SOC 2630 – Final Reflection

Final Reflection Essay

When researching my ePortfolio topic, I learned so much about how the dynamics of current American households have changed over the years.  I am a 35 year old, never married woman with no children.  Since I was 18 years old, I have lived in roommate situations or at home with my parents.  From the time I was 18 to 21, I attended a University and lived on campus and near the school with all female roommates.  For two years after that, I wasn’t attending the university, but some of my roommates of the time were, and we still lived relatively close to the school, so it still felt about the same.  For five years since 2003, I lived with my parents at the home I grew up in.  For the other six years, I have lived with a friend and now my boyfriend in the home he owns.  We have two other women who live in this home as well, and both of them have been divorced for the past 3-5 years.

This unusual living situation I am in currently is what prompted my interest in the subject.  Upon researching the changes that have occurred over the past 70 years, I have found that my living arrangement isn’t so unusual.  There has been a rise in non-family households in the United States, with an increase from 1.8% of households to almost 8%.  Another thing I learned is that the number of young people who live in married households vs. roommate or partner households has dropped significantly since the 1960’s.  This has taught me that people aren’t getting married at such young ages, or they are living with other family members.  And the rise in non-family households also coincides with a rise in individuals living on their own.  This showed me that American values have changed over the past several decades.  Marriage and home ownership might not be as desirable a lifestyle to as many Americans these days.  And I believe non-traditional families or lifestyles are more accepted now as well, allowing people to express that in how they have chosen to live.

MATH 1040 – Final Reflection

This project involved selecting a data set from a bank of provided data, selecting a simple random sample and then another type of sample of my choosing, which was a cluster sample. Then, a categorical and quantitative value was chosen from each sample set. I was then required to use StatCrunch to perform different computations and create graphs and histograms and box plots. I was also required to complete the 5 question summary for each. After that, the next part of the assignment was to create confidence intervals, which were then to be interpreted. Then, hypothesis testing was to be done for population proportion and also the population mean. Also, the Type I and Type II errors were to be interpreted along with the hypothesis test results. All of these were concepts learned in the course over the semester.

I can see how this project could be helpful to some students, however, I don’t feel like this project helped me learn the material any better than doing the homework assignments, both online and written, the quizzes, and the practice tests. I had a difficult time, since I felt like I was starting from scratch with very little guidance on something that felt foreign to me. I had to rely heavily on the book and my notes, and still had a hard time making sense of the project. I think that if the assignment hadn’t been quite so extensive and if it didn’t require quite as much time in addition to the large amount of time I spent on simply attempting to learn the material and complete the other assignments, it may have been helpful. Or, if it had been divided into smaller, more easily manageable sections, that could have been helpful, too. Overall, for an online course, it seemed like a very large undertaking and I struggled with it.

I selected Part 1 of the Term Project to post here because I felt the most confident about my work on this portion of the assignment.  

 

ENGLISH 2010 – Final Reflection

This semester, my English 2010 class has required me to explore different writing genres, which has allowed me to expand my writing technique.  Each genre was a new challenge, from working together as a group to come to a decision about a topic for our writing assignments, to completing the assignments  individually in the various genres.  I believe I was able to adapt to each different style of writing, with the help of my peers and my instructor.

Working in a group for all of these assignments was a good experience for me, and we came to a decision regarding the topic of our Community Writing Project fairly easily.  We all proposed our ideas, and then shared why we did or did not agree with what everyone else suggested.  It seemed like the decision was made quickly and without much disagreement at all.  We worked well together as a group from the start.  Though the group got much smaller as the semester went on, I felt like the others helped me out quite a bit, simply by being supportive and positive in feedback.  We also agreed about how we wanted our focus to be on educating our peers about our topic, rather than simply writing persuasive pieces about it.  We didn’t have many disagreements to work through, as we came to group decisions easily.

Having chosen a subject I feel passionately about, I was able to write in order to educate rather than taking a “preachy” stance, which could have turned some readers off to our topic.  I had a little bit of background knowledge about the subject of GMOs, but I still researched this topic heavily.  Since my goal was to educate, showing my readers what I have learned in relation to something they already know was important to me.  I have come to love sharing what I have learned about the topic we chose, and I have since learned so much more about it.  Each different assignment required a different style and design in order to meet the requirements.  For example, the profile required an interview to take place in order for the assignment to be completed.  The flyer assignment was my favorite, because it allowed me to use a little bit of creativity within the structure of the requirements, which I really enjoyed doing, all the while because I was still able to share my knowledge and research with my classmates.

