Monday, October 8, 2007

Paper Airplane Reflection - Period 3


Paper Airplane Lab Reflection

We have spent the last week or so doing our first experiment. We did this to learn for ourselves how scientists work.

Now that you have completed this experiment, it is time to look back and think about what you have learned. Look over the following questions and then write a two to three-paragraph reflection that answers them. This is to be done on your own.

  • What have you learned about how scientists work and the methods they follow?
  • Why do you think this method would add to scientific knowledge?
  • What would you do differently next time in terms of how your group performed your experiment?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Review On Paper Airplanes



I think that everyone did a good job on the paper airplane project and on thing that I’ve noticed about how scientists use there method is that there a lot more steps than I thought. One thing that I learned about the method is that in the conclusion there are many restatements you have to make before you can conclude. I think with this method you can learn a lot more about the thing you are studying for example pap0er airplanes. If I were to do this project again in my group I would have it more organized and I would choose a different definition of best to change the variable a bit more.


ROCKER

Anonymous said...

Thats right, the most annoying student in the world is back on this blog. Okay, im thinkin.......um.....Ok!!!

I have learned( more about paper airplanes that i would ever have liked to know; thats not the point) that the scientific method has more steps than i thought(i guess i should always expect more work from school)it would have. But I can see(NOT AGREE)with scientists why they put in more steps.

Before i answer the second question i must make my self clear...I DO NOT THINK THAT THIS ADDS TO SCIENTIFIC KNOWLAGE...But ill do my best to think how other people think. The method would add to scientific knowlage because...The research stage where we look up previous test results would show us what to look for and what has already been tested. The hypothesis would show what we thought and how we should think in the future.

Z thirld questeeion(i cant impesonate a french accent on a blog very well)! I would take more time examing the planes and making sure what would help them best.


Yaaaayyyyyyyy im done. Halo 3 rules! Heroes rules! (yes i am getting paid to put subliminal avertising on this blog)

Anonymous said...

I believe that this experiment helped us learn that you need to experiment and make some mistakes in order to figure things out. I also think it taught me that you can waste alot of paper trying to make a paper airplane. But I guess that is the cost of "invention".

Our group learned that hypothesis can fail, and sometimes you need to rethink. But we did a cool job with it-it was alot of fun! It would have been better if the airplanes went far and stayed in the air a long time... ours just went around in big circles. Maybe I wont be an aviation scientist.

Anonymous said...

I thought that the airplane project was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN (MY FAVORITE PART WAS THROWIN THE PAPER AIRPLANES)


I learned that scientists really have to work hard and need a lot of effort in their experiments. When they use their methods they have to folow them very clearly or else they could mess up the whole experiment.


I think that this method could would add to scientific knowledge because in this method we had to figure what made a plane do what. What made it spin, what made it hang longer, or what made it faster.


If I were to do this experiment again I would defintily use my time more wisely and I would be more productive as in using more time for research.

ROCK ON

MO-ZMAN OUT, PCE

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Lab Reflection

Through the process of this experiment, I have learned a lot about how scientists work and the methods they follow. Scientist’s work is very thorough and has to be very perfect in order to pass as a scientist’s work, for example, we measured our paper airplane’s distance so we had to be very exact with measuring and how to throw the plane and I think that every scientist has to do that. If a scientist made a mistake, they would have to start all over so a scientist’s job must be quite stressful. The method they follow is the Scientific Method and has A LOT of steps, and I would not think it would have that many steps. I was really surprised how long the conclusion was and how much you have to put into it. This method is use so other scientists can understand their recordings and it makes it easy for the scientist doing the experiment because than he has an outline on what to do.

This method adds to scientific knowledge because everything you need to include in an experiment’s recording, is right there and you just have to fill in the blanks. It gives you a fine outline on what to include in the lab and what you don’t need to record. It is really easy to follow and understand and it’s memorable after about a week. The research stage of the method helps us learn more the topic of the experiment and it’s cool to see what your hypothesis was and than your conclusion and look back on what you would write differently in your hypothesis.

In terms of how our group performed, next time I would suggest our plane having a slimmer design and pointier tip. I would also try to use a lighter paper, such as paper in a notebook. Another thing I would do differently is have one person throw the plane every time, instead of us taking turns. Overall, this experiment was fun and learnable in may ways such as, how to work together as a group, and the scientific method.

-dance4peacexo

Anonymous said...

By doing this expirement I have learned a lot about how scientists figure things out. Scientists always have to make sure everything is accurate for the information to be heplful for other people. They also have to use a lot of steps in order to be completely done with the unit. Something I would do differently if we did this expirement again would be measure more acuratly and also do everything as a group more because my group would always end up wandering off in the middle of the expirement. I also would have looked at the planes more carefully and made the hypothesis with more knoledge of the air planes.

