Description of Work/Assignment: At the end of each unit in Math 103, we have a test which is done on a proctored website while we're on Zoom. The first test covered quadratics, inequalities, equations, et cetera. We are allowed one sheet of paper, front and back, where we can write steps and definitions to help us with the test. However, we cannot write any equations or examples.
Which 21st Century Skills do you feel this assignment addresses, and why? How did you develop and/or improve upon each 21st Century Skill with this assignment? I feel that this assignment addressed my Self Direction, Thinking and Problem Solving, and Information skills. I actually failed the test the first time, since I had thought I knew the material well since most of it was covered in Algebra 2, but there were enough things that were new to me to actually throw me off quite a bit. My professor did allow retakes, but I had to contact him, set a time to do my retake, and go over the material again and again until I really understood it, all of which required being self-directed. Thankfully, all of that paid off and I got an A on my retake. This assignment also addressed my Thinking and Problem Solving skills. Many of the topics covered in the first unit were ones that I had already learned, but with just a few extra things added. So, I had to think carefully about my answers and ensure I was following those extra few steps, rather than just doing what I had learned in Algebra 2. Finally, this assignment addressed my Information Skills. I was only allowed to write steps and definitions on my "cheat sheet", not examples. So, it took a lot of effort to figure out which steps and definitions would actually be helpful, to work around not writing examples, and using the textbook to make sure I was writing everything the way that my professor wanted me to.
What are you most proud of from this assignment, and why? I am most proud of the fact that I was able to reach out to my professor, schedule a retake, and study hard enough to do well on the retake. I often struggle with reaching out to my teachers, so having the guts to reach out to a professor was a real accomplishment for me.
What was most difficult about completing this task? The most difficult part of this assignment was finding out I had failed the first time and then finding the discipline to retake the test, and to do well on it, but I think I ended up succeeding.
How could you improve this work? If you could start over, what would you do different? If I could redo this assignment, I would study more for the first time taking the test, so that I wouldn't fail and have to retake it. Even though I was proud of how I handled the retake, I would rather have done well the first time around so that I didn't have to go through all of that.
How does this relate to what you have learned in the past? The material covered in the unit that I was tested was building directly off of what I learned in Algebra 2: quadratics, inequalites, factoring, and all of that. This meant that it directly related to what I had already learned.
How can you apply this to future learning? Everything in the test was partially review and partially new, but it was all meant as a foundation that we can now build on as the course goes on. Even now, only two units in, I can already see how the material in the first test was vital to understanding the second unit.