The reading and research required for this class and for the Community Writing Project weren’t very difficult, but they did require rhetorical and critical thinking, which simply means tailoring each piece of writing to the intended audience.  I think I was able to accomplish this through adapting each assignment to the genre required and with the idea in mind that, “I am writing this to educate someone who may not know much about my topic.”

Thinking rhetorically and adapting to each assignment leads to creating a writing plan and then conducting research, matching that research to the genre at hand.  There were times when I would just click on any article that popped up about GMOs, but I quickly learned that many of the sites I visited were less about the facts and being informative than about pushing an agenda.  Because I already had my own agenda regarding the topic, I wanted to learn more about the other side, so I had to adjust my research in that way.

Once my research was complete, I would quickly write out a draft and then re-read and move things around in order to adjust the flow of the paper.  This is something that I struggled with, because I tend to write with little flow or organization.  I really had to focus on what I was doing and sometimes had to look at some of the other things my peers had written in order to get an idea of how to improve.

Using the MLA style and citing works was not new to me, but I hadn’t done it for a couple of semesters, so I did have to research how to do it correctly.  While writing, I would copy my sources onto a blank page at the end, paying no mind to order and structure.  I also did this in the body of the text, just to make sure I wouldn’t miss a citation.  Then, after all the revising was done, I would work on my citations, making sure everything was cited properly and the works cited were listed correctly.   In my profile assignment, I relied too heavily on my interview and did not use as much research as was requested of me.  That did not occur again in the assignments that followed.

Being able to communicate with another person about what I know and have learned about GMOs is important to me, and it feels good to be able to talk about it intelligently rather than saying, “Oh, I just read it somewhere on the internet.”  I have learned so much about discussing this topic with my classmates and now my friends and colleagues.
Discussing this topic for so long with my group members has taught me that sharing ideas and perspectives is so important when doing group work.  I know that I improved as a writer because of their comments and because of their work that I was able to read.  It also made the experience much more enjoyable.

One of my strengths in writing is proof-reading.  I am usually able to catch spelling and grammar errors easily, so editing a piece of writing has never been difficult for me.  Sometimes I find it hard to comment on a piece of writing critically rather than just pointing out spelling errors or subject-verb disagreements, so using a guide when doing peer reviews helped me with that quite a bit.  One thing I really enjoyed about the peer reviews is that my group members were very supportive and positive.  A comment from one of my reviews on my Profile assignment suggested that I use more sources in my paper, which was advice I seemed to have missed, because I didn’t add many sources and the response from my instructor stated that I should have used more research to back up my paper.  And one of the reviews I received on my commentary showed me that my introduction didn’t really say anything about my topic.  I adjusted that for the final draft and was happy with the result.

The two documents I have chosen to include in this final portfolio are my commentary and one of the flyers I designed, as these are the two I am most proud of.  By the time I did these assignments, I was confident in my knowledge about GMOs.  However, with each new assignment, I continued to research and learn even more.  The only changes I made to the flyer was to fix a typographical error and to change some of the text from all-capitalized to regular text.  It looked too harsh, and I didn’t want it to come off as “shouting” at the reader.  Since I made a lot of changes from the draft to the final of my commentary, I was able to just make a few changes in wording so it flowed better in order to submit it again.  I also added a citation in the second full paragraph on the second page regarding the banning of GMOs in other countries.  I hadn’t planned on making any changes, but when I read it, I realized that these few changes were necessary.

I have learned a lot about GMOs and am excited to share what I have learned with anyone who has an interest.  I enjoyed my group members and thank them for their help and support during this semester.  This class has taught me a lot about writing for my audience instead of for myself, and how important it is to tailor each writing project to not only the audience, but the genre as well.

MATH 1010 – Utah Project Reflection

This semester, I learned that linear growth models aren’t typically used to measure something like population growth.  Linear functions can, however, measure the rate of change in an application.

Since I like to run, one of the problems in the text stuck out to me.  On page 105, question 68, the problem is stated as:  An ultra-marathoner passes the 15-mi point of a race after 2 hr and reaches the 22-mi point 56 min later.  Assuming a constant rate, find the speed of the marathoner.

