For Order from Chaos, students have been learning some of the foundations of displacement reaction chemistry, mediated spontaneously through the metal reactivity series or assisted with electricity (electrochemistry) and exploring the arithmetic and geometric mathematical relationships relating to these experiments. Recently this has seen each class grow a silver tree (or in old Alchemy, an Arbour Dianae).
We have been using our silver trees to explore understandings around exponential growth with geometric sequences. This has provided lots of lovely learning for the Evidence of learning (EoL) around finding, exploring, and predicting patterns, mathematical modelling, assessing the reasonableness and limitations of this model and understanding nuances of good experimental design -particularly around the importance of controlling variables.
The learning in this module is now moving towards a culmination of this learning with an opportunity for students to select and explore an example of patterns in nature, which will round out the end of the Patterns and Perspectives module after Curiosity in the Community week. Our next module – Chaos Made to Order will commence in Week 5 with a focus on ordering complex data through networks and matrices and their applications to digital systems.
