Why I chose the topic:
My topic centered around alien civilizations and Dyson Spheres was not my original plan. My first idea was trying to find an article that can tie in physics and computation. Unfortunately, I could not find a suitable article on this topic. I had to change to a larger branch of physics. I thought for a while and thought something space related would be interesting. On the topic of astronomy, I suddenly remembered about the idea of Stellar Engines and Dyson Spheres. Many years ago, I was fascinated by the idea of interstellar civilization building starting from these Kurzgesagt videos:
About the Kardashev scale, a topic briefly mentioned in the presentation.
About stellar engines, the hypothetical megastructure that is able to move the solar system across space.
About Dyson Spheres, the topic of this project.
These videos were the gateway to me doing more research on this topic. I started looking for video games around the Kardashev scale. I waited for a while for a game called Kardashev to release, but sadly it never came out. A while later, I found out the game Dyson Sphere Program before it released, and this game did release and become a bestseller within days. Over the years I have stopped doing research on these topics, but coming up with ideas for this project made me rediscover a lost interest.
Core Competencies and Research Insights:
In this presentation, I was able to build on the Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking core competency. From the start of analyzing my article, I realized that there is too much information on the paper to be presented in less than four minutes. I had to “question and investigate” when it came to deciding on the most interesting and important ideas to present. Specifically in the “designing and developing” facet, I had to also come up with a plan that not only relates to the content learned in this class, but also considers the target audience. This paper contains some complicated math at parts, but I managed to pull out the parts that would be understandable to the students watching while keeping the presentation as thought-provoking and inspiring. A key idea I learned while doing this is how multiple areas in physics can be related together in a research paper. The connection of multiple areas in physics as well as “reflecting and assessing” is what led me to answer a question I had since I was interested in space in elementary school: How are scientists able to find information about planets and stars if they are so far away? The insight is in using some measurable data and relate it to unmeasurable data using theories in physics. As mentioned in the presentation, once the researchers got the mass of the star and the velocity of the mysterious object, they were able to use circular motion to compute the radius of the orbit. Data is then used to support or refute theories. To further build on the Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking core competency, I can do more research on various topics I am interested in using various sources. I would need to “analyze and critique” to judge the accuracy and relevance of sources. In addition to just reading and understanding the information, I should do something with it to figure out real world implications.