To solve this problem, I used the function
Distance = rate * time
The total distance traveled was 22 miles, the rate is unknown, and the time is 120 + 56 min.
22 = 176r
22/176 = 176r/176
0.125 = r
Since this was calculated as miles/minute, 0.125 must be multiplied by 60 to get miles/hour, which is 7.5 miles per hour.

Another commonly used linear function that would affect many professionals is the weekly pay problem, as on page 106, question 76:  Each salesperson at Super Electonics is paid P(x) dollars, where P(x) = 0.05x + 200 and x is the value of the salesperson’s sales for the week.

I’m assuming that 200 is the weekly salary for each salesperson.  If one salesperson had sales of $5,000 in one week, his pay would be calculated by:
P(x) = 0.05(10000) + 200
P(x) = $700.00 for the week

What I have come to learn is there are many reasons to use linear functions in real life, and I have realized that many times, I am unaware that I am even doing it, such as calculating running speed and time.  If I go for a run, I ask myself, “How long will it take me to run 5 miles right now?”  Little did I know, I do a little bit of algebra almost every day!

Utah Project

COMM 1010 – Prerequisite for OTA A.S. Degree

This class is a requirement for application to the Occupational Therapy Assistant program at SLCC.  I feel like what I have learned in this class has already taught me more about how to effectively communicate with my coworkers and even with my friends and family.  I will be able to use these skills as I continue in my education and career.  One of my favorite lessons was early in the semester, when I read in the textbook that effective communication isn’t how the sender means the message, but how the receiver interprets that message.  This was very eye-opening for me.  I also liked the section on active listening, as this is something I have been working on, even before I started this class.

Overall, what I have learned in this class is invaluable, as all of these skills pertain to every aspect of life, whether it’s personal, professional, or social.  I would recommend it to anyone.

For the second part of this post, here is my favorite assignment from this semester:

Interview Analysis

I had the opportunity to interview Spencer Shelton, an Occupational Therapist (OT) for South Davis Community Hospital’s Home Health department.  I work for the same department, as the assistant to the Director of Nursing, and am currently working on prerequisites in order to apply to the Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program at Salt Lake Community College.

Since Spencer encouraged me to look into the OTA program, and I would like to work in Home Health when I have graduated and become licensed, I decided he would be a great resource to me.

This memo summarizes what I learned from Spencer during our interview.

Training and Experience

Spencer has a Bachelor’s degree, as he completed his OT training prior to 2007, which was when the requirement was changed to a Master’s degree.  He attended college out of state via a distance education program.  He is certified by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) and licensed in the state of Utah.  He has worked in several different aspects as an OT, such as a skilled nursing facility, a hospital, a school, and home care.  He says that working at a school was what he liked the best, but it was very hard to earn a good living doing it.  He chose to work in home care because it pays really well and he also enjoys the variety to his days.

A Typical Day

Spencer’s typical day starts at about 9:00 am, and he treats people in their own homes for home health care.  He finishes around 5:00 pm and attends one interdisciplinary team meeting once per week, which usually takes about an hour and a half to two hours.  He loves the hours because he has nights, weekends, and holidays off.  Spencer spoke about how much he enjoys helping people and making them happy, and explains that those are the primary reasons he enjoys his job from day to day.

He recommends the company he works for to other people because they pay well, he gets to see a variety of patients, which keeps his job interesting and challenging, and the company offers a great benefits package.  He also mentioned his department’s director is very accommodating and easy to work with, so vacations and other needs are easy to schedule and work around.

Continuing Education 

Occupational Therapists do require continuing education, but he wasn’t sure on the number of hours.  He said it requires about one course per year.  He usually has to take time off from work to attend the courses and is personally responsible for any cost involved.  The continuing education required is any subject related to physical disabilities.  This keeps him interested in the dynamic field and also keeps him up to date on current technologies, new adaptive equipment ideas, and innovative treatment methods in order to grow his skills and what he can offer as a therapist.

Best and Worst Parts of the Job

The most cumbersome parts of his job are keeping organized in order see all of his patients and to make sure they are getting what they need, and to manage the therapy assistants he supervises.  Documentation can be cumbersome as well, as it can be quite time-consuming in home care.  The most challenging part of his job is dealing with the wide variety of people in a wide variety of settings, because some people are wonderful and willing to try, while others don’t seem to care if they ever get healthy or not.

