Project week

Investigation:

Project Week is an integral part of the High School Learning Programme for all Grade 11 students. It is a unique opportunity for you to learn more about yourself, different cultures and your ability to work effectively with others. I decided I wanted to go diving. I want to do this action because I have enjoyed the idea of scuba diving in the past and am willing to learn this new skill and take a course to be an open water diver. I found three other people who want to do the same thing and together we will be doing scuba diving, and getting our Open Water certificates. We also decided we will be in Phuket, Thailand (Phuket Island). On the first day we will use the resort pool for a practice dive and for the 4 Open Water dives we will go off Chalong Pier into Chalong bay.

Preparation:

We had a lot of problems with our group, first one of the people in my group had their open-water certification already, and we were only allowed to dive in groups of two or more. So we decided that another person would do their open water so that they could join the other member in getting their advanced open water, while the rest of the group would continue to get their open water. However, later we found out that the person who had their open-water was leaving our school and therefore could not be on this trip. Due to this we were too small of a group, as now we only had 3 people. Fortunately, we found another group member who didn’t have their open water certificate that could join us in our trip. We had filled out our forms for the diving course and we also found a resort that was affordable for us that was right next to the diving center, which was very beneficial. We had prepared our budget and itinerary in detail to be 100% of what we were doing and when. We also recorded our medical information including any medication, doctor information as well as the nearest hospital in phuket just in case, we also assigned a detailed first-aid course to a group member, while the rest of us also had a short first-aid course. We also started looking at flights and timings as well as transportation in Phuket. Since everything was close by to our resort, we could walk to everything, the diving center also provided transportation to the center. We were also in contact with the organization trying to get additional information such as the timings of the diving each day as well as the food they would provide for us.

Our smart goal for the trip was:

S = The goal of the project is to develop diving skills and becoming an open water diver in a different environment. While we are diving with Seabees, they will teach us more about how they manage to protect the ecosystem around them, and we will make sure to enquire as much as we can in this aspect.

M = Progress can be tracked by writing down notes everyday after the diving sessions, can also be tracked through social media posts. Feedback from instructors will also be written down.

A = Goal is attainable as the course for the open water diving will be achieved by the help of the team at Sebees and the instructors teaching us. 

R = The company’s mission is to show the beautiful diving sites of Thailand while respecting and practicing Thai culture as well as to end shark finning and stop the use of drift nets. We are willing to help with what we can, the money that we pay for our diving courses will go towards protecting marine life as well as we will pay a Marine Park fee.

T = Our goal is to be completed by 4th June at the latest.

We also decided to do physical preparation:

Leg exercises will be needed in order to have leg strength when swimming. Swimming exercises – periodic increases in lengths and slowly building up i.e. 10 lengths up to 20 lengths after 2 weeks etc. We should do these exercises regularly in order to build up the strength and once we have reached the goal we should continue to do it as we should maintain the strength. 

In the 3 weeks before the trip, we will meet up in Changi Club (Saturday evenings) and do two rounds of pool training with a break of 1 hour in the middle, doing:

  • 10 lengths of the pool per round in the first week
  • 20 lengths in the second week
  • 30 in the third week

We will complete an online theory course before we go, which is provided by Seabees. We will also fill in a log of our physical preparation beforehand as we do lengths of the pool to keep track of our progress.

However, due to COVID-19 our trip was cancelled and we were not able to go on this trip. We planned a tremendous amount and we were all disappointed when we learnt the news as we spent a long time perfecting the trip when we weren’t even able to go on it.

Creativity: Pottery

First session

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

What activities did I plan?

I wanted to make different pots using different techniques such as pinch pots, coiling or just joining flat pieces of clay together. I first made a square pot using the same sized clay squares by cutting them by hand and joining them by scoring and using slip. I then fired the pot to be able to glaze it. I then glazed it using green glaze and fired it again. After this I made a pinch pot by simply pinching clay to form a pot shape. I then moved on to the pottery wheel which I enjoyed the most.

What was the outcome of my planning?

By planning the different techniques I would use, I expanded my art skills in pottery by improving my existing skills and also learning new skills. I was also able to connect my interest into another area of my interest, math. I was able to use one of the pots I made in my internal assessment, the surface area I calculated of the pot acts as a baseline into the amount of glaze I can use in order to not waste it, saving money and time.

