Gabriel Morbitzer
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
20th April, 2015
Experimenting With Incentives: Post Project Reflection
In this project we were asked to create an incentive scheme to either promote a behavior we liked or curb a behavior we did not like. We had to answer one simple question, do incentives matter, and to this end we created an experiment to modify behavior with incentives. We were asked to do this on behalf of the school, and our actions had to be within the rule boundaries. We had to be secretive about our plans, because if the participants knew they were being studied it could skew results.
In order to understand what we were doing, we read Freakonomics; this was the basic introduction to the concept of incentives. There are three types of incentives, moral, economic, and social; all of these incentives were explained in detail to us. We learned about the many biases that could skew results, the many things that can go awry. We also learned about the proper way to introduce a study as to not muddy results.
I learned a lot in the time that the project happened, but I wish I learned more from the project itself. I learned that things will not always go your way, that unexpected things can happen, good or bad. It is also foolish to believe that the underclassmen act in a predictable manner. The three types of incentives must not be just strong, but be fast and immediate to have the desired effect. Giving somebody one million dollars in a year’s time might not be as strong as giving the same person a million dollars in the next hour. Unexpected things happen however, and the data might be ugly; but it is true.
There were bad things that happened over the span of this project, but nothing bad happened in relation to the project for me. The content was easy to understand. I made no attempts to request extra workshops, or spend time out of school. I did no extra work, I felt average. That was my biggest problem with this project, the feeling of not doing enough. I knew in my brain that I was doing all I needed to, but my heart told me that I wasn’t doing all that I could. Maybe I am just paranoid about sloth becoming one of my defining features as it once was, I don’t know.
I honestly cannot tell you if I am growing in anything anymore. They say you never stop growing and learning, but I feel that in the five learning outcomes that we have been fostering for four years, that I am getting some seriously diminishing returns across the board. I honestly cannot feel the difference in what I was at the beginning of the year and now. I might have gotten worse for all I know. I am not saying that I will never get better than I am right now, but the learning outcomes seem so stale that I any change that could be made would be so minor that it would be barely noticeable, not even worthy of note.
I feel that I don’t need any help on the learning front for now. I could use help in many other facets of my life at the time of writing this, but none of them are academic. I am just trying not to focus on the past; I have enough to worry about things now and the things to be. I will be heading off to college soon, to try to make a name for myself and I do feel that the change of pace will help to better me. However I feel that I don’t need help at this point. I feel that I can spread my wings and fly, maybe I will end up soaring, and perhaps I will fall to my death. I don’t know what is in store for me at this point, I will ask for help when I get to a bridge I cannot cross I suppose
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
20th April, 2015
Experimenting With Incentives: Post Project Reflection
In this project we were asked to create an incentive scheme to either promote a behavior we liked or curb a behavior we did not like. We had to answer one simple question, do incentives matter, and to this end we created an experiment to modify behavior with incentives. We were asked to do this on behalf of the school, and our actions had to be within the rule boundaries. We had to be secretive about our plans, because if the participants knew they were being studied it could skew results.
In order to understand what we were doing, we read Freakonomics; this was the basic introduction to the concept of incentives. There are three types of incentives, moral, economic, and social; all of these incentives were explained in detail to us. We learned about the many biases that could skew results, the many things that can go awry. We also learned about the proper way to introduce a study as to not muddy results.
I learned a lot in the time that the project happened, but I wish I learned more from the project itself. I learned that things will not always go your way, that unexpected things can happen, good or bad. It is also foolish to believe that the underclassmen act in a predictable manner. The three types of incentives must not be just strong, but be fast and immediate to have the desired effect. Giving somebody one million dollars in a year’s time might not be as strong as giving the same person a million dollars in the next hour. Unexpected things happen however, and the data might be ugly; but it is true.
There were bad things that happened over the span of this project, but nothing bad happened in relation to the project for me. The content was easy to understand. I made no attempts to request extra workshops, or spend time out of school. I did no extra work, I felt average. That was my biggest problem with this project, the feeling of not doing enough. I knew in my brain that I was doing all I needed to, but my heart told me that I wasn’t doing all that I could. Maybe I am just paranoid about sloth becoming one of my defining features as it once was, I don’t know.
