CREST Project: SWOT Analysis

CREST Project: SWOT Analysis

In science, we’re starting the ‘CREST’ project in a STEM field. Here is my analysis on how my personal skills and traits might impact the project that I do and my success.

SWOT: How might factors impact how well your project goes? 

Strengths:

  • Individual research skills
  • Time management skills 
  • Graphic design 
  • Very easily interested and curious – if I can do the project in something I’m deeply interested in it’ll be really worthwhile and I won’t have any problems putting in effort

Weaknesses:

  • Sometimes in communications especially within group work
  • Experiments (I’m much better at theory, I’m clumsy in experiments) 
  • I get bored as easily as I get interested 
  • I tend to stick to traditional reports and posters

Opportunities:

  • Improving on my ‘physical’ investigation skills – perhaps an experiment or exploration? 
  • Developing a project that combines my passion for history/philosophy with science → is this possible? 
  • Gaining knowledge in a new subject/field I haven’t explored before 
  • Presenting information in a unique way?

Threats: 

  • If I get too idealistic with my ideas and bite off much more than I can chew 
  • Not picking a topic that will hold my interest for a sustained amount of time 
  • Other projects that take up lots of time (we’re very swamped at the moment)
Books that Shaped Me: Science Fiction

Books that Shaped Me: Science Fiction

 

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17th August, 2018
the start of grade 9 – science fiction

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Scythe – Neil Shusterman

DESCRIPTION:
“A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.”

Why I enjoyed this book:
I enjoyed this book because of the deep philosophy within it, and the discussion of morals and ethics between the pages. This is a book that truly bends the view of the reader, and it makes you question who’s right and who’s wrong. The book’s antagonist is one of the most interesting characters because of his worldview, because of his perspective and throughout the book Shusterman explicitly reveals the underlying motives of the antagonist, and it really makes you think and see the world from another perspective. It truly does make you question your morals and ethics, and that’s why I enjoyed this book.

 

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The Illuminae Files Trilogy – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

DESCRIPTION:
“This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.”

Why I enjoyed this book:
This book is exciting and full of action, it really drags you in and holds you there. I love this book purely because of one character, the AI, nicknamed AIDAN in the book. The character of the AI was wrought with emotion, despite the fact that it was a computer. This character pushed my view of human emotion, human relationships, morals and ethics. The metaphors used when AIDAN was narrating were complex. One of my favourite quotes from this book, the last book – “Would you kill one to save five? If yes, then why would you not kill two thousand to save two thousand and one?” This blend of logic, maths and ethics is what I love to read, and I thoroughly loved reading through this book.

 

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A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness

DESCRIPTION:
“At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting – he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.”

Why I enjoyed this book:
This book is an eye opening story about grief, love and loss, and it’s extremely cleverly and beautifully written. It’s definitely a book that could make you cry, and it also exposes new insights and perspectives into issues. It warps the idea of good and evil, and the stories that the monster tells Conor are insightful and thought-provoking. It’s a beautifully crafted story.

I also adore Patrick Ness’s writing, as I admire his style and I love his plotlines and the characters he creates. I love the universes he makes, and the people he puts inside those universes, and I adore all the hidden meaning he slides underneath his words. He’s definitely one of my favourite authors.

 

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some recommendations

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More Than This – Patrick Ness

DESCRIPTION:
“A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?”

Why I recommend this book:
This book is eye-opening and well-written, and I think that the realisations and the thought process you go through as you read the book is amazing. Definitely a Patrick Ness must-read.

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The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

DESCRIPTION:
“Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.”

Why I recommend this book:
This book is wonderfully descriptive, and it’s a brilliant piece of fantasy. It truly exercises your imagination, which is what I love about it. It’s fantastical and new, and I think that whether you’re looking to find deeper meaning or just to read for fun, this book is always good to pick up.

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That’s the end of this list.  

I hope you read some of these books (they’re pretty much all science fiction, but I do promise other genres) and this list will be continued in the future! I might also do a ‘favourite classics list’ and other things, so stay tuned 🙂

Happy reading!