So far since researching, I’ve worked on writing my paragraphs. I have finished my introduction, “how and why was paper created”, “how did the creation of paper affect other inventions”, and “how has paper changed over time”. I still have to write “what would life be like without paper”, “how did paper spread from china to all around the world”, and my conclusion. After my paragraphs are finished, I can start putting my project together.

Over the weekend, I’m planning to buy my poster board, make the paper in the traditional Ancient Chinese way, and if I can, find other types of paper to bring as artifacts.

Our second week of research is over! I’ve finished investigating my other 3 questions: “How has paper changed over time?”, “What would life be like without paper?”, and “How did paper spread from China to all around the world?”. I have learned about the evolution of paper throughout different time eras, some of the uses and advantages of paper, and how it spread across the world.

Some things I had trouble with were getting enough research for each sub question and finding information on what life would be like without paper- I had to inference and come up with my own ideas a bit.

There were also some new things that I learned that surprised me. I never knew that paper was made insect resistant   in China when they made improvements to it. I also found out that paper didn’t spread through the arrival of Europeans in Asia as I thought it had, but rather the invention extended to Korea, Japan, Central Asia, and the Middle East before making it’s way to Europe.

Now that I’ve finished my research, I can start writing my paragraphs!

This week we’ve started our research for our inquiry projects! So far, I’ve researched for my first two sub questions: “How and why was paper invented?” and “How did the creation of paper affect other inventions?”. I did miss Wednesday’s class because I had to do the Gauss math contest, but on Monday I did already start my research, so I wasn’t too far behind. This week I’ve learned about how paper was made and it’s materials. It was a a cheaper alternative to silk, and was made during the Han Dynasty. I also found out some things about the invention of printing, books, kites and paper money.

I had trouble with identifying key information so that I didn’t use up too much room on my research paper, however this was a minor struggle.

I was surprised to find out that paper was made with things such as rags and fishnets, but it makes sense because those were some cheap materials that were available. The part about metal coins on strings being exchanged for a written deposit on paper also intrigued me because I thought that the coins were directly replaced by paper money, but they were actually these deposit papers first before becoming a national currency.

Next week, we will continue to  investigate the other questions.

This week in class, we’ve started our year-end inquiry projects! 

My inquiry question is: How did paper spread from China all around the world?

I’m going to answer this question with these sub questions: How has paper changed over time? How and why was paper invented? How did the creation of paper affect other inventions? What would life be like without paper?

I decided to do this topic because I thought it would be interesting to find out about where paper comes from. It is such a common item in every household, but I want to find out when and why it was invented as well as how it spread across the world and why it is so important.

This is a good start to what will be a long, but interesting and informative inquiry project.