I honestly cannot tell you if I am growing in anything anymore. They say you never stop growing and learning, but I feel that in the five learning outcomes that we have been fostering for four years, that I am getting some seriously diminishing returns across the board. I honestly cannot feel the difference in what I was at the beginning of the year and now. I might have gotten worse for all I know. I am not saying that I will never get better than I am right now, but the learning outcomes seem so stale that I any change that could be made would be so minor that it would be barely noticeable, not even worthy of note.
I feel that I don’t need any help on the learning front for now. I could use help in many other facets of my life at the time of writing this, but none of them are academic. I am just trying not to focus on the past; I have enough to worry about things now and the things to be. I will be heading off to college soon, to try to make a name for myself and I do feel that the change of pace will help to better me. However I feel that I don’t need help at this point. I feel that I can spread my wings and fly, maybe I will end up soaring, and perhaps I will fall to my death. I don’t know what is in store for me at this point, I will ask for help when I get to a bridge I cannot cross I suppose
incentive_program.pptx | |
File Size: | 3811 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Gabriel Morbitzer
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
9th March, 2015
Business’ are Hard Work
What we were asked to do in this project was to find ways to revitalize downtown Sacramento. We were asked to create a business plan that would bring people downtown as well. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership asked us to try and come up with something that is not downtown, and we had to create a business plan for a business that would fill that gap.
We had to do a lot of research on many subjects, but we had to understand the key concepts of economics first. After we learned the key concepts of economics, we moved on to more individualized research. We had to find the prices of rent for specific buildings we chose, we had to find out wages, costs, and expenses. We also had to learn about business plans, and how to write them. It turned out to be harder than anyone though, and took up a bulk of the project.
As stated before, we had to learn about the key concepts of economics. I will start with supply and demand, supply and demand are the two major factors in distribution. Supply is how much you have, and demand is how much is wanted. You want to have a happy medium between supply and demand, called equilibrium, for maximum profit. However, before you have to worry about supply and demand you have to worry about acquiring land, labor, and capital. You need land because you need a place to be, you need labor so you can actually make a product, and capital with which to support yourself. There was also diminishing returns, which are a result of getting too many people to do one job. In short, I learned the very base economic concepts.
The difficult part of this project for me was all the writing that was involved. People say I am a good writer, but I did not learn the difference between it’s and its until the tail end of last year. The project was writing, and it really drained me. Research, I can do that, but I still can’t use a semicolon right. I eventually got through the writing with some help from my friends, but I feel that my writing wasn’t up to snuff with what it was. The economic concepts were easy, but the writing involved was hard. My schedule did not allow for much out of class time for work, so I tried to use my time wisely. Even now, while I write these words, I can smell the stench of sub par writing emanate from the screen.
Oral communication is more of my strong suit, a polar opposite to written communication. I write how I talk, and that is the stem of most of my writing errors. It is easier to fix my speech than it is to fix my writing. I felt like I got better at just saying things, less stammering, less “Um, yeah”s, more focused goals in speech. I feel like this is more of a natural progression than a great step. In this project I am going to be honest with you, I improved my weaseling. Speech is as much you say as much as it is what you don’t. There were parts of our presentation that were missing right out. If one speaks with enough gusto, they take center stage instead of the information, that is how you get people to focus on something that is not the information you lack. There were little tactics we employed to bring attention to ourselves and take attention away from the presentation. You keep your hands in constant movement, you use humor, and most importantly; you never stop talking. Whenever there is a gap, eyes start to wonder and might see something that isn’t there that should be. Never stop to correct mistakes, don’t look back, and at least pretend you know what will happen next, and people will believe that you are not winging it.
What I still need help with, that is a good one. Not writing, I have been trying to get English down for eighteen years, it isn’t going to happen in six months. What I really need help with is my knowledge and thinking. I felt that we had to do too much research by ourselves, and while autonomy is great and all I felt a little out of control. There wasn’t a real strategy to this in my opinion, you just kind of taught us the key economic concepts, had a few workshops on what a business plan is and how to write one, but didn’t tell us the best way to write one. We only found out what exactly you wanted when they were all turned in and you found the best one. I know that this is the first year you did this, but I felt a stronger plan would be nice.
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
9th March, 2015
Business’ are Hard Work
What we were asked to do in this project was to find ways to revitalize downtown Sacramento. We were asked to create a business plan that would bring people downtown as well. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership asked us to try and come up with something that is not downtown, and we had to create a business plan for a business that would fill that gap.
