Lucia Bruscantini

Science Core Competencies

For this core competency reflection, I chose to talk about communication. A way I showed communication during this project was how I’m an active listener; I support and encourage the person speaking. My group was filled with loud and intelligent people which made everyone want to talk and say their own unique ideas at the same time, I would make sure to listen to everyone and let them know that I like their ideas. Another way I showed communication was how I recognize that there are different points-of-view and I can disagree respectfully. To support this statement there was one event where a group member thought by adding more light bulbs the voltmeter would go up but I disagreed and knew that it would actually decrease, and so it did. I also ask and respond to simple, direct questions. If one of my group members, or my teacher, were to ask a question I would simply answer it if I didn’t know the answer I would research quickly and find the answer for them to keep on working on what was important to complete this lab. Communication is a very important part when working in a group and I’m glad I have these skills to make sure my group succeeds.

There are a couple more ways I showed communication. I can work with others to achieve a common goal; I do my share. I can support this statement because I found that my group worked very well together and we got all our work done, we split and all did outstanding work. I also take on roles and responsibilities in the group, if something needed to be done I would make sure it would. For example, the conclusion was something we were struggling so I got my group member to work on it with me and not get distracted on other work and it turned out great. Lastly,a way I showed communication was how I present information clearly and in an organized way. We had a lot of information and It could’ve gotten messy, I made sure to keep all out papers separate so our information wouldn’t get mixed. This helped us a lot because we had a clear idea of what to read for each part of this lab. I think I have some good skills to share in a group and how to do more group work so I can keep on working on new skills.

Even though I have some good communication skills, there are always things to work on. I think I could work on giving, receiving, and acting on feedback. When I get feedback I always forget about it until after the lab, something I could work on is taking it in and working on it on the spot. Something else I can work on is how to represent my learning, and tell how it connects to my experiences and efforts. That isn’t something I usually think about when working and I think it could truly help me in the future to help better my work. Lastly, one more thing I could work on is to present information and ideas to an audience I may not know. This is something that would be really helpful, I can sometimes get shy or be nervous to talk in front of a group but once I get comfortable I’m good. I think this is something I could easily overcome if I try. I think communication is the most important part of working in a group if you don’t communicate nothing would get done. I have some pretty strong skills but always have skills to improve on and I hope to have way more communication skills by the end of the year!