OT in the Future

Spencer thinks the outlook for OT in the next several years looks fantastic.  There are so many opportunities for private practice and growth with the population getting older, and there are so many different disabilities, illnesses, and aspects of life occupational therapy can help with.

Other Questions

When I asked him about what he would tell someone who is wavering between becoming an OT or an OTA, he always suggests becoming an OTA since the pay is great for a two-year degree and it is highly likely that an OTA will find a job quite easily.  He said that OT is also great, but it’s a lot more demanding.

His best advice to me as a student pursuing OTA was to explore as many areas of OT as I can, as there are so many different opportunities in the field right now.  He mentioned a friend who is an OT and does only hand therapy, which I found interesting, because I always imagined an OT doing so much more than focusing on just one body function.

Interview Analysis

This interview taught me a lot about the field I am pursuing, and also taught me how to set up, conduct, and close an interview.  It also taught me to be flexible in case my interviewee has an unorthodox scheduling plan.

Analysis of OTA Career Choice

Spending time with Spencer made me look forward to pursuing my education and a career in OTA.  I got to follow him during a couple of visits and attend a meeting with him, and it was great to see him in action.  His patients responded very well to having someone come into their home with the sole purpose of trying to help them, whether it was simply to bring in equipment to make getting around their homes easier, or working on transfer training in order for the patient to be able to get to the toilet independently.  Helping people is the reason why I got into the health care industry, and I think working with people in a setting where they are comfortable and relaxed is something that would be very fulfilling for me.

Analysis of my Interviewing Process

Since I already was acquainted with Spencer, it wasn’t difficult to set up the interview.  Our appointment was rescheduled a couple of times, as our schedules didn’t mesh very well at first.  I did do this interview at the same time as a job shadow for another class, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be able to blend two assignments into one meeting.

For the interview, I followed my outline I had done for the previous interview assignment.  Many of the questions flowed naturally and easily in conversation, so I didn’t need my notes all the time, but I knew I would forget a few of the questions if I didn’t have the notes, and they did come in handy.  The job shadow was planned for three hours, so I was lucky to be able to ask all of my questions during that time and not feel rushed or like I was rushing him at all.

In the future, when I interview someone, I think recording our conversation would make it much easier.  Taking notes was difficult, and I’m sure I missed a few vital points of advice or information he might have given me, as I wanted it to feel conversational instead of really formal.  I think I learned a lot about being confident and prepared and flexible if any similar situations should arise in the future.

ENG 1010 – Literacy Event

I would have to say that my life has been pretty easy up to this point.  I have a loving family, have always surrounded myself with great friends, and have never experienced any major emotional or physical injury.  However, this is not to say I that I have never made a bad decision, had my heart broken, or experienced loss.  But because I haven’t experienced many emotional hardships that might possibly lead one to become a spiritual seeker, I haven’t often found myself asking many questions about religion and god.  I simply went with the flow.  Luckily, though, I have met someone who has asked these questions and who isn’t afraid to talk about it.  I have been with my boyfriend for almost three years and he has experienced many emotional hardships that have led him to seek answers to his spiritual questions.

When we first began dating, he asked me to tell him exactly what I liked the most about the religion I claimed to belong to.  I was stumped and couldn’t think of a single reason.  I hadn’t practiced in my religion, or any other religion, for many years.  He then began to tell me about separation and how it is the root cause of all suffering.  He also shared how he believes that life is everywhere, in everything, and, here’s the kicker – that it is the same life within you, within me, within the trees and birds and mountains.  I thought that, yeah, there might be the same life in all of the people and animals, but the trees and mountains?  Not a chance.  I completely brushed this off.  As I got to know him, we spoke more and more about his belief that presence is the only way to find peace and he told me about one spiritual teacher in particular that made all of this make perfect sense to him.  He then gave me a book written by this spiritual teacher and asked me to read it.
The book is The Power of Now, A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.  The reading was very slow at first.  The language was new to me and words I once was familiar with were now used differently.  As I grew more accustomed to the verbiage, I began to understand and things even started to become clearer to me.  Chapter one begins with this parable:

A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years.  One day a stranger walked by.  “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap.  “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger.  Then he asked:  “What’s that you’re sitting on?”  “Nothing,” replied the beggar.  “Just an old box.  I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember.”  “Ever looked inside?” asked the stranger.  “No,” said the beggar.  “What’s the point?”  There’s nothing in there.”  “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger.  The beggar managed to pry open the lid.  With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.