This is the pot i made in pottery:

Mid session

LO1-Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth

What would I like to improve?

I think I would like to improve joining clay together as there is a process to it- we have to score it and then put slip on it and gently join the clay together and if we don’t do it, it might break of. I would also like to learn how to use the wheel because it makes smooth pots that you can’t make by just pinching or coiling clay.

What previous experience have I had with an activity like this?

I have made pots before in middle school art and I remember having a lot of fun doing it, and I wasn’t that bad because the teacher was a good instructor and could help us. I wanted to further develop my pottery skills and I had also heard from my friend that it was a relaxing activity to develop your skills alone or with help.

Final session

LO2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

Were there some skills easier than others?

The first few sessions I had just started to develop my skills of making pots such as pinch pots or coiled pots as I had been familiar with those due to middle school art, however later on I had wanted to learn how to make pots on the wheel rather than just other techniques. The wheel is much harder to control, nonetheless I had tried it out by getting a friend who was familiar with it to help me and I had improved my skills of it. I think it is harder than pinch pots because even the technique of removing the pot from the wheel is harder than making a pinch pot, however I definitely enjoy making a pot on the wheel more.

Were there challenges I could not overcome? Why/why not?

I could not further develop my skills on the wheel because there are only two wheels in the art department that we could use and I also started using the wheel to late in the activity as I had just gotten the chance, so there was not enough time. However I would love to develop this skill as it did intrigue me.

The Religious Right

What if the religious right went beyond elections and staged a revolution, establishing an American government that replaced the Constitution with the Bible? How could it take place? What would life be like under it, especially for women?

Nowadays, the Constitution being replaced with the bible- although very undesirable- seems plausible, given the circumstances. Someone in power- a lot of power- who remained undefeated by public could easier impose this right however it would cause uproar. Different religions would be fighting against this right as they are not represented in the country as well as their values impose those of the government. Additionally the Bible does not at any point provide a model for how a modern republic (or any other type of government, for that matter) should be constructed. This being said, if it were to take place, the people living there will have some consequences. First everything that created society, the values, the beliefs, will be changed and will be based on the Bible. Some of the verses will be controversial, for example the verse Ephesians 5:24, NIV: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”… Ephesians 5:24, KJV: “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”. This makes women look inferior to men, stripping them from their identities as well as make them submit to them, considering people get punished if they don’t listen to the government. They are forced to revert back to old thinking, more ‘traditional values’ and I don’t think it would be a big problem for men.

In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul wrote: “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church”. This creates a large equality gap between men and women, making women inferior, going back to the place that we have fought to make better.

Overall, it would be a very different atmosphere to what we know and believe, there would be a lot of protest against the right, especially from those of different religions or even women.

Paradigms and Perceptions

One example of a paradigm is the food we eat for breakfast, there are certain foods that we accept as only being able to eat in the morning for breakfast. Food is closely linked with culture and cultural paradigms whether taboos or just preferences. The cultural paradigm can be described as “one in which the phenomenon being considered is regarded as being the product uniquely of its cultural context.” Is it because of culture that we eat certain foods and different time periods of the day?

Another example of a paradigm is that the earth is in the center of the universe. One of the questions which concerned our ancestors had to do with the movement of the heavens as seen from earth. From our perspective, it looks as if we are standing still while the universe turns around us like a giant wheel in the sky. For hundreds of years this has been the belief that explains the sun, moon, stars and other planets. However these paradigms can change causing a paradigm shift.

What are the implications of banning religious items of clothing or jewellery?

Banning only one type of religious items can cause opposing views as it seems like prejudice against that religion. The situation becomes different when the ban of all religious wear is imposed. Personally, even though like France “treasures the principle of secularism”, I do not understand why a country would do this because it doesn’t harm anyone to wear these items, and they are not imposing their religion to other people. There is no harm done so I see no need for a ban to take place. It can imply a discrimination and even limit people to go to some places and make them feel unwelcomed, that maybe it is wrong to wear a clothing item or jewellery. I understand that a country may want to feel united and stand as one however that can be done with different religions, i.e in France, you can still be french and have a different religion that other french people, that doesn’t make you not french. I think in a way it is removing basic human rights, one right, “Your human rights are protected by law” will not be true if we take away something as small as religious clothing items and jewellery. 

