Blog Post #3

For my Capstone project I did a video. I did a video because I did not need to memorize the script and I was comfortable using this format. I also did two other videos this year which gave me experience making videos. I enjoyed making my final Project because I did so much work and loved learning more about Pearl Harbor, which has always been fascinating to me. I also enjoyed finding pictures because they were historical which I find interesting. One problem I had was that my video was too long because I had so much information so I needed to get rid of some slides. I was looking forward to sharing my project because I wanted people to enjoy it and learn from it. Overall I think my video was an accomplishment and I learned a tremendous amount of history about Pearl Harbor. 

 

This is my video:

 

Blog Post #2

For my Capstone interview I interviewed Daniel Stiel, a social studies teacher at White Plains High School, who is also my dad. I interviewed my dad because he’s an expert on my topic Pearl Harbor. He’s been teaching about Pearl Harbor for the last 20 years. My process for setting up my interview was finding out when my dad was available to do the interview. He is busy because he is teaching from home. The questions I asked my dad were about the causes and effects of Pearl Harbor because that is my main inquiry question.The most interesting thing I learned from my interview was about the Japanese American internment camps. Some of the areas where the American government put the Japanese Americans were in horse stables. I am lucky during the interview process I didn’t face any challenges. Overall, I think my interview was successful.

 

Blog Post #1

My capstone topic is Pearl harbor and my main inquiry question is “what were the causes and effects of the attack on Pearl Harbor?”. Capstone is my final 5th grade research project so I hope I make it good. It was helpful for me to talk with my dad and Mrs Van Camp when I was choosing my inquiry question. Talking out my thoughts helped me expand my ideas. In the beginning I had another main inquiry question which was ”How did the Japanese plan the attack on Pearl Harbor and why was it successful?” I changed the question because it was too narrow and I could not create a project with so little information.  It was challenging coming up with the main inquiry question because it took several tries to come up with the question. It took more tries because my first question was too narrow. As a learner, I have learned that when I study a topic that I find interesting the work is easier for me. I think during capstone, I will have a lot more motivation to do my work because my topic is interesting to me.