. I participate in mostly individual sports- swimming and running- so getting the chance to work in a team is both challenging and fun. Getting to witness how other people operate, sharing victory… and loss, building ties- a team environment is both a place where you can be pushed, capability wise, and improve knowing that you are not only improving as an individual but as a team. This is why I would say that, although this is what challenged me the most, it was also the aspect of our learning today that I found the most enjoyable. 

ROBOTICS: The 'Chillout app'

During Robotics we have been working on apps- creating them from instructions, and inventing our own. Below is an example of an app I created from instructions called the 'Chillout App' which plays different soothing noises depending on what button you click. We had to create the physical part of the app- the bit you would see when published- and then write the code which would bring our creation to life. I have taken screen shots to illustrate the different components of this app, which can be seen bellow:

This is the work place where you create the app. You have multiple functions to choose from that help bring your app to life. The image on the far left illustrates what the app looks like on your phone. 

When you go to run your program you have to chose to connect chromebook which brings up this screen:

You select MIT AI2 Companion and click OPEN. 

Finally you should see a progress bar appear and then you can open your MIT companion to run your program.

Please bare in mind that it will not work unless you have downloaded the MIT AI2 Companion onto your chromebook. 

Third icon to the right. 

SST - Managing the Environment: HYDROELECTRIC POWER

We have finalised our topic of Future Planning and moved into a 'Managing the Environment' unit which aims to teach us all about the natural world around us- more specifically looking at the environment and how it is impacted by human activities, spending time researching things like resources, Three Waters, and calculating our ecological footprint. At the moment we have been focusing on three main resources: Renewable, Non-renewable and services. The information below is from my brief research into Hydroelectric power, a form of renewable resource. 

Hydro power is an alternative form of energy that generates power and electricity through the natural flow of water. It is a renewable source which means that it cannot be depleted- unlike fossil fuels which are non renewable and on which we currently rely. Hydroelectric plants utilise the natural flow of water and use it to turn turbines- the action of which then produces electricity and power. 

However, all good things come in moderation, and hydroelectric power comes with certain restrictions, should the technology become normality. Water restrictions would have a more profound effect during the dry season, and moderation would need to be a concept more strongly enforced. 

Like all other forms of renewable energy, installing the necessary facilities to create hydroelectric power would be pricey- but if the government can afford to bring in laws that protecting gorse bushes (SNA), they could afford to invest some interest into a sustainable future for the citizens of this country, by providing cleaner and more affordable energy. 

All in all, hydroelectric power would put us on the path to solving many of the problems we face today- pollution being the main one. If we can invest some interest into figuring out a solution, and research  how we can harness the natural flow of our waterways, the future could begin to look more sustainable. 

Key Concepts SST

We are currently finalising a 'Future Planning' unit for social studies, concluding the topic by researching key concepts, as well as reflecting on our learning. We are preparing for our year eleven options and looking at career possibilities for the future is becoming the focus of our learning in many classes. The following are the key concepts we have been researching: 

CAREER

A career is a professional path or occupation which is undertaken for an extended period of your lifetime and from which one can derive financial benefit. A career can also be defined as a long-term financial profession determined by your goals, ambitions and interests. For example: if Amanda loved to help people and chose to pursue a job in the medical field, and then became a doctor, this would be her career. If Amanda loved helping people but did not derive a profit from her actions, then that could be defined as a hobby. Your career is not your end goal, it is the journey it takes to get there. 

ENTERPRISE 

An enterprise is generally an original idea that has been developed into a small business. It is a project or undertaking which is designed to provide financial benefit and potentially grow into a larger business. Often, enterprise can have a high risk factor, meaning that it is created with the high possibility that it will not succeed, or not provide much profit. For example: Karen buys one bunch of six bananas for $3, and sells each banana for $1.50. She sells all six, subsidising the three dollars she paid for the bananas originally, and making $6 profit. Now she can buy two bunches of six bananas for $6, sell them at a price of $1.50 each, subsidise the six dollars, and make 12 dollars profit. Now she can buy four bunches of six bananas, sell them for $1.50 each, subsidise the twelve dollars used and make a profit of $24. And so on and so forth. The risk factor here would be the idea that people would not be prepared to pay $1.50 per banana. 

