The SMART program was different because it taught me to think critically about the relationship between science and mathematics. I did not expect to have to complete calculus labs yet I understand how they related to the science lectures that we learned in class. One lab that I remember clearly is the second lab about mutation to antibiotic resistance. My group members were confused about step 3 so I ended up tackling it by myself. I was so proud of myself for getting the nalidixic acid graph and I love that we were able to include it in our final SMART poster. I was able to connect the lecture material about nalidixic acid targeting DNA gyrase to the calculus lab which helped me contextualize the Luria-Delbruck experiment that we learned about in biology class. I am thankful that I learned about the relationship between the STEM fields so that I can better my research with professors in the future by creating outside connections.
One learning target that I struggled with throughout this semester was learning target 3. LT3 states that I can find the derivative of a function, both at a point and as a function, using the definition of the derivative. I took AP Calculus AB in high school yet the definition of the derivative is something that I continued to struggle understanding. I submitted a revision to our first checkpoint with LT3 and got the check after practicing a few problems with the definition of a derivative. When I was working on my revision, I went back to the slides to realize that I failed to plug back in the 0, and I did not include proper notation. Throughout this class, I have realized that notation is extremely important in getting a question correct because an answer is meaningless without proper notation or units.
This realization contributes to a large part of my growth mindset which is a term that I did not think much of at the beginning of the semester. When entering high school calculus, I generally did not care about units or understanding why they were so important for the accuracy of a problem. However, after this semester, I have learned that they are extremely important for the audience to understand a problem along with being beneficial for getting the problem correct. Oftentimes, understanding units and how they cancel out can lead to a problem being answered correctly. I came into this class with a lot more self-confidence than other students, however, I realized that I also struggle in calculus even after taking it for a year in high school. No matter how much experience someone has over another, we all have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to STEM fields.
I found myself struggling with some parts of homework 28. This could be because I completed it last minute and did not practice integral problems. We had to test our anti-derivatives by deriving the problems and I felt like I lost some of my previous derivative knowledge. I had a lot of confidence in my ability to derive functions yet this confidence vanished when I was trying to derive my anti-derivatives in homework 28. It felt like my last resort was looking toward the homework answer key for help. While I previously felt this strategy was unhelpful when learning a topic, I found myself learning a lot from looking through the answer keys and realizing where I went wrong in problem-solving. This also made me a bit more confident in asking for help when I needed it. I remember asking Ryan in class how she derived a problem on homework 28 and she was able to work me through the process.
After completing this homework assignment, I realized that I needed to manage my time a bit better if I wanted to learn topics effectively for checkpoints. This realization was exemplified when I looked back at my checkpoint for LT18 and realized that I got the problem wrong. This is most likely because I did not spend much time trying to learn u-substitution so I failed to understand key concepts in the checkpoint. Next semester, I will do the homework after attending class and continue to look back at it before completing a checkpoint. I believe that it is important to learn from my mistakes and I want to be able to say that I completed all of the Habits of Mind targets next semester in Calculus 2.
During the end of the semester, we were doing u-substitution (activity 5.3.4, problem 1) and Dr. Torres wanted us to write our answers up on the board. I told her that I was hesitant to write my answer on the board because I felt like I was going to be wrong. She informed me that it was okay to make mistakes and that it helped the class learn. I went up to the board and was informed by Jessica that my answer was incorrect because I changed the bounds in terms of u when I should have kept them in terms of x. This was a learning experience because it allowed Dr. Torres to tell the class why my mistake was common and the class paid attention to her explanation. I learned that one of my areas of improvement involved getting answers incorrect in front of the class. There is nothing wrong with attempting a question and getting it incorrect which was an important lesson I learned this semester. Along with this, the SMART poster was a great way to collaborate with my lab partners.
I will say that I struggled a lot with the labs because I had to do a few of them by myself since my lab partner withdrew from the class. With this in mind, I felt like the three of us collaborated well to tackle the poster. I worked on two of the labs, Ryan worked on the introduction and conclusion whereas Dulce worked on two of the other labs. We were able to complete the poster in a few hours and I felt comfortable in the group that we created. I enjoyed working and presenting with them during the group presentation and I believe that we all put a lot of effort into creating our poster.
In conclusion, the SMART program has been instrumental in my academic and personal development, fostering a deeper understanding of the connected relationship between science and mathematics. I look forward to applying these insights in future research collaborations with professors and continually embracing challenges as opportunities for growth in my academic journey.
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