Eckart then goes on to say, “I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside.  Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer:  inside yourself.”  Through this, he is saying that every single one of us has the tools within to bring us complete peace or complete misery, and that we are the creators of our own happiness or sadness.  The basis of the book and the path to enlightenment is finding peace through living in the present moment.

This concept wasn’t completely foreign to me.  I had done a bit of yoga and, during so, had heard many people talking about how living in the present moment will maximize one’s happiness.  But I had never realized before that every single moment is the present moment.  Any past moment or future moment is simply a manifestation of thought.  I have also found that, once I have put many of these teachings into practice, my life has become much more peaceful and I feel more whole as a person.  I do have to be reminded here and there that, yes, the only reason I feel pain right now is that my mind is identified with the past or with the fears of what is yet to come.

I agree it might sound strange, as it did to me when I first heard it.  But it actually makes perfect sense to me now.  Our minds have so much control over our lives and our minds work in cunning ways to keep power and control.  If we lived free from thought, as many animals do, we would live as nature intended:  free of mental illness, free of war, and free of oppression.  This was also reinforced by another quote by Eckhart Tolle (though in a different book):  “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”   It is still something that is difficult for me to explain to others, but in my head it I see it so clearly.

I still don’t claim to be a spiritual seeker, but I do believe I have found the perfect answer to any spiritual questions that enter my mind.  Once I find complete peace within myself, how can I ever go back to agreeing with a religion when I now know that all religions are completely based in thought and separation?  Finding truth has allowed me to become free from my thoughts and has allowed me to weather any storm that will occasionally be stirred up by my mind.

(Parable from The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle.  1999.  Chapter 1.)

ENG 1010 – Rhetorical Analysis of a Text

The article I chose to share is “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” from the Wall Street Journal.  This article was written by Amy Chua, a Chinese-American mother who discusses the differences between how American parents and Chinese parents treat their children, with the children of Chinese parents becoming stereotypically more successful when it comes to academic excellence and musical proficiency.  Ms. Chua explains that she uses the terms “Chinese” and “Western” parents loosely, because she is obviously not discussing only Chinese and Western parents and that parents from many other countries and walks of life can be placed into either of those categories.  She discusses the differences in how Western and Chinese parents treat their children.  Oftentimes, to Westerners, Chinese parents can appear to be harsh, overly strict, and even cruel to their children, ordering them to do certain things and behave in certain ways.  She says Western parents are very concerned with the self-esteem of their children, even reassuring their child after performing poorly on a test or recital.  Chinese parents assume their children are strong rather than fragile, which ends up leading them to become much stronger and more successful than many Western children.

As the child of an Asian mother and American Caucasian father, I found this article very interesting because I could see some similarities between Ms. Chua’s and my mother’s parenting styles.  This article was included as a “Saturday Essay” in the WSJ, but is actually an excerpt from Ms. Chua’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  Ms. Chua is a parent, and she wrote this for other parents.  I found this article on the website of the Wall Street Journal, which is based in New York City and has a readership of 2.1 million print subscribers and over 400,000 online subscribers, making it the largest circulating newspaper in the U.S.  The Wall Street Journal is known for reporting international and American financial news, but also recently started a Saturday edition, which includes a “Life & Culture” section, which is where the Saturday Essay can be found (Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia).  Although parenting styles have changed and evolved over the years, this article was published just one year ago, and it would touch people today in the same way it did then.

The intent of this article was to show the differences between the children of very strict Chinese parents and more anxious yet laid-back American parents.  This article was published in January of last year, which preceded the publishing of Ms. Chua’s book, which was released later in the year.  Ms. Chua opened the article with the following paragraph:

“A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it.”

She then goes on to share a list of things she never allowed her children to do, which are things that most American kids experience and consider completely normal activities.  Her children weren’t allowed to “attend a sleepover, have a playdate, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, and not play the piano or violin.”  She uses comparisons between her parenting style and the style of typical Western parents to show the differences in how their children are raised and what practices has led her own children to become successful.

