Project Description:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkeyxDADCABhbP6zkD8E7mXV1wVLY9L2TrG_IIzO3Jk/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkeyxDADCABhbP6zkD8E7mXV1wVLY9L2TrG_IIzO3Jk/edit
Through the duration of this project, Roller Coasters and Revolutions, I was partnered with Maison Gamboa. In the beginning of the project, my partner and I worked alright together but as time progressed we drifted apart. I think the stress of the project and our different ideas played a great part in us not finishing our project. Despite the major lack of teamwork in this project, we did collaborate on a few things. Like the sign, for example, I laser cut the sign out and she painted it and the final product looked very lovely. We were also able to come up with a pretty good blueprint together. We strayed away from the original plan with our actual coaster, but we tried to keep it as close to the original blueprint as we could. There were quite a few areas that our group needed improvement in. One being our collaboration, it’s very easy to say that our project suffered because we couldn’t work together very well. Another thing that we could’ve worked on was our time management. We started a lot of little projects before getting a solid base and solid supports and I think that wasted a lot of time.
I learned a lot in Humanities during this project. Aside from all the research I had to do for the three presentations for our revolution, I also learned a lot from the other presentations my peers gave. A few presentations that particularly stood out to me were the ones from the French Revolution and the Bambatha Revolution. The presentations were so detailed and informing that I can now make connections from everyday life to most of the other revolutions we explored on our team. Having to do a lot of research, we were also given a really helpful lesson on note-taking. I feel like this lesson has really impacted me and the way I take notes and has helped my note-taking skills improve greatly. Furthermore, we had a peer review on our choose your own adventure stories that allowed us to get peer critique and also allowed us the chance to read everybody else’s work. Having the chance to read other people’s work really helped me edit and revise my own work as well as stray from my usual ideas and took me out of my comfort zone for writing.
Physics is not my strong suit. Every project we’ve done in the past I’ve struggled with the physics component but this project was a different story. In Physics, we learned how to calculate kinetic, potential, and mechanical energy. That’s what composed the energy audit. We had to measure certain parts of our roller coaster and calculate the different types of energy. The math was pretty simple, it was really all about having the right equations. Ke = 1/2mv^, Pe = mgh, and Ke + Pe = Me were the three equations we needed to learn for this project. Throughout the project we needed to keep these concepts in mind because if we didn’t have the right amount of the correct energy in the right spot then we wouldn’t have enough energy to complete certain required things. For example, the loop needed a lot of energy to go all the way through and my group, personally, had a few problems with this.
Engineering was also a big deal in this project. The very first thing I learned, that I believe will be helpful in the future, is how to draw isometric diagrams. I had a really difficult time drawing simple things like a puzzle piece at first but by the end of the project, I had drawn an isometric blueprint of my roller coaster. Another thing that helped me through this project was the access to the Makerspace. I learned how to use so many new tools throughout this project. A personal favorite of mine is the band saw, a tool I would never use if I hadn’t had the specific instructions that all of the teachers gave me. Before this project, power tools made me extremely nervous but halfway through I overcame that feeling of uneasiness and made something really awesome. I also learned that prototyping is extremely important. Having an idea of what you’re going to do before you do it makes actually doing it a lot easier. We didn’t really have a lot of our plans down before we started so we got a lot less work done than we did after we planned our track out with Hot Wheels track pieces. The prototypes also allowed modifications to be tested out a little easier which was very beneficial to the project.
The exhibition was really well organized with the shifts and the location was really cool. I really like getting out into the public and talking to people about what we worked on during our project and I think it was really awesome that Belmont Park let us use their space for our exhibition. I feel like I offered a lot to my group. I definitely think I brought a lot of creativity into our group. I made a lot of the original art and came up with the general idea of the decorations. According to the 9th grade learning outcomes, I would say my work ethic was, overall, advanced and good. I was always at school and working during both the time we were given and during my own spare time. I was always on time to my classes and I provided most of the materials the school didn’t already provide. As far as collaboration was concerned, I probably had room for improvement. I provided a lot of ideas that were used in our roller coaster and often solved the problems our group encountered but towards the end of the project, despite my efforts to stay positive, I allowed my attitude to be shaped by those around me who didn’t believe we could finish. I also started losing respect for my partner because I felt I was losing her respect. I also think I could’ve improved my oral communication. I definitely maintained eye contact and spoke loud enough so I could be understood but I feel like my information was all over the place. I knew so much about my rebellion that I didn’t know where to start and I wouldn’t cover everything, information would just come out in no specific order and then I’d blank and it’d seem like I didn’t know much about my revolution. Sometimes I would talk too much and other times the person next to me (Oliver) would have to remind me to be more descriptive of my rebellion. In the future, I think I need to find a good medium. The written communication and content knowledge, however, is the complete opposite. Not only do I think my writing is somewhat advanced/proficient, I think it showed my content knowledge throughout this project. I really digested the information of my rebellion and I really took a lot away from this project. In closing, I would like to thank all of my super amazing teachers who helped me through this project and made themselves available to help the Nat Turner slave rebellion. I wouldn’t have been able to get as far as I did without their help.