--Pie82

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Lab Reflection

The scientific method is very logical, yet very simple. It does have a lot of steps, but the steps are pretty easy to understand. It is also very clear that if the scientists don’t follow the steps in order or correctly, the experiment will probably not go to well.
The scientific method works so well, that many scientists have probably used it before and their ideas have been proved right. It’s is basically an outline of what you need to do, so you don’t really need to know. It’s also (like I said before), it is very clear and easy to understand.
The measuring our group did was accurate. The only thing is that we got off to a slow start, so we still had two more distances to test, while everyone else was already finished. We also could have worked better as a team, but towards the end everything turned out all right. But I still had tons have fun doing thing experiment.

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Reflection

I thought the airplanes were pretty cool but not awesome. I learned that scientists follow the scientific method to come to conclusions and to test our discoverys. it takes a lot of steps to finish see if a discoevry is true.

i think this method would add to scientific knowledge because if really helps take apart, collect information and test out scientific claims. Next time we did an expeiriment i would want to choose our own groups because when you are with people you dont like as much as your good friends, you don't work as well. I think my group could have done a better job working together and listening to what eachother had to say. we could have made better planes if we did that.

our planes would have been better if they weren't so bulky! We should spend more time (our group) on researching what type of planes fly better than others.

-GreenMango

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Reflection

The paper airplane experiment was very interesting and I learned a lot about how scientists work. To perform an experiment, you have to be very organized and have a set plan. That is why the scientific method is very important. Each step is very detailed so you do not get confused. I would have been totally lost without the “fill in the blank” lines in the packet. Do all scientists use the scientific method or just some? I think that it must be very difficult for the scientists to use the scientific method on a high level because it is probably so much more complicated than what we did. For some experiments I think that the scientific method is a very thorough and outlined way to work. The method adds to my scientific knowledge because now I actually know how scientists do their experiments.

I think that my group worked very well with each other. The only reason why some of the test results weren’t perfectly accurate because we didn’t keep the same person throwing it each time. Also someone can’t throw the plane the exact same way each time. Scientists probably have a special machine that throws it so they have the same amount of power each time. I also think that we should have come in with more options for planes. We only had three so we had to use those. Overall, I think that this experiment worked very well and was really fun!

-potatopotahto

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Reflection

Throughout this experiment I have learned a lot about the scientific method. Before we did the experiment i didn't know how much the steps of the method could actually help the experiment work better. I have noticed that when you use the scientific method you have to be perfect in what you do. When we tested the paper airplanes, you had to measure the distance of how far the plane flew. If you measured it wrong than the data wouldn't be completely correct, and you wouldn't necessarily know if your hypothesis supported the results or not. This adds to my scientific knowledge because when you are doing an experiment of some kind, you will know what steps to take in order to have a successful experiment. The scientific method gives you the outlines of what to do, or what to record when you are doing an experiment.

If my group were to do this project again, i think that we could improve on organizing what everyone was going to do. I would also test out more planes before we pick the three ones to be tested. Because if we had tested more planes before we decided on the ones for the experiment, we would have a better idea of which planes would fly the farthest and we would use those in the experiment.

Anonymous said...

In this experiment I have learned that scientists indeed do have a lot of methods and much work to finish. I learned that scientists have to be prepared and work organized or else the whole experiment will be chaos. They also have steps and methods to follow along the way. The scientists have to think of an educated guess(hypothesis) then test it out, and they also have to conclude all of that data to come up with a scientific answer.
I think that this experiment did add scientific knowledge. I think this because it made us think like a scientist. What would make the paper airplane spin, fly higher, stay up longer, fly the farthest, or how to do tricks.
In this experiment I would have liked to changed one or two things. For example like how the person stood, or how the person aimed to make it go farther. I really didn’t think that I’d have much to criticize.

=R3gr0wth= said...

* What have you learned about how scientists work and the methods they follow?
Scientists use many steps to do something I never knew that. I've learned that using a hypothesis will help in any experiments. I say this because if you mess up once or twice you can always learn from your mistakes.

* Why do you think this method would add to scientific knowledge?
It will definitely make scientists do things more organized like not to lose a sample of something (really important. Thats like losing 50$ to buy Halo3 but anyways this is science....paper airplanes.

* What would you do differently next time in terms of how your group performed your experiment?
If my group were to change something we would probably be more organized. (like not to lose really good planes...)
-R3gr0wth (the almighty)
like Steven would say "timmeh"

=R3gr0wth= said...

* What have you learned about how scientists work and the methods they follow?
Scientists use many steps to do something I never knew that. I've learned that using a hypothesis will help in any experiments. I say this because if you mess up once or twice you can always learn from your mistakes.

