Blog 27: Self Reflection

1. Positive Statement

• What are you most proud of in your 2-Hour Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

The part that I am most proud of in my 2-hour presentation was how I made my audience engaged with my senior project especially since it has a negative, gross perspective within the media. By making the students really excited for my senior project to continue going on and providing them with hands-on tools, 3D models of human skeletal systems, as well as animal bones to be able to have the application of the sciences that a Forensic Anthropologist is accounted for makes me really proud. Not only that, but because many students were so into my project that the passage of time for a break suggested how the interest of the students was extremely high and I was provided with a lot of positive body language feedback and I have suggested that they all had a fun and amazing educational experience. The fact that my sisters told me that they were jealous of my presentation because I did better than them is so hear-warming considering they excelled within the project.

 On the other hand, on my senior project I was mostly proud of my entire second independent component working with the cranial reconstruction and 3D-ID software programs to recreate the vision and simulation and:

• Determine if the skeletal remains are in fact of forensic significance based on the presence of trauma. 
• Determine the horizontal excavation layer in which the remains were found in order to determine the possible time of death 
• Match a weapon or natural component that was left as a striation of the remains because of the fact that DNA or lethal vectors need to match to an object used to succeed in the cause of death and match trauma-mortem.

Refer to http://jaimeseniorproject.blogspot.com/2012/04/blog-24-independent-component-2.html for a novel-length detailed analysis.

2. Questions to Consider

• A. What assessment would you give yourself on your 2-Hour Presentation (self-assessment)? Why?

The assessment I would give myself on my 2-hour presentation would be an AE because I not only met the requirements, but I also included extra things into my presentation like changing into a clothes to make it seem like a professional explaining the answers throughout the presentation, show real life examples of my answers, directly apply the pedagogy of what I have explained in my presentation, and a side guessing game to encourage the students to use their sensory details to determine if they can figure out if a bone is of forensic importance based on the presence of trauma and if it is human, and show that I put a lot of effort into my presentation by knowing exactly what the topic of Forensic Anthropology was truly about.

• B. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)? Why?

The assessment I would give myself on my overall senior project would be an AE because I have been documenting my senior project with evidence that I have actually been able to directly apply my experience to directly answer my essential question. I have shown a high educational-based senior project topic that has backed me up with export source analysis from professors, Ph.D. credentialed practicing Forensic Anthropologist, and have been able to create the ideal senior project that I-Poly has been waiting for.

3. What worked for you in your senior project?

• I have found service learning at the Forensic Science Academy Club by contacting an alumni who did their project on Forensic Pathology.
• I stayed with .edu/.gov/and .com factual information sites for expert analysis
• I have found high-end credentialed individuals to interview for my senior project
• I have completed and was able to directly apply knowledge from my Intro to Archaeology and Prehistory Independent Component 1 and the 3D-ID Cranial Reconstruction Project for the FSAC.
• I have done exceptionally well in my 5-minute and 20-minute presentations
• I have been a finalist at the I-Poly Science Fair and an Honorable Mention at the LA County Fair in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Documenting everything in my digital portfolio known as a blog by including pictures

4. What didn't work for you in your senior project?
Nothing didn't work for me, I was able to find a solution and was able to be an effective citizen in technology and any opportunities that was able to ensure that my senior project was up-to-date and complete.

5. Finding Value

• How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

The senior project has been helpful to me in my future endeavors in the way that I have finalized that I will be  obtaining a master's degree in Anthropology with a concentration in biological variation of humans based on geographical location at the University of La Verne. Being more highly competitive and a stellar student in the field of science I will be able to obtain internships and job opportunities that will have expertise that require the establishment and completion of cranial/facial reconstructions, archaeological skeletal remains excavation, as well as hands-on field work experience which I obtained from my education opportunity in Cal Poly Pomona Young Scholar's courses and in the Forensic Science Academy Club Technology Advancement in Forensic Anthropology Workshop.