Because Ms. Chua writes from her own personal experience, even once calling herself “mean,” I believe that her readers will be able to relate to what she writes about, whether it is as a Chinese parent or an American parent.  She shares a couple of stories, both from her childhood and her experience as a parent,  about how Chinese parents’ behavior can be seen by Western parents as “unimaginable–and even legally actionable.”  She says that a Chinese parent is not afraid to tell their child that he or she is being lazy, while American parents are very anxious about the self-esteem of their children, worrying that they must continue to praise their children, even if they are performing poorly in school or music lessons.  Ms. Chua’s criticism of American parenting styles might alienate some of her readers, and I believe that most American parents would read this and think that some of her tactics are completely absurd.  By sharing her “mean” behavior, she further illustrates her point that Chinese parents’ strict style of parenting leads to stronger, more successful children.

I believe Ms. Chua wrote her book based upon studies that have shown, over the years, that there is some truth to the stereotypes that Chinese children are more successful in academics and musical proficiency than Western children are.  She, as a Chinese parent and as the child of Chinese parents, raising  her own children in the United States, has witnessed the differences in the parenting styles in her two worlds.  She has linked the difference to parents rather than things like the quality of schools or the effect of social circles.

“What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.”  Ms. Chua also states that Chinese parents know what is best for their children, which is what drives them to push their children much harder than Western parents do, which leads to the child discovering what he or she is capable of, which develops strong work ethic and leads to great success.  This message is encouraging, and it’s hard not to understand the positive impact strict, Chinese parenting has on children.  Though the tactics may seem harsh in comparison to Western parents allowing their children to explore their passions and discovering what drives them, it seems obvious that Chinese parents love their children as much as Western parents do.  They just have a very, very different way of showing it.

Works Cited:

Wikipedia.  “Wall Street Journal.”  Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The_Wall_Street_Journal)

Chua, A.  (2011, January 8)  “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior.”  The Wall Street Journal.  Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/ SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

MATH 1020 – Final Project

Math 1020
Final Project

Suppose 25.6% and 5.7% solutions are available.  Our goal is to make 1 L of a 8.3% solution and verify that the strength is correct.

We know that percent strength is equal to the number of grams of pure drug per 100 mL of solution.  

1)  To interpret the percent strength of 25.6%, we use the formula:
                 25.6% =   25.6 grams of pure drug   
                                       100 mL of solution

2)  To interpret the percent strength of 5.7%, we use the same formula:
                 5.7% =   5.7 grams of pure drug   
                                    100 mL of solution

3)  To interpret the percent strength of 8.3%, we again use the same formula:
                 8.3% =   8.3 grams of pure drug 
                                    100 mL of solution

4)  In order to mix the two available solutions to result in 1 L of an 8.3% solution, first we must use the formula to find the volume needed of the stronger solution:
                 F =  V x  (C-S) 
                                  (B-S)
                     F = volume of stronger solution
                     V = volume of desired solution
                     C = percentage of desired solution
                     B = percentage of stronger solution
                     S = percentage of weaker solution

4a)  F = 1 L x   (8.3 – 5.7)
                           (25.6 – 5.7)

        F = 0.13065 L is the volume needed of the 25.6% solution

4b)  Then, convert L to mL
        0.13065 L x  1,000 mL  = 131 mL
                                       1 L

4c)  To get 1 L of the 8.3% mixture, pour 131 mL of the 25.6% solution into a container, then add the 5.7% solution until 1,000 mL (or 1 L) of total volume is reached.  Mix well and the result is 1 L of 8.3% solution.

5)  131 mL of the 25.6% solution is needed, as calculated in 4b above.

6)  To find the amount of pure drug in 131 mL of 25.6% solution, use the formula  volume x percent strength to cancel mL out and solve for grams:
        131 mL   x     25.6 g    = 33.54 grams of pure drug
                               100 mL

7)  To find the volume of the 5.7% solution, subtract 131 mL from 1,000 mL, which is the total volume less the volume of the 25.6% solution:
        1,000 mL – 131 mL = 869 mL of 5.7% solution.

8)  To find the amount of pure drug in 869 mL of 5.7% solution, use the formula
volume x percent strength to cancel mL out and solve for grams:
        869 mL x       5.7 g      = 49.53 grams of pure drug
                               100 mL

9)  To find the sum of the number of pure drug from both of the available solutions in the mixture, add the answers from questions 6 & 8 together:
        33.54 + 49.53 = 83.07, which is 83 g of pure drug

10)  To find the amount, in grams, of pure drug in 1 L of the newly mixed 8.3% solution, use the method to cancel out units with the percent strength formula in order to get the answer in grams:
           8.3 g       x     1,000 mL   = 83 g
         100 mL                 1 L

MATH 1020 – Reflective Writing

Within my small group, I think this project really did help me to understand the course materials better.  First off, we both worked through the problems individually and then shared our answers.  If we had answers that weren’t the same, we would rework them, again on our own, to see if we could come up with the same solution.  We didn’t even need to work side by side, we did it via text messaging and email.  Both of us felt that the assignment wasn’t particularly difficult, but we did have to refer back to the book a couple of times for reminders on how to work certain problems.