We had to do a lot of research on many subjects, but we had to understand the key concepts of economics first. After we learned the key concepts of economics, we moved on to more individualized research. We had to find the prices of rent for specific buildings we chose, we had to find out wages, costs, and expenses. We also had to learn about business plans, and how to write them. It turned out to be harder than anyone though, and took up a bulk of the project.
As stated before, we had to learn about the key concepts of economics. I will start with supply and demand, supply and demand are the two major factors in distribution. Supply is how much you have, and demand is how much is wanted. You want to have a happy medium between supply and demand, called equilibrium, for maximum profit. However, before you have to worry about supply and demand you have to worry about acquiring land, labor, and capital. You need land because you need a place to be, you need labor so you can actually make a product, and capital with which to support yourself. There was also diminishing returns, which are a result of getting too many people to do one job. In short, I learned the very base economic concepts.
The difficult part of this project for me was all the writing that was involved. People say I am a good writer, but I did not learn the difference between it’s and its until the tail end of last year. The project was writing, and it really drained me. Research, I can do that, but I still can’t use a semicolon right. I eventually got through the writing with some help from my friends, but I feel that my writing wasn’t up to snuff with what it was. The economic concepts were easy, but the writing involved was hard. My schedule did not allow for much out of class time for work, so I tried to use my time wisely. Even now, while I write these words, I can smell the stench of sub par writing emanate from the screen.
Oral communication is more of my strong suit, a polar opposite to written communication. I write how I talk, and that is the stem of most of my writing errors. It is easier to fix my speech than it is to fix my writing. I felt like I got better at just saying things, less stammering, less “Um, yeah”s, more focused goals in speech. I feel like this is more of a natural progression than a great step. In this project I am going to be honest with you, I improved my weaseling. Speech is as much you say as much as it is what you don’t. There were parts of our presentation that were missing right out. If one speaks with enough gusto, they take center stage instead of the information, that is how you get people to focus on something that is not the information you lack. There were little tactics we employed to bring attention to ourselves and take attention away from the presentation. You keep your hands in constant movement, you use humor, and most importantly; you never stop talking. Whenever there is a gap, eyes start to wonder and might see something that isn’t there that should be. Never stop to correct mistakes, don’t look back, and at least pretend you know what will happen next, and people will believe that you are not winging it.
What I still need help with, that is a good one. Not writing, I have been trying to get English down for eighteen years, it isn’t going to happen in six months. What I really need help with is my knowledge and thinking. I felt that we had to do too much research by ourselves, and while autonomy is great and all I felt a little out of control. There wasn’t a real strategy to this in my opinion, you just kind of taught us the key economic concepts, had a few workshops on what a business plan is and how to write one, but didn’t tell us the best way to write one. We only found out what exactly you wanted when they were all turned in and you found the best one. I know that this is the first year you did this, but I felt a stronger plan would be nice.
rpp2_copy.pdf | |
File Size: | 3424 kb |
File Type: |
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Gabriel Morbitzer
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
12 November 2014
My Vote Post-project Reflection
During this project we were asked to do many things. The main question we had to answer was “How does government grow and adapt to a changing society”. We also had to create supplemental voter material educating voters on propositions, measures, or candidates we researched and finally we participated in a mock election. The voter supplemental information came in many forms. We were not given so set product to create, but we were given guidelines. The information we learned was presented in two power point presentations, one for the general information on the (in our case) proposition, and another to cover anything we missed with information on why it is both important to vote and how voting is able to incite change.
We had to learn about the American government system, the intricacies of its workings, and what part voters play. The different types of democracy that exist within the United States was also something taught to us. I learned that the state of California is one of the few states in the union that has wide reaching direct democracy. Other states have limited usage of this type of democracy, while California is using it to as full of an extent it can manage. Such as in 2003 when the governor was removed from office over the sudden hike in electrical utility prices by a citizen-produced recall. This is a rare occurrence that has happened in the United States once before, and once sense.
