What was the purpose of these first two days of school and what are my plans for this year?

I entered the Science with a fresh mind. Came in as a 9^th grader for the first time and the teacher directed us with a brand new assignment; the marshmallow challenge. Using 2o sticks of spaghetti, tape, string, and one marshmallow; teams had to build the tallest free-standing structure in eighteen minutes. The task sounds simple however when the marshmallow is placed on the top, everything may come down.

The next day, the class watched a video about the physics of skateboarding. This showed a professor trying to make a new trick on his skateboard. He failed many times until he finally got it right. However, I still didn´t understand the reason of doing the marshmallow challenge and watching the video. At that moment, the teacher gave us the connection or lesson: to be good at something you need MANY hours of practice. In other words, you´ll fail several times.

My expectations for this year are just a few. First, I´d like to interact with different people on group work. Last year, I normally worked with the same person which got me bored. It doesn´t mean I hate that person it´s the way this person works. By interacting with different people I can learn many different ways of working. At the end of the year I´ll chose the most efficient one. Second, I´d like the class to be entertaining. Sometimes the class could do activities which require movement instead of sitting down the whole period. This can change the students’ daily mood related to Science.