* Why do you think this method would add to scientific knowledge?
It will definitely make scientists do things more organized like not to lose a sample of something (really important. Thats like losing 50$ to buy Halo3 but anyways this is science....paper airplanes.

* What would you do differently next time in terms of how your group performed your experiment?
If my group were to change something we would probably be more organized. (like not to lose really good planes...)
-R3gr0wth (the almighty)
like Steven would say "timmeh"

Anonymous said...

I liked this project for many reasons but if I could redo it, I would change a few things. I thought it was a fun way to learn, but I just don't really like paper airplanes for some reason so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. I still thought it was fun though and it was a good way to learn the scientific method. I liked the part when we were making the paper airplanes the best, especially because I'm kind of good with paper.
If I were to change things, I would, like I would have tried more different kinds of paper airplanes, and have gotten more notes when we were researching. I think part of our problem was that we kept changing our definitions of best. I also would have spent more time on the scientific method instead of the planes. I liked this project but I think if we had spent more time on it and tried showing our final presentation in a different way like a poster, instead of a packet, I think we (or I at the least) would have done better. I also would have rather done this project on something having to do with biology or living things rather than paper airplanes, but I guess everything has to start small.
I learned that Scientists work much harder than I thought they did with all the recording and measuring and data, It's more writing and math than science like actually experimenting. The methods they follow are about the same as the ones I've always done, with the process. I think this method would add to scientific knowledge in different ways. It would force you to focus in on details so you don't miss anything,it is a provocative way of getting you to think about what you're researching, and it requires a great deal of effort to experiment with it, so you don't slack off on details. I think it is a good way to experiment and record, the scientific method is a good way to add to the scientific method.
In Conclusion, I liked this project but if I could do it again, I would, and I would change a few things.I have learned a lot about how scientists work and the methods they follow and I think that the scientific method adds to Scientific knowledge.

By Tall Cool One

Anonymous said...

In this experiment, I learned a lot about paper airplanes. Originally, I did not think that there was that much to flying a paper airplane. I just thought you folded a piece of paper a bunch of times and there you had it a airplane made of paper. When you had your airplane made of paper (a.k.a. a paper airplane), you would then test what the best way to throw it was.
The scientific method showed me another side, that there really was a lot more than what I knew hidden in the science. It also showed me that different people would have different ideas of how they would want it to fly and look. When our group had to find different types of airplanes, it showed that the original paper airplane that you usually make is not always the best. Sometimes an exotic new type of paper airplane suits your definition of best, but that could depend on what your meaning of best is.
When our group was testing a paper airplane, everyone flew it different from the person before them and because of that, the paper airplane performed different every time as well. In the end it was a lot more fun than just sitting down in class reading packets and textbooks.

-Aidan :

Anonymous said...

Paper Airplane Review


Scientists have to do a lot more than I thought. For example, you have to make a hypothesis (an educated guess) about how the experiment will end. The testing requires a lot of measuring. In our case we measured how far the plane went. It’s not enough to write down how far it went or how many flips it did. We then had to show information in a way that others could read easily. My group decided to put the information in a bar graph. The last step is to form the conclusion – the end of the experiment. It takes a lot of patience to be a good scientist.

This method adds to scientific knowledge because it is easy to compare results of other scientific experiments if we all use the same method. If two scientists are studying the same thing, it would be a lot easier to compare their work if they use the same method.

Next time, we should conduct the experiment in a larger space so that the plane could go farther and higher without things getting in the way. Also, we should use different type of paper to make the airplane. A sturdier piece of paper would hold the shape better and have less wind resistance.

The experiments were fun.




FROM,
Doo Da Dee

Anonymous said...

Review


I loved this project soooooo much.

I was in a group with Dani and Josh, Dani had a book that was full of airplane designs and we looked over all of them carefully and picked out three to test out the ones we picked were the Flying Ninja, Swashbuckler and the Spy. We had to choose a definition of best; our definition was the hang time (time in the air).

I would defiantly do this again and when I did I think I would change the way I threw it, how I folded it (to be more precise) and the place I threw it.


xoxpurplepantherxox

Anonymous said...

This week my group and I did a project on paper airplanes using the scientific method. One thing I learned about the Scientific Method Is that there are many steps to it. It’s a long process and takes a lot of thought. I think when you use the scientific method you get a lot more information and detail then you would without it because you ask more questions. I think my group did a good job on the project. There are a few things I would have changed. One thing I would have changed is make the plane slimmer and have more of a point on the front so the plane would fly faster and farther. Another thing I would change is measure more accurately so our data was more exact.
-THiNKPiNK21