Adv Engineering

Charity Fair - Project Blog Post Summary:  This project was when we had to research different charities and decide which one was bested suited to our cause. Before this though, we had a debate over which charity type was more beneficial- small charities, or large charities. I learned that a lot of the money just goes to admin costs in large charities. I also learned that smaller charities are a little bit less-known, so they're more unreliable. Backward-Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started? I chose the subject of animal abuse for Charity Fair, and before we started, I knew that a lot of animals faced daily abuse and that only a few of the abusers were sentenced to prison. I knew that some animals faced psychological trauma for years when they went to shelters and that some cases were so bad that they were euthanized. Inward-Looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like/dislike? Why? What...

 \ Are Paper Books Better Than Ebooks? You’re in the library with your parents. Which side do you prefer? The side with the computers and tablets for kids to read their ebooks, or the side with columns and columns filled with rows and rows of printed books, some with covers beaten with time, some with fresh, shimmering covers that reflect the rays of light in colorful waves? I suggest that you go to the printed book side for several good reasons. Printed books are much better than ebooks, for several good reasons. For one, paperback books can boost the retention of a reader. Second, the brightness of a tablet screen hurts your eyes, while printed books don’t emit such light. A study has found that infants learn more from hands-on/kinesthetic reading. Another study has found that ebooks can degrade our deep-reading skills. Furthermore, the light the ebooks emit can contribute to the ever-growing problem of visual fatigue, which is a condition “marked by tired, itching,...

Reverse Engineering - Project Blog Post Summary:  This project was when we had to find an object that had 7+ parts to it and take it apart. While completing this project, I learned a lot about the cordless phone that we were taking apart and I learned the names of a few components of the motherboard, such as a capacitor (holds the data of the motherboard) and a resistor (resists currents).  Backward-Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started? I knew a little bit about the subject since I had this class last year and we had the same unit, so I knew that we would have to take it apart, document it in a manual, and compile the parts into a BoM, and I knew that engineerings take things apart to find out how they work so they (the engineers) can apply that newfound knowledge to their work.  Inward-Looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like/dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this pi...

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY Do you feel groggy in the morning? If you answered yes to this question, then are you a teenager? If you answered yes to this question, then note that you're not the only one — scientists have concluded that getting less sleep in the morning puts teenagers (and of course, other individuals outside the age group) at higher risk of traffic accidents. It has also been proven that sleep deprivation can result in poor academic scores. A National Sleep Foundation Poll has concluded that 28% of the teenagers who took the poll have fallen asleep in class due to lack of sleep. The reason? Early school times! Most schools have their start times before 8:30, which means that most kids wake up at around 7:00-8:00 to get ready for school, and this is just excluding the extra curriculum activities that start before school hours. For example, I do Zero-Period Band and the start time is at 7:10. This means that I have to get up at 6:00 to get ready — cram in the ho...

CONFLICT RESOLUTION APPLICATION My go-to style for conflict resolution is accommodating. Another conflict resolution style that I might try is the collaborating conflict style because that way some of my needs are met and some of the other person's needs are met.   The first step of climbing down the ladder of conflict is to...  Identify your needs. Once you identify your needs, then the other person can state what their needs are after you have finished, and then you can work on a negotiation that solves your needs and their needs. Listen to the other person without interrupting. When you listen to another person and you interrupt, it's like you're telling them that their views aren't important enough for you to be patient and listen to them for five minutes, because apparently, whatever YOU have to say is so much more important. When you listen to another person and you don't interrupt, then they feel like their views are actually being accepte...

Summary:  During this week, I helped my team on our build by building our mounds of clay. Then I painted them and put in toothpicks (the sandwich kind - the ones with the pretty plastic thing on them) to represent strawberries, celery, carrots, and other fruits and vegetables that are part of our garden model.     EDP: MAKE AND TEST A MODEL I am building a prototype using clay, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, and cardboard.  Image Link: What's the fruitiest subject? History, because it's full of dates.  

Summary: Over the course of our EOY project, I helped my team with our build for the garden and begun our document for our interior furnishings. I also helped my team with our rough draft for our blueprint.  Backward-Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started?  I knew nothing about the project or rather, the subject of an urban village. I recognized the village part, but I didn't understand the "urban" part of the two words.  Inward-Looking:  What does this piece tell you about yourself and how you learn? This piece tells me that I digest more through visual learning such as drawing out solutions or writing out problems. This piece also tells me that I don't need to make  3-D models to see the whole picture.  Outward-Looking: What grade would you give it and why?  The grade that I would give this project is an A- because we worked very hard on it and although it deserves at least 10 points for style, it was rather u...

Summary:  During this week, I helped my team on our build by building our mounds of clay. Then I painted them and put in toothpicks (the sandwich kind - the ones with the pretty plastic thing on them) to represent strawberries, celery, carrots, and other fruits and vegetables that are part of our garden model.     EDP: MAKE AND TEST A MODEL I am building a prototype using clay, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, and cardboard.  Image Link: What's the fruitiest subject? History, because it's full of dates.  

Summary:  During this week, I drew the group sketches and added the measurements for the second one that I drew. I also made the bathroom sketch for our client so they could have a reference of what we want them to build. We're going to be building a garden prototype in the same general area where the old garden was (not in actual physical form, but as a miniature version of the actual thing).     EDP: MAKE AND TEST A MODEL I am building a prototype using clay, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, and cardboard.  Image Link: Two melons were talking. The first one says, "Let's get married!" and the other one says, "No! We canteloupe!"  

