Cardboard Canoe Challenge

For the Cardboard Canoe Challenge, I teamed up with Jordan Daley, Lexi Biershbach, Brett McKim, and Jack Gumbleton. Together we built an over sized cardboard and duck tape boat. Here is a list of points I have achieved and some pictures to go along with it.




1) Build It! Achievement: 1 Point; This boat is 100% duck tape.


2) Sketch Ideas: 1 Point



3) Balance Master: Lexi is standing up in the boat for 5 seconds




Other achievements:

4) "Our boat sank with one person in it, about 6 inches. This was not surprising since the weight distribution was quite high.Lb/ml is the unit for pound per water.She weighed roughly 90 lbs. Thus if we us the formula, it is 90/16.5= 5.454555. Roughly 6 inches." (Quote from team member Jordan Daley)

5) Make Your Own Achievement:

Recycle: Our boat was constantly being crushed due to the weight of people jumping into it. But it was able to stay afloat and keep its shape.

6) The Longest: Our boat was the last one standing at the end of the period. For some reason we permitted the other teams to destroy it by jumping into it.

All together I have 6 achievements, so six points. That may not be the finally number, I completed several of the other achievements (5 or 6) but I lost the sketches and/or images required for them. At the time I made them I lacked the intelligence to take pictures, so sorry about that.

7) Criteria and Constraints

Criteria:

Build a watercraft that allows you to traverse the CHS swimming pool.
Protect your workspace from damage!

Constraints:

You may only use Cardboard and Duct Tape for this event.
Each boat must have a minimum of a 3" tall "sidewall"
All exposed cardboard must be covered in duct tape

8) Brainstorm Ideas

How can I build the fastest boat?

1) Construct a catamaran design
2) Multiple layers of cardboard would give the boat more weight
3) A slim but heavy design like a kayak
4) Construct a ball design
5) Build a row
6) Construct a bowl-shaped boat
7) A donut shape
8) Build a two-sided row
9) Construct a rudder for less effort when turning
10) Construct a multiple man boat so there will be more force
11) Construct four boxes and attach them, leaving a platform on top
12) Build a raised boat so wind can pass underneath the boat
13) Construct a raft
14) Build an upside-down pyramid
15) Build a cylinder and roll it across the platform
16) Construct boat shoes (two small boats) so that the pilot can slide across
17) A box so you can slide it across the pool
18) A raft made of soccer ball sized balls
19) Construct a plane in which it is half submerged under water and its wings are lying on the water
20) A rectangle with a chair on top of it

3rd Annual Mousetrap Racecar Challenge

The 3rd Annual Mousetrap Racecar challenge was incredibly amusing, and slightly dangerous. First our class broke into small groups, usually consisting of two people. Then we would brainstorm ideas for what our car would be like. There were two challenges you could choose from. Distance, the one that most people went for, and acceleration. My partner and I chose acceleration. His name is Jordan Dailey. I built the frame for the car, and Jordan built the propulsion system, which of course used a mousetrap. Our car did very well, we actually won the acceleration competition.



Here are some pictures of our car:









Achievements: (Total 8 Points)

1) Brainiac



2) Build It


3) The Price of Glory-$28
4) Led Foot
5) The Acceleration Event
6) Game Changer-cars must meet a certain wieght requirement
7) Name It-"Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It" should simply be "Clean Up"
8) Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It-my partner and I not only cleaned up our mess, we cleaned up other messes that were already there

Human Centered Design

Here is an image of one of the podium prototypes I created on minecraft (survival mode):

I worked alongside Patrick Burke, Michael Hardy, and Connor Lewis. The teacher we chose do build a prototype for was Mr. Huang, a tenth grade english teacher. He requested a prototype for a podium, which was a fairly simple task. As you can see I built a standard podium design with a few tweaks here and there.





These are images of another prototype podium that Patrick Burke created on a computer game called Blockland.




Here is an image of a podium that Michael Hardy designed using CAD software.



And last but not least, this is Connor Lewis's podium which he also made on minecraft (creative mode).

This is a picture of the minecraft structure that I created:



This is a picture of the front side of my building.

Here is a picture of part of the first floor of my creation.