Neither of us had a very difficult time with the problems, but it was very nice to have someone else’s answers to compare mine with, kind of like when we do the assignments from the book.  Although the answer key in the back didn’t tell me how to work the problems, it gave me the final answer, which helped me to know that I had to rework a problem if I didn’t get the correct answer the first time (or second, or even third!).

I think it is always helpful to work with a friend or classmate on an assignment, because sometimes one person or the other has a different approach or perspective and sharing different approaches can help everyone in the group to learn how to think critically.  I have also found that, in sharing what I know about what I have learned in class, I learn it even better myself by speaking, out loud, what steps I took to solve the problems.  It has also helped me to write out how to work the problems.

Group projects can be a great way to help everyone learn the material better than doing them individually, and I appreciated the opportunity to work with a friend on this.

PSY 1100 – Reflective Writing

It’s very simple to say, “I learned a lot in this class.”  However, in my case, this statement holds completely true, and in more ways than just what I learned in class.  When it comes to content, I have taken several biology classes over the years, and I was familiar with the physiological changes that people go through over the course of their lifetimes, but I have never studied psychology or cognitive development in a formal setting before, which is why it is easy for me to say I have learned a lot.  This was also my first experience with online education, and, through this, I have also learned a bit about myself.  Also, since I took off almost 10 years from higher education, I have learned that things have changed a lot since I attended college.

This semester, I took two online courses.  This is my first semester back in school since I was 24 years old.  Having been there before, I feel as if my attitude toward freshman-level classes was a little arrogant.  I thought it would be simple and that I could breeze through my classes.  Also, since I didn’t have to actually attend any classes, I figured it would be a piece of cake to simply do the work on my own time frame.  This brings me to the strengths and weaknesses I perceived in my online classes.  For this class, I really liked that every assignment, discussion, paper, test, etc. was already set up on a timeframe with actual due dates.  I have to admit I missed one quiz completely, due to forgetfulness.  There was another time when I checked the due dates late at night (at 11:48, to be exact) on the night a quiz was due.  I hadn’t yet read the chapter, thinking I had two more days, so I quickly tried to answer as many questions as I could.  I learned that I should probably have checked my due dates more frequently.

It is a different story with my other class, in which the setup was a bit different.  The assignments and a research paper all had definite due dates.  However, all of the quizzes and tests were open from day one to the final due date of December 8^th.  So, what did I do?  I kept putting them off, thinking along the lines of this comic:

With about a week left to complete all of my tests and quizzes, I buckled down and completed every assignment and actually received an A- in the class.  Did I learn my lesson this time?  Absolutely.  I never want to do that much reading and online test-taking in that small space of time ever again!  Hopefully I will never allow my procrastination to get to that point again.  Luckily, I was able to complete all of my work.  That might not be the case if I allow myself to put my schoolwork off again.

This ePortfolio thing is new to me as well.  And, having learned that it is a general education requirement was surprising.  It is obvious to me that the Internet plays a vital role in education today.  Taking online classes has given me the freedom to continue to work a full time job and pursue my education and also keep my health and social life intact.  Publishing schoolwork to the Internet to create an ePortfolio is completely new to me, and I’m excited to continue to add to it, in hopes of using it as an aid for my future.

Of course the content of the class itself was very interesting to me.  I really enjoyed the discussions I was required to take part in, because they provided a way for me to do some critical thinking and relate what I had learned to my own life and my own development throughout my life.  I also found that I really enjoyed participating in the discussions online.  In a normal classroom setting, I would get anxiety if called upon to answer a question aloud or add my two cents into a conversation.  In the virtual classroom, I was afforded much more time to think and organize my thoughts and participate in a more comfortable way.  I enjoyed the feedback of my classmates and I hope that my participation was appreciated as well.

Overall, for my first semester back at school, I feel confident that I will excel and make the most of this time and that I will reach my goal of becoming and sharing my knowledge and skills with those who need it the most.