Parallel Computing with Little Fe!
05/2/20
Today was the last meeting of the spring semester. We went more
in depth about parallel computing. In the beginning, the mentors made sure
everyone was able to work Little Fe. This meeting allowed the apprentices
to work with nodes and what super computers are able to do with these smaller
computers. I was able to work with galaxies that were modified by the changes via
Little Fe. With many errors, I was able to learn so many new things as well as
other lessons about learning. See you in the Summer!
Presentations!!!
04/18/20
Isha and I finished 3 more versions. We were able to figure out lots
of problems in our code with the help of Ernie. After experiencing
trial and error, we were able to finish it all!! After lunch, we were
started presentations. My partner and I went third. It was nervewracking
but fun. I was extremely amazed by the other groups. They all did different
topics and how diverse it was. I am happy and satisfied with the finished
product even if it took us a long time. See you in two weeks!
Second Virtual Meeting
04/04/20
Today was Shodor's second virtual meeting and group project meeting.
My partner, Isha, and I finished 5 versions for our binary fission
project. It is not complete yet because we have a model and a simulation.
We hope to finish it soon, but because we are working with a
biological process, it is quite hard. We are learning new things
and codes for javascript, since we are not using a good portion of
the code from programming concepts. Today's meeting was long, but we
were able to get a good amount of work done. It was a bit hard getting
help from the mentors due to the fact that our wifi's are different
and that we are all in different situations. Though I prefer going
to the actual Shodor building, I was satisfied with what we both did
and the meeting.
Finally Back But Inside My Home
03/21/20
North Carolina stated that NC was in a state of emergence a
couple of weeks ago. Then programs and schools started to
cancel to slow down the corona virus. Each day the number of cases are increasing,
and now everyone is in "quarantine". Shodor decided to keep the
apprenticeship program running but with virtual meetings.
Today marks the first day of virtual meetings of 2020.
I started a project that relates to Aaron's lesson on programming concepts.
My group's idea is simulating binary fission
with two models. Me and my partner, Isha, planned
in a wide perspective. I can't wait
to see how this project will turn out. Overall, today's meeting was good,
but I found myself getting side tracked easily due to the long hours. Though
it was personally hard to concentrate, I was able to get a lot of my
work done.
Final Day on Programming Concepts
03/07/20
Today was the final day on programming concepts. Shodor also
got new keyboards. The apprentices were given a talk about the
current situation on the Coronavirus and amended rules on absences.
Continuing from 2 weeks ago, we finally finished the programming
concept project. We created multiple circles, bouncing, loops,
and arrays through javascript. After finishing the final version,
version 9, Aaron started to connect real-life situations to the
simulation. Some of them were fires, the coronavirus, quarantine,
car crashes, and mass. At the end of the meeting, we were given
our project groups and started the project. Thank you Aaron!
Continuation of Programming Concepts
02/15/20
The whole meeting was the continuation of programming concepts
that was taught by Aaron. We finished version 3, 4, and almost finished version 5.
We started javascript and learned about strings, regular expression,
and DRY. Using variables, DRY was used a lot. Each version has a
different about descriptions that talk about what each version
is and what we did. I had lots of fun doing this and learning
javascript. It's exciting to see the differences between HTML
and javascript.
First Meeting of the Spring
02/08/20
Today is the first meeting of the spring! For the first five
minutes, I heard a short story told by Dr. Panoff about his new
class he is teaching. Then for the rest of meeting, it was led
by Aaron. We are working on Bouncing Particles website.
It consists of both html and javascript.
We also learned principles, tools, and concepts.
Today, we got through version 2 and the beginning javascript
of a stationary particle.
I enjoyed this meeting and was easy going.
Presentations
12/21/19
The first half of today was finishing up the project.
I had to fix my website and connect my css.
I kept making tiny typos and mistakes that ended up crashing my whole website.
The last half was on presentations.
My partner and I were the fifth ones to present.