My difficulties in this project stem from two things, one being my weaker than normal immune system, and the other being a logistical issue that will be explained in detail later. The first issue had me incapacitated and in bed sleeping for a good three days, able to do little in the name of collaborating with my group beyond letting them know I was still alive. The second issue was in the deliverable final product, this can get a little confusing but hear me out. The school and I use the same program for graphic design, but ever since the district installed their computers here the program is not on every computer. On top of that the school has a different version that is neigh incompatible with the newer version I have, if I were to open the files the text would move and make the product illegible. Knowing this I could only work at home, making it hard to prove to my superiors that I was carrying my weight. This made editing the product a chore because I would not be able to get group feedback as fast as I am accustomed to, that and there were growing doubts about my involvement in the group. This inability to edit almost netted us a zero on the project because the group member who was supposed to print out the product (as was required) was absent for reasons that we found out later were of vague importance. This put us in a situation where we did not have a product and did not have a group member. We later got an extension on the deadline because the absent group member’s situation was found out, and the product was then printed out and turned in. In the realm of staying after school there was no option, none of us could stay after school. We don’t know if it was planned that way but we did all we could in the classroom (and in my case at home), we went to workshops, we requested teacher feedback, and we did our own research in our free time. We tried to overcome our problems and work with what we had.
I might be teetering on the border of the rules and common sense when I write this sentence, but I think I did not grow in a particularly positive direction when it came to the learning outcomes. I felt my collaboration took a hit during this project. Work ethic grew ever so slightly I feel out of my having to work from home. The thing is that I already do graphic design work in my free time anyways, I didn’t even regard the product as work! Just another design to keep my mind off of the more negative aspects of my life. I was sick for a good part of a rather important week, I couldn’t do work in the presence of my peers or my superiors for that matter, and I felt a creeping sense of paranoia about being fired for these reasons. This was not a good situation to collaborate in and I cannot in good faith say that I was a good group member in this project. I was the lame duck that was just there (on the days I really was there) and to an outside observer it would seem like I did nothing to propel the group towards a passing grade. Quite frankly I am surprised we passed, and that is not a good feeling, I want to be ho-hum with passing, not surprised like success just jumped out of the kitchen sink and bit off my finger. Even the feedback on the presentation seemed to reflect this negative growth in collaboration, something along the lines of “You need to rely on others less” was said. That was a piece of feedback that I had to mull over in my head for a few days on whether I should listen to it or not, and after those days I came to the conclusion that we trusted too hard in some areas and not hard enough in others. I feel that that quote (at least I think it is a quote, my memory is not the sharpest knife in the shed) sums up the project perfectly for me: a collaboration, logistical, and communication disaster down to the end.
Gillespie/Baker
Political Studies
12 November 2014
My Vote Post-project Reflection
During this project we were asked to do many things. The main question we had to answer was “How does government grow and adapt to a changing society”. We also had to create supplemental voter material educating voters on propositions, measures, or candidates we researched and finally we participated in a mock election. The voter supplemental information came in many forms. We were not given so set product to create, but we were given guidelines. The information we learned was presented in two power point presentations, one for the general information on the (in our case) proposition, and another to cover anything we missed with information on why it is both important to vote and how voting is able to incite change.
We had to learn about the American government system, the intricacies of its workings, and what part voters play. The different types of democracy that exist within the United States was also something taught to us. I learned that the state of California is one of the few states in the union that has wide reaching direct democracy. Other states have limited usage of this type of democracy, while California is using it to as full of an extent it can manage. Such as in 2003 when the governor was removed from office over the sudden hike in electrical utility prices by a citizen-produced recall. This is a rare occurrence that has happened in the United States once before, and once sense.
My difficulties in this project stem from two things, one being my weaker than normal immune system, and the other being a logistical issue that will be explained in detail later. The first issue had me incapacitated and in bed sleeping for a good three days, able to do little in the name of collaborating with my group beyond letting them know I was still alive. The second issue was in the deliverable final product, this can get a little confusing but hear me out. The school and I use the same program for graphic design, but ever since the district installed their computers here the program is not on every computer. On top of that the school has a different version that is neigh incompatible with the newer version I have, if I were to open the files the text would move and make the product illegible. Knowing this I could only work at home, making it hard to prove to my superiors that I was carrying my weight. This made editing the product a chore because I would not be able to get group feedback as fast as I am accustomed to, that and there were growing doubts about my involvement in the group. This inability to edit almost netted us a zero on the project because the group member who was supposed to print out the product (as was required) was absent for reasons that we found out later were of vague importance. This put us in a situation where we did not have a product and did not have a group member. We later got an extension on the deadline because the absent group member’s situation was found out, and the product was then printed out and turned in. In the realm of staying after school there was no option, none of us could stay after school. We don’t know if it was planned that way but we did all we could in the classroom (and in my case at home), we went to workshops, we requested teacher feedback, and we did our own research in our free time. We tried to overcome our problems and work with what we had.
