Welcome Post

Hello everyone!

Here is my first post for the welcoming week so that my you as my classmates can get to know me better.

My name is Mackenzie Robinson and I am a teacher candidate in the consecutive junior/intermediate stream at Brock University. I previously did my undergraduate degree at Laurentian University in the Bachelor of Sport and Physical Education program, receiving my Bachelor of Physical and Health Education. My first teachable is physical education and I have a second teachable in science.

I am from Collingwood, Ontario. I have a love for nature and spend a great deal of time outside hiking, traveling, and reading. Luckily, I am 10 minutes away from Blue Mountain where I participate in a lot of physical activity in both the summer and winter. Also, I have been playing many sports since I was young. I grew up playing basketball, baseball, volleyball, rugby, and swimming. While attending Laurentian I was grateful to be a member of the varsity women's basketball team for all four years of my undergrad and even winning the Pride and Tradition Award and Most Valuable Player, as well as the Ontario University Athletics- Tracy MacLeod award for perseverance, determination, and unwavering spirit.

As for the two blog posts that caught my attention, they are: Engineering a Better Engineering Student and How I went from High-school Slacker to Passionate College Student. These first blog was appealing for me because I learned that many high school students who dream of becoming engineers don't. According to the blog about a third of students who enter into the engineering program fail out. The major problem for failing is because those students have a limited knowledge of mathematics, specifically calculus, which is actually required for a majority of classes (Hopkins et al., 2016). Interestingly, when reading further in depth, the author talks about how he completed a scientific study using an experimental group vs. a control group in a precalculus class to determine if manipulating the spacing of quiz questions vs. massed over a 4 week period, will it influence a students learning capability? Overall, after reading this blog I was surprised at how testing methods can contribute to the performance of individuals and how many engineering students fail because they are unable to pass calculus. I am fascinated to know and possibly research more into how math subjects, such as calculus, algebra, and functions correlate with and are applied to science concepts.

The second blog was also appealing to me because I was curious to read more on how someone went from being unmotivated and slacking as a student to a hard working and determined "new" type of student. I connected with this article in a sense because of how one person can influence future decisions. Throughout my entire education from kindergarten till even now, I have had one individual in particular who was my teacher and coach, and has had a positive influence on my life, specifically as a student. It was interesting to read that the author of the blog started with a mindset of being a waitress, to working at a gym and deciding to apply to school, getting a scholarship for college and then applying to university for a bachelor degree and changing the course of her studies. This person never gave up and continued learning even when she could have just kept her regular job.

Finally, for this course I am really looking forward to re-learning new concepts that I will be able to teach my students in the future. Personally, I feel that this course will be the most intriguing course that I am taking because of the engagement that will take place for a majority of the projects. I am extremely interested in completing the learning activity presentation, where I will be choosing a strand in the mathematical curriculum and lead my peers through a 10 minute learning activity.

Good luck to everyone this semester and in their classes!