Monthly Archives: June 2020

Capstone Blog Post #3

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In my school, we are coming towards the end of our Capstone unit and at this time we are finishing up our final Capstone projects. For my project, I decided to do a movie on Adobe Spark, which is a site where you can create movies and videos and many other things. The reason I chose a movie is that I have done one before and it is an easy way to give you a lot of information and you can make the project totally your own.

I really enjoyed making my project because it was about something I really enjoy. I also enjoyed being able to have a little more freedom with my project because I could do a video instead of doing a live TED Talk and I am really happy about the final project. Sometimes it was hard to make sure that I was not talking too fast or too slow or if the pictures had good quality. But with a lot of practice and preparation I came out with a great Video.

I am really excited about sharing my Capstone project on YouTube because I worked really hard on it so I want to show it to everyone. After I finished I felt like I accomplished something big because this project is a very big project in 5th grade and I am so happy it is finished. Here is a link to the YouTube playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB96r9gj6B-Y-TwRAkZUa93-QMCV 

 

              

 

 

  

       

 

Capstone Blog Post #2

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In Scarsdale, fifth graders are doing our Capstone project. This is a project that we do at the end of 5th grade. It is a research project where we do a lot of research and then synthesize all the notes to make a Capstone project. One of the most important parts of research is the Interview part; this is the part where we have to find a professional in our topic. So, in my case, an animator or someone who studied animation. I interviewed Chris Chien who is a theme park designer and used to work for Disney. I also interviewed Ben Alpi who is a filmmaker and has made his own films. The reason I interviewed two people is that with two different opinions I could get more information.

Before I could conduct the interview I had to email the person to make sure I could interview him and record the interview once he responded back yes  I needed to write some questions to ask my interviewee. First I asked questions about his life. Here are some questions I asked about his life:

 

1. Why did you get into animation?

2. Did you study to become an animator?

3. What was the first job you had as an animator and how did that prepare you for your career?

4. What were some of your films? 

 

After I asked those questions I asked him some questions about animation in general here are some of the questions 

 

5. What are the different kinds of animation?

6. What are the steps to animating a movie?

7. What happens if one of the steps does not work?

 

These are some questions about animation in general. After I asked the questions he answered I had gotten some really good answers and information. Some of the answers I got were very useful in my research. For example, for question 5 he gave me many different types of animation and told me how those are achieved in film making.

I faced some challenges in the process of interviewing for example when I got the yes I could interview I had some challenges thinking of questions because what if the person did not know the answer or it took a while to answer but what I realized is I could send my interviewee the questions beforehand so they were prepared when I asked them. 

I think that the Capstone interview is a very important part of Capstone because it gives you information from an expert and the information is the info you cannot get anywhere else. Also, I enjoyed interviewing because it was fun but it will also prepare us for other projects we will do later in our life. 

Capstone Blog Post #1

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In 5th grade at the end of the year, we do a big research project about a specific topic of our choice where we research our topic and then synthesize all our notes and make them into a presentation like a Google slideshow or an Ignite etc. Capstone is a very fun project because it is a chance to learn about something you want to learn more about and really love.  It is also very important because it is the last big project you will do in 5th grade.  

 There are many steps in the process of Capstone because there is a lot to do. The first step is to pick a topic to research on. It took me a couple of days to think of my topic because there were so many options I wanted to do. Eventually, I chose the topic of movies, specifically animation. I chose movies because I really like to watch movies but I never really understood the background of movies and animation. After I picked my topic I was really excited to start researching.     

The next step after we picked the topic we had to pick a main inquiry question and sub-questions. A main inquiry question is the main question that after you have finished all your research you want to have answered that question. My main inquiry question is “What are the top 5 technological breakthroughs that have revolutionized animation?” Sub questions are the questions that will help you answer your main inquiry question. For example, one of mine is, “Why is animation so important when making a movie?”.

After you pick your questions you have to start your research. There are many ways to do your research. One way you could do your research is to conduct an interview with a professional. The way you would do an interview is to reach out to the person and ask permission to interview them. Then you would call them or email to do your interview. Another way to do research is to use books and online sources to find your information then put all your notes together. 

Capstone is a really fun experience. You learn about something you really like and it’s fun to learn about that topic because you really love it. Also, after it is finished, you get to share it with everyone.