I might be teetering on the border of the rules and common sense when I write this sentence, but I think I did not grow in a particularly positive direction when it came to the learning outcomes. I felt my collaboration took a hit during this project. Work ethic grew ever so slightly I feel out of my having to work from home. The thing is that I already do graphic design work in my free time anyways, I didn’t even regard the product as work! Just another design to keep my mind off of the more negative aspects of my life. I was sick for a good part of a rather important week, I couldn’t do work in the presence of my peers or my superiors for that matter, and I felt a creeping sense of paranoia about being fired for these reasons. This was not a good situation to collaborate in and I cannot in good faith say that I was a good group member in this project. I was the lame duck that was just there (on the days I really was there) and to an outside observer it would seem like I did nothing to propel the group towards a passing grade. Quite frankly I am surprised we passed, and that is not a good feeling, I want to be ho-hum with passing, not surprised like success just jumped out of the kitchen sink and bit off my finger. Even the feedback on the presentation seemed to reflect this negative growth in collaboration, something along the lines of “You need to rely on others less” was said. That was a piece of feedback that I had to mull over in my head for a few days on whether I should listen to it or not, and after those days I came to the conclusion that we trusted too hard in some areas and not hard enough in others. I feel that that quote (at least I think it is a quote, my memory is not the sharpest knife in the shed) sums up the project perfectly for me: a collaboration, logistical, and communication disaster down to the end.
Gabriel Morbitzer
Baker/Gillespie
Political Studies
14 October 2014
Project Personal Past Pondering Post Philosopher’s Project
In this project we were asked by an eighth grade teacher to create a piece(s) of media to teach a few middle schoolers about the enlightenment philosophers and how they influenced the founding of our nation. We first had to learn about the different philosophers and how their ideas differed from the other philosophers. We also had to learn about how to make something interesting and appealing to our target demographic. We mostly learned about enlightenment philosophers, and our founding documents; which we picked apart in detail. The difficulties in this project stem from health problems. My workings in the project were mostly done from home, I had a few problems understanding no more than two philosophers. I made sure to keep in contact with my group members and teachers.
Due to the afore mentioned health problems I feel I grew most in agency. I try my best to do all possible work at school, as to avoid distractions. Without a way to avoid distractions I had to try my best to work at my maximum. My role in the project was a scriptwriter so there was much work to do that I had to power through without breaks as to not get off task it wasn’t easy and if it never happens again it would be too soon. As a scriptwriter I also grew in written communication, writing two scripts and a jeopardy game that accompanied the videos. The writing had to be clear and understandable for an eighth grade audience, so I had to be conscious of my writing as well. I feel I still need help with my ability to work at home, I cannot dodge that problem forever and if I do not prepare it will kick me when I am down. I will make strides to better my ability to ignore distractions, as a contingency to avoid certain failure in the future.
Baker/Gillespie
Political Studies
14 October 2014
Project Personal Past Pondering Post Philosopher’s Project
In this project we were asked by an eighth grade teacher to create a piece(s) of media to teach a few middle schoolers about the enlightenment philosophers and how they influenced the founding of our nation. We first had to learn about the different philosophers and how their ideas differed from the other philosophers. We also had to learn about how to make something interesting and appealing to our target demographic. We mostly learned about enlightenment philosophers, and our founding documents; which we picked apart in detail. The difficulties in this project stem from health problems. My workings in the project were mostly done from home, I had a few problems understanding no more than two philosophers. I made sure to keep in contact with my group members and teachers.
Due to the afore mentioned health problems I feel I grew most in agency. I try my best to do all possible work at school, as to avoid distractions. Without a way to avoid distractions I had to try my best to work at my maximum. My role in the project was a scriptwriter so there was much work to do that I had to power through without breaks as to not get off task it wasn’t easy and if it never happens again it would be too soon. As a scriptwriter I also grew in written communication, writing two scripts and a jeopardy game that accompanied the videos. The writing had to be clear and understandable for an eighth grade audience, so I had to be conscious of my writing as well. I feel I still need help with my ability to work at home, I cannot dodge that problem forever and if I do not prepare it will kick me when I am down. I will make strides to better my ability to ignore distractions, as a contingency to avoid certain failure in the future.