I was quite nervous and kept blanking out when I had to talk about the results for the system models.
Today is the last meeting of the decade. See you next year!
Almost finished
12/14/19
Today, my partner and I worked on the models and fixed the
models to make it work. We finished a bit after lunch.
After lunch, we started on the website and began the whole process.
My css wasn't uploading, but I'll work on it at home. The rest is working perfectly.
I had a meeting with Kristen to see how I was doing between school and Shodor.
Day One on Project
12/07/19
For the whole day, we were working on the new project.
For the first half, my partner and I were coming up with ideas and topics to model.
It was hard coming up with ideas, especially when both have to affect each other.
We both came up with different ideas and researched to model and come up with a story.
We decided to do one about "Money in Circulations" and was quite difficult to model.
We're doing a 2-compartment model with interdependence.
We almost finished our vensim model, and we just need to finish our graph.
Notes, More Notes, and Agent Modeling!
11/23/19
Today was mainly taught by Dr. Panoff.
He reviewed vensim, talked about model thinking, and system vs agent modeling.
We got to see how time step affects the equation
and got to learn about dynamic, visual, and interactive modeling.
He showed us how to work with a shadow variable
and gave us a small talk about onions and pearls.
We got to work with agent modeling and our group for the upcoming project.
Aaron's Day
11/16/19
Today was Aaron's day because he taught us for the whole period.
We mainly focused on the "HAVE = HAD + CHANGE" equation.
We summarized semantic models and what each thing did or was.
We learned a new way of modelings, which is making a story.
Making a story made it easier to understand a model or what you are trying to model.
We modeled the population of Durham, decrease of temperature,
decay of Fermium-252, and revised the rabbit simulation.
In a decreasing model, you put the arrow part of the rate on the cloud.
We revised our rabbit model, the rate part with giving birth, and learned about carrying capacity.
I got to learn how carrying capacity can affect your equation, another external factor.
Dr. Panoff's Day
11/09/19
The whole day, the meeting was led by Dr. Panoff.
He told us the power of "if" and taught us semantics and iteration.
He was showing multiple examples on excel such as the pseudo random number:
heads and tails, dice, and adding numbers.
Then he used vensimPLE to show semantic equations and how you can use real-life scenarios to model.
We also went through modeling and how we can use different model,
especially semantic models, to get your answer. Having the external or outside factor that can affect
your equation, was shown through the "HAVE = HAD + CHANGE" equation.
Logical and Critical/ Analytic Thinking with Dr. Panoff
10/26/19
Dr. Panoff led the class today.
We discussed ethics we found in different fields that showed
similarities or differences to the apprentice handbook.
He taught us how to play sudoku with "smart" thinking- cancelling out.
Using the same method, we decoded a quote from a scientific figure
and guessing numbers with different formats.
Before lunch, he showed us a new card trick with a group of 5 instead of 9.
After lunch, we started the intro to numerics.
Starting off with microsoft excel, he shows us how different codings and
programs think differently than others. We used cosine and mantissa exponents.
We learned about truncation, resolution, and rounding. Dr. Panoff also told a personal story about Billy.
Ethics and Cards
10/19/19
Ron showed us how to clothe appropriately in a professional office.
There were two Rons- rude and swaggy Ron and the actual Ron.
Then Dr. Panoff explained arithmetic solving and how we know things.
He did card tricks, where they were all related to an arithmetic formula and just plain tricks.
We reviewed "Expectation, Observation, and Reflection."
Orientation
10/12/2019
Today, I met Ernie and Dr. Panoff.
We started with introduction and quickly moved to expectation, observation, and reflection.
They summarized their experiences here and their past life.
Ernie took over, and we went over the apprentice handbook.
We also took photos and got our cubbies.
We got a tour of the new building and went over the fire exits.
After lunch, we went over the expectations of being an apprentice and started real work
(Just setting up our computers, email, and blog).