Presentation #1: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vKjK0cYiW5tNHoIwgpOqDSOBWZmecMLqVpRtRKVBwf8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Presentation #2:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tzYfyRI8h1iL2-7HSj9rTglgMgG7lRi_7XY-TSxPDG8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Presentation #3: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iS5sqig7nxlZX02LLvfaFcSHaZVCcxhPmcoSvOuBcrA/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
I learned a lot in Humanities during this project. Aside from all the research I had to do for the three presentations for our revolution, I also learned a lot from the other presentations my peers gave. A few presentations that particularly stood out to me were the ones from the French Revolution and the Bambatha Revolution. The presentations were so detailed and informing that I can now make connections from everyday life to most of the other revolutions we explored on our team. Having to do a lot of research, we were also given a really helpful lesson on note-taking. I feel like this lesson has really impacted me and the way I take notes and has helped my note-taking skills improve greatly. Furthermore, we had a peer review on our choose your own adventure stories that allowed us to get peer critique and also allowed us the chance to read everybody else’s work. Having the chance to read other people’s work really helped me edit and revise my own work as well as stray from my usual ideas and took me out of my comfort zone for writing.
Physics is not my strong suit. Every project we’ve done in the past I’ve struggled with the physics component but this project was a different story. In Physics, we learned how to calculate kinetic, potential, and mechanical energy. That’s what composed the energy audit. We had to measure certain parts of our roller coaster and calculate the different types of energy. The math was pretty simple, it was really all about having the right equations. Ke = 1/2mv^, Pe = mgh, and Ke + Pe = Me were the three equations we needed to learn for this project. Throughout the project we needed to keep these concepts in mind because if we didn’t have the right amount of the correct energy in the right spot then we wouldn’t have enough energy to complete certain required things. For example, the loop needed a lot of energy to go all the way through and my group, personally, had a few problems with this.
Engineering was also a big deal in this project. The very first thing I learned, that I believe will be helpful in the future, is how to draw isometric diagrams. I had a really difficult time drawing simple things like a puzzle piece at first but by the end of the project, I had drawn an isometric blueprint of my roller coaster. Another thing that helped me through this project was the access to the Makerspace. I learned how to use so many new tools throughout this project. A personal favorite of mine is the band saw, a tool I would never use if I hadn’t had the specific instructions that all of the teachers gave me. Before this project, power tools made me extremely nervous but halfway through I overcame that feeling of uneasiness and made something really awesome. I also learned that prototyping is extremely important. Having an idea of what you’re going to do before you do it makes actually doing it a lot easier. We didn’t really have a lot of our plans down before we started so we got a lot less work done than we did after we planned our track out with Hot Wheels track pieces. The prototypes also allowed modifications to be tested out a little easier which was very beneficial to the project.
The exhibition was really well organized with the shifts and the location was really cool. I really like getting out into the public and talking to people about what we worked on during our project and I think it was really awesome that Belmont Park let us use their space for our exhibition. I feel like I offered a lot to my group. I definitely think I brought a lot of creativity into our group. I made a lot of the original art and came up with the general idea of the decorations. According to the 9th grade learning outcomes, I would say my work ethic was, overall, advanced and good. I was always at school and working during both the time we were given and during my own spare time. I was always on time to my classes and I provided most of the materials the school didn’t already provide. As far as collaboration was concerned, I probably had room for improvement. I provided a lot of ideas that were used in our roller coaster and often solved the problems our group encountered but towards the end of the project, despite my efforts to stay positive, I allowed my attitude to be shaped by those around me who didn’t believe we could finish. I also started losing respect for my partner because I felt I was losing her respect. I also think I could’ve improved my oral communication. I definitely maintained eye contact and spoke loud enough so I could be understood but I feel like my information was all over the place. I knew so much about my rebellion that I didn’t know where to start and I wouldn’t cover everything, information would just come out in no specific order and then I’d blank and it’d seem like I didn’t know much about my revolution. Sometimes I would talk too much and other times the person next to me (Oliver) would have to remind me to be more descriptive of my rebellion. In the future, I think I need to find a good medium. The written communication and content knowledge, however, is the complete opposite. Not only do I think my writing is somewhat advanced/proficient, I think it showed my content knowledge throughout this project. I really digested the information of my rebellion and I really took a lot away from this project. In closing, I would like to thank all of my super amazing teachers who helped me through this project and made themselves available to help the Nat Turner slave rebellion. I wouldn’t have been able to get as far as I did without their help.
Presentation #1: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vKjK0cYiW5tNHoIwgpOqDSOBWZmecMLqVpRtRKVBwf8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Presentation #2:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tzYfyRI8h1iL2-7HSj9rTglgMgG7lRi_7XY-TSxPDG8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Presentation #3: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iS5sqig7nxlZX02LLvfaFcSHaZVCcxhPmcoSvOuBcrA/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00