Summary:  During this week, I added the final paper mache layers and then tested it out with my team. I also created and worked on our IGNITE presentation where we will confirm our results as well as discuss the pros and cons of our location and our base.    EDP: COMMUNICATE FINAL DESIGN I communicated our team's final design when we finished building our prototype and tested it out with the bowling ball being the asteroid (although by all technical means, the people of Alabraska are already dead because we had ten days to come up with a solution, and we took way longer than that). I did this by going up to the board which had a table and then putting our damage scale which was a 1.5 (very low - yay!). Image Link: Why should a bowling alley be quiet? So you can hear a pin drop!  

Summary:  During this week, I put paper mache all over our box to represent our cavern (to make the glue, just put one part flour and one part water). I covered our box in saran wrap and Ziploc bags (we didn't have saran wrap at first) before dipping the torn up newspaper and then putting it on top of our box.  EDP: GENERATE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS I generated possible solutions when our group didn't have saran wrap and so I improvised by tearing apart some Ziploc bags (like a psycho, I might add) and then plastering them onto the box with some tape.  Image Link: Ziploc Bags  

Summary: During this week, I had to come up with possible cavern locations. Then I had to present along with my group and chose our cavern at the coordinates of N6, N9, P6, P9.  "On the general geology map of Alabraska, there is a section at the coordinates N6, N9, P6, P9. This was our cavern location because it was close to water, so the people didn't have to worry about dehydration or hunger because where there is water, there is usually some sort of life, whether it be vegetation or animals (sometimes the animals are inedible). We also chose this because it quite far from the fault line, so really the worst that could happen was that if there was an earthquake, we'd be so far underground that we would still feel it, but it wouldn't be strong enough to kill anyone - really the worst that could happen is some of the rock would chip off, but not all of it." EDP: GENERATE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS I generated possible solutions when our group and I cho...

Summary:  During this week, I worked on a few worksheets for our Asteroid Impact which was in the imaginary state of Alabraska. When we did this, I calculated the general area for Alabraska, in which the length was 150 km and the width was 230 km, giving me a sum of 34,500 km 2 . After that, I compared the size of Alabraska to the size of the multiple caverns my group and I decided to establish underneath the surface of Alabraska. After that, I scaled my general map of Alabraska, including the military base, and then decided that our cavern was not large enough to house 10 million people. EDP - Generate Possible Solutions Over the course of the week, I generated possible solutions by completing a worksheet and making graphs to figure out how many people would be able to fit into our classroom. After that, I used the information to help me. I generated more possible solutions when I came up with different scenarios to help us decide on more areas in case our first...

Summary: Over the course of our bridges project, we had to create a sketch of the bridge we chose to remake out of noodles. We had to make a BoM (Bill of Materials) and make a presentation like the one above. I made the Bill of Materials and helped on the presentation as well as create the Truss Bridge sketch. On top of that, we had to create a Science & Engineering paragraph on one of four topics- torsion, tension, compression, and shear forces. As mentioned before in a previous blog post, I chose torsion. Backward-Looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started?  I knew a little about the subject, especially since my father told me about torsion and helped me understand the equation (which I put into the document). But other that, I knew almost nothing. Inward-Looking:  What does this piece tell you about yourself and how you learn? This piece tells me that I absorb more through visual learning (such as taking notes and making S&E pa...

Summary:  During this week, I helped my team make the beams of pasta noodles by gluing them together with hot glue. I also made groups of ten noodles to hot glue and tie together. Another thing that I did was I drew the truss bridge picture on the right. EDP - Build a Prototype Image Links : I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.  

Summary: During this week, our "new" teacher informed us of a new project, where we had to build a bridge out of pasta noodles. We had to write up a paragraph on compression, tension, shear forces, and torsion. For my write-up, I wrote a paragraph on torsion, including equations, and defining what the letters and numbers meant. Afterwards, I wrote a paragraph on a specific type of bridge called a cable-stayed bridge.  EDP - Identify the Problem Image Links : Bridge Project - Torsion Write Up  

Summary: During this week, I tried - and failed - to make a tower of pasta (angel hair for classification) noodles, string, and tape to uphold a marshmallow that weighs 7 grams. This was to teach us about structure and the proportions of things.   EDP - Communicate Final Design Image Links : Marshmallow Design Challenge   Photo Editing Link: PicMonkey

Summary: While doing my project, I learned that carbon dioxide produces 1.22 lbs. I also learned that using solar panels will reduce the production to .16 lbs.  Backward-Looking:  How much did you know about the subject before we started?   I knew close to almost nothing about the subject before we started it (I knew about the distribution lines - I see them everyday). What I did know before we started the subject was that solar panels reduce the carbon footprint and that CO2 was a greenhouse gas. Inward-Looking: What does this piece tell you about yourself and how you learn?  This piece tells me that I like to learn visually instead of hands on - I prefer to take notes and then write an essay based on my learning instead of doing a project that has a lot of steps to remember (building a house out of cardboard is complicated - I think I'd make a horrible construction worker).  Outward-Looking: What grade would you give it? Why?   The grade th...

Summary: During this week, I made a real estate flyer (on the right) for our eco-house project (using PosterMyWall ). I also took a bunch of pictures and used a photo editing app on my computer as well as PicMonkey  to make my pictures show up nicely so it would resemble a house (to some extent).   EDP - Communicate Final Design Image Links : IMG_20170201_113528991.JPG   IMG_20170201_113949549.JPG   IMG_20170201_113555506.JPG    IMG_20170201_114022888.JPG IMG_20170201_115033666.JPG Photo Editing Link: PicMonkey