Human behaviour can be influenced by an observer

Human behaviour can be influenced by an observer.

A real life situation is if an observer were to come into a classroom full of students and they were aware of the observer, it would cause demand characteristics, where a person changes their behaviour in order to perform what they think is expected. They wouldn’t act as they usually would, for example, if the principle were to watch them, the students may talk less with each other and act more focused than they may usually be. Demand characteristics can happen in many psychological experiments, for example, Brown and Kulik’s experiment in 1977 on flashbulb memories. Brown & Kulik gave 80 participants questionnaires which had a series of nine events, like the assassination of President Kennedy, and they were asked to recall the circumstances when they first heard about the event. Where the participants said they remembered the event, they were asked to write a detailed account about what happened that day and rate it on a scale of personal importance. The way the question is framed can induce demand characteristics, as the question makes the participant assume that they should know about the event. Moreover, this means that they might lie about remembering the event and the researchers cannot verify if the stories are true, making the experiment less reliable. When people are aware they are being observed, the task or observer creates an implicit demand for the people to perform as expected. 

How does poetry (song lyrics) affect my life

Poetry does not play a big role in my life simply because I don’t really invest my time into reading poetry, however listening to music does have an impact on me as I listen to music everyday. When a song resonates with me, I usually listen to it a lot as I either like the tune of the song, the message and or lyrics of the song. I have different playlists that I listen to when I have different emotions and sometimes it helps me relate to someone as I may be going through the same thing, or it distracts me from what is happening by telling a story about something random. The lyrics of songs can be important as the audience can see why the artist chose a word or said something instead of something else and gives us something to relate to or something we can understand. However, with music I think that it’s important to have a good tune and rhythm because it can play a role on whether a person likes the song or not. I really first listen to the lyrics after I listen to the tune of the song.

How Can We Help One Another During the Coronavirus Outbreak?

I think the biggest thing that we can all do is to stay safe and not put others at risk, by staying at home or social distancing when going out for essentials. We can all try to motivate each other however it is important to stay safe and not put a risk on spreading the virus since it is getting worse and people are losing so much because of it. We are social animals and we need human interaction once in a while for us to feel happy. The lack of human interaction can be made up by calling each other online but it’s not the same as real life interaction and they are limited. I think we could also feel left out from experiences as we can’t do anything and feel lonely since we stay in the same place every day. So anything that is positive or something that makes us smile for even a second it will make us feel better.

What songs matter to you

My favourite band since G10 has been Tame Impala mainly as the vibe is different to other artists and I found it interesting, so I started listening to more of their songs. On spotify the most listened song was Borderline by Tame Impala, Kevin Parker deals with themes of a relationship on its last legs while questioning the nature of love. Although I have no experience with love but the way the song flows makes it easier for me to listen to it. The song can be described as “‘borderline’ as a personal metaphor for the rocky in-between spaces of a turbulent relationship. “Borderline” further carries, as an adjective, connotations of uncertainty and risk”. There is a line in the song which refers to his old album; “Shout out to what is done, R.I.P, here comes the sun”, it may also be a reference to “Here Comes the Sun,” one of the most famous Beatles songs of all time. The Beatles are one of the largest influences on Parker. Recently I have also been listening to Beatles songs, my favourite songs right now being “Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite!”, the song is based off of a poster that John Lennon bought in an antique shop in January of 1967. The song distracts me from what is going on as it doesn’t have a very significant meaning behind it as it’s about a poster that John Lennon has. Another favourite song of mine is “Run for your life”,  Its lyrics deal with an abusive relationship, where the narrator implies that he is threatening to kill his girlfriend if she cheats on him. I’m not sure why I listen to songs about relationships, perhaps because sometimes these songs could reflect the reality of some relationships, and this song is interesting as the lyrics don’t match the tune of the song. I find those songs really interesting and it brings me to another alternate universe where I don’t have to think about the stress I have especially in a time like this.

How CAS changed my wellbeing

CAS provides opportunities for everyone to do something they love or try something new. This year I have managed to achieve both as I took risks and tried something new as well as something familiar and something I enjoy. Most of my experiences this year was a new experience and I think CAS helped as I wouldn’t have tried these new things if it weren’t for it.  I tried Kahaani, which I have heard about and been wanting to try and am glad that I made that decision and want to do it again next year. I think I will continue to try new things next year as well.