ENTREPRENEUR

An entrepreneur is the brains behind the enterprise- they are the ones generating the idea. Generally an entrepreneur develops an original idea into a small business to provide profit, much like the banana selling example above. As mentioned before, these ideas come with a high risk factor- they are built with the knowledge that they could fail. An entrepreneur takes financial risks with their idea in anticipation of a profit. So to summarise, an entrepreneur makes the best of an opportunity or idea, aware of the financial risks, in the hope of making a profit and capitalising the idea. 

WALT DISNEY

As we have previously determined, an entrepreneurial person is someone who develops a high risk idea into a business to create profit. Based on the idea that enterprise is a high risk idea developed into a profit organisation, we can identify the moments in Walt Disney’s career that define him as an entrepreneur. When he was 18 years old he pursued a career in newspaper artistry- he then began experimenting with cameras, creating his very first animations. He then opened his own business and flourished from there. What I haven’t mentioned is that he suffered a substantial amount of hardship in his career, hence showing us the high risk element of starting his own company. He became bankrupt numerous times before he came to be known as the Founder of Disneyland. I chose Walt Disney as an entrepreneur because his career shows us the extremes of entrepreneurialism, and is an example for all people struggling to find their dreams- passion, determination and hard work can help you reach your goals, regardless of the obstacles you might encounter along the way. 

Career, entrepreneur, enterprise- three concepts which correlate into our current future planning unit. These concepts all have something to do with providing financial profit, which is, in essence, a fairly fundamental part of our ‘future.’ How I relate these three concepts to our current topic is the idea that they all revolve around a fairly significant and prominent aspect of our futures- money. Career- the pathway you take in life to make money, enterprise- a high risk idea for a business, and entrepreneur- the people who make these high risk ideas reality. All these concepts tie in with our plans for the future, which is why they relate to ‘Future Planning’ as a topic.  

This topic is working towards planning forward into our futures. This is particularly applicable in our current situations as we are choosing our year eleven options, beginning to direct our learning towards the career path we wish to take. Future planning is a unit devoted to educating students about financial choices and giving us an introduction into the real world ideas of money- it is also allowing us to think in depth about our career paths. To compare the two situations- the topic and choosing our year eleven options- the topic teaches us to look into the future, after schooling, at what our career choice will be, requiring us to choose a definite job to base our research on. Our year eleven options teaches you to, yes, to look into the future at your career, but also to keep your options open, literally and figuratively. The similarities are that both look into your career, and ‘planning’ for the future. 

This topic revolved around identifying a career choice for the future- choosing a definite job profile to do our research on. This topic was challenging for me because it required forward thinking and research, identifying and accounting for different variables before coming to a definite answer. I had trouble deciding on a career to investigate because I didn’t want to feel constrained by that choice, even though it was just for a research project. This topic also allowed us to investigate the realistic financial requirements to exist comfortably in our society today, challenging our perspective on money and the idea that it does not just grow on trees. 

Change is the result of action, action is the result of… well a whole host of different factors. This topic has helped me break a mental barrier I previously had- the idea that determining your career choice now, confines you for the future. This is not true, and it is only through this project that I have come to terms with that fact. Through this research investigation I have learnt that never wanting to give something a go for fear that it will restrict you, means you will never try anything. Pretty impressive discovery. So how does this research project become an action plan for change? Well it gives people a realistic idea of the financial requirements needed to live, it gives people an insight into their career interests, it allows people to devise their own action plan for life. This research project gives students the ability to feel more independent about their career choice, this is the action plan for change. Allowing students to be more independent, and gain an idea of their career paths before making career altering decisions, makes students more prepared for change after they leave school. The action plan for change, is preparation. 

This topic has reviewed a multitude of different concepts regarding our future- finance, career paths, business. This unit has allowed us to address our plans for the future, looking into our career paths and the realistic requirements for living in our current society. As previously discussed this is particularly relevant as we approach year eleven, when the time for choosing our options looms near. This topic resulted in several mental breakthroughs for me personally, and all in all this topic has been thoroughly mind broadening. I would conclude by saying that this unit has educated me in the realistic requirements needed for existing in today’s society. Comfortably.