My structure was inspired by the ninth influential architect, Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect that specializes in concrete. I used stone (which is about as close as it gets to concrete in minecraft) as my building material, along with glass. I tried to mix structure with nature by building it along the coastline on the beach. I would have made it alot more awesome looking, but minecraft's ipad app is not quite as up to date as the full version for computers.

The Egg Drop Challenge

Here is a picture of our project:




















Here is a picture of the egg that test piloted our project after the drop:

It probably would have not cracked if we secured designed the cover of our project better.

Accuracy: 4 out of 5 (The first ring)

Achievements:

- Brainstorming Achievements:

Create a Sketch of one possible solution

- Material Prep:

Generate a list of required materials for build day

- Build Achievements:

Fits inside a printer paper box

Weighs less than 150 grams

Hit the first ring
Less than half a second to hit the target

Activity 2.1.6- Model Creation

Here are some images of the objects I have created:


# 1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#7

Paradigm Shift- Khan Academy

I watched a very well made video on the website known as Khan Academy recently. The video was under the the category called Finance, and then the subcategory called Current Economics. The video was about Unemployment. I am very impressed with the amount of detail and effort that was put into making it. Imagine over 3,000 videos similar to the one that I watched!

Here is a link to the video that I watched:


http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities---other/finance/current-economics/v/unemployment


If there was one thing that I could change, however, it would probably be the length of the video. I realize that it would be very difficult to put that amount of information in each one in a less lenghty time, but imagine trying to study ten of these videos the day before a big test. They're ruffly 12 minutes each.


Khan Academy has been doing more than just videos. They've been trying to improve class in school. An interesting idea that they came up with is what they call "flipping the classroom." Flipping the classroom is doing things that you would do at home (homework) in class and things you would do in class at home. I think it would be a great idea and that schools (that don't already use this method of teaching) should put it into action.

Overall, Khan Academy has done an incredible job, and I would recommend them to anyone who needs assistance in a certain subject. They have pretty much anything you would need to know for school, and even for life (work related subjects).

GAME CHANGER Activity: Moneyball

1) What was the “Moneyball”approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion)

Moneyball, in my opinion, was a science. Billy and Peter both came to a conclusion that wins came from hits.

2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)

3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)

Design is the plan for the construction of an object or system.

4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:

1 - Billy and Peter brainstormed ideas on how to replace Giambi and the other players that they lost with new players that could produce the same, if not better results. Brainstorming is relevant because it's basically thinking up ideas, or in other words, a technique of creative problem solving.

2 - Billy defined a problem that the team had, which was winning games. The step is relevant because if he didn't mention (understand) the problem then the Oakland A's may have never set the AL record for the longest winning streak.

3 - Billy and Peter refined the strategy the Oakland A's had been using so that the team could get more wins. Refining is relevant because it is similar to remodaling, which is basically making something better.


5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)

1 - Respect
2 - Trustworthiness
3 - Being honorable


6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:

1 -  When Billy Beane trade Jeremy Giambi because he was a bad role model.

2 -  When Billy Beane turned his truck around and went back to the stadium to support his team.

3 - When Billy turned down the Red Sox's offer ($12,500,000.00) and decided to stay with his team.

7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? _68__ : __50_

8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? _1.36__ : 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? __20_ games won.

10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)

4 to 1.
11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?

I personally believe that there was something to the Moneyball approach.

12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team.

Billy wasn't always going with the Moneyball plan. There was no art to his efforts, either, in many circumstances he just did what felt right. For example, he broke away from the Moneyball approach when he fired Jeremy Giambi, who was a bad role model for his team.

Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?

Michael Lewis wrote the book Moneyball. Other books he has written are: Boomerang, The Big Short, Home Game, Panic, The Real Price of Everything, The Blind Side, Next, The New New Thing, Liar's Poker, Trail Fever, and Money Culture. The majority of his books seem to be based on financial circumstances.

GLIDER CHALLENGE

This project required participants to form into groups and, using elements of the design process, build an effective balsa wood glider that would later take part in a competition to see which group's glider could stay in the air the longest and cover the largest distance.

I teamed up with Connor Lewis and Patrick Burke for this project. Together, we built an okay glider. It could have been better. Our glider's distance and time in the air weren't all that hot. And we could have built it alittle bit sturdier. After all, it did split into two during the competition. But we tried our best, and that's what counts.

Above is a picture of our plane after it participated in the competition.

We tried to repair it, bu in the picture it remains broken.