Capstone #3

Posted on June 16, 2020 by awachs27

I finished Capstone! This project has been fun but stressful. I had a lot of fun doing the whole project though. I think I learned a lot of useful things. I had a lot of trouble with my filming, at first I couldn’t get a good take. I must have taken about 150 times. It got really stressful. After I couldn’t get a good take my phone broke and that was what I was using to film, I got really upset because I didn’t know what to do. Then once I told my mom she let me use her phone. Then it got too late and I had to shower. I got up the next morning and it took me many more tries. Then eventually I got a good take! I was very happy because I had been working very hard. Then I ran into another issue. I didn’t know how to upload the video from my photos, so I just clicked some buttons and then I was done! Overall I think it was a project that was stressful but fun! Here is a link to my capstone presentation video,

Capstone Post #2

Posted on June 12, 2020 by awachs27

So far, Capstone has been going really well for me. On May 29th I did my interview with Kim Culmone who is Senior Vice President, Global Head of Design Barbie and Fashion Dolls Mattel, Inc. I had fourteen questions that were all answered and had a very fun time.

For the interview, I had to make sure I went somewhere in my house that was not noisy. I also had to make sure that I had all of the tabs open that I needed. I needed a tab with my questions and a place where I could take notes. I also needed to make sure that I was not speaking too fast. Before the interview, I had sent her my questions so that she could be prepared to answer my questions. At times it was a bit tricky because I would freeze for her or she would freeze for me, but it was okay because, in the end, I got all the answers I needed. My dad was in the room so he could take notes in case I didn’t get something she said.

I think that this was a really fun experience. I am very excited to be able to use my interview towards answering my main question for my final project.

Capstone Blog Post #1

Posted on May 12, 2020 by awachs27

In class we have started something that is called Capstone! Capstone is something where you get to pick a topic, you can know a lot about it or it could be something you want to learn about. Another part of this project is to think of a main inquiry question, that is basically the big question and then pick five sub-questions.

I chose the topic Barbie. I chose this because my sister had done it in the past and I know a lot about Barbie. So far I have taken notes on my sub questions and I got a lot of information like what the inspiration for Barbie was.

In the beginning I had chosen a topic it was Tiktok. I chose that in the first place because it was something I really liked and knew about. I couldn’t exactly think of what I wanted my main Inquiry question to be, and decided maybe that wasn’t the best topic. I thought of Barbie and I already knew a lot about it, and it could be really fun for me.

I’m really happy with my decision to go with Barbie. I am also excited to see the end result of my Capstone project. I’m excited to see what else I learn!

Rube Goldberg #1

Posted on March 14, 2020 by awachs27

In class we have started Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg can help you reach a simple task in a more extravagant way.

You have to make many decisions. One of them were if you wanted to work in a group or alone. I chose to work alone. Working alone has Pros and Cons. One Pro is that there can’t be any arguments. Another Pro is that you don’t have to work with everyones schedule. Some Cons are that it’s hard to work all by yourself. Another Con is that you can run out of ideas, and it can get hard.

You need materials of course. I think that there is no point in going to the store and getting materials if I have things I could use, at home. It’s much easier and makes the process go by faster. I had to use a big space. I will my basement, where I can use all the space I want.

I think that this experiment will work for me in the end.

Blog Post #6

Posted on November 20, 2019 by awachs27

We are done doing our rocketry. It has been a really fun experience. I learned a lot and I learned how to compromise and work in a group. I am super proud of my group and the rockets we built and how high they went. I think that set aside the few arguments we had we were a pretty good team.

Our first rocket we didn’t know exactly what we were doing and we had to rebuild it and we had to launch a second time. We had four fins and a narrow body and a nice nosecone.

The things we used to keep our rocket together was electrical tape and hot glue. My favorite part of making the rocket was that we got to use the hot glue gun. For our first rocket we did pretty well and we had a lot of things to improve on.

For our second rocket we had no retakes and i was proud of that. Our teacher let us change one thing about our rocket. We decided on having three fins instead of four,we decided to do that because we thought the rocket would be lighter and go up higher. We also made the fins bigger and put the higher up on the rocket so that it woudn’t get stuck. The launcher was a really cool thing and it was home made which I think is pretty cool.

Our third rocket launch was the one where our parents were watching. Our rocket did pretty well I would say. We decided to name our rocket,its name was the Lemon and Lime rocket. We named our rocket this because of the colors which were yellow and green. We didn’t argue really,the only thing that we disagreed on was the jobs two people wanted the same job but they couldn’t have it but then it was resolved and it was all better. It was really fun to build the third rocket but i was sad that our unit was over.

I think that the rocketry unit was really fun and that I learned a lot. If I had a choice I would do it again. I also learned how to work my problems out in a group and the project was really fun. I give it a 10 out of 10.

Launching Rocket #2

Posted on October 18, 2019 by awachs27

We just launched our second rocket I am proud of it. I am kind of upset because it didnt go as high as we wanted it to go but I am hopeful that our third rocket will be amazing. I think that everyone in our class did pretty well. We made our fins bigger wich I cant tell if it helped or not.

Our rocket was blue and white. I think we may have focused a lot on looks then on the structure.Our group did fight but it was about small stuff so it was fine. My job was a pumper I pumped the the bike pump up to 50 PSI. It wasnt a very fun job in my opinion,but it wasnt terrible. I wanted to be Count Down Master but that job was taken by another person in my group. I hope that I will be able to be the Count Down Masteer for the next launch.

I am really excited for our next launch. For our launch we got second highest in our class, and I am really proud of my group

Building Rocket #3

Posted on October 17, 2019 by awachs27

We finally got to our last rocket,rocket three. I am so excited to tell you all about it. I am sad that this unit is almost over but it has been so much fun.

For our rocket it is called the “Lemon And Lime” rocket. At first we had the same colors as our last rocket which were Blue,Black and white. We changed it because another group had the same colors. Our colors of our rocket are now Yellow and green. Later after we finished making the body we realized ANOTHER group had the same color but we decided to just keep our rocket the way it was.

I think that this was the best designing process we have had because there was really no arguing in our group which is rare. I am really proud of our group. The only tiny thing was two people wanted the same job but we resolved it. The way we resolved it was by me holding a number behind my back and the two people guessing my number,whoever got closest to the number got the job.

I am really excited to see how our last launch goes. I hope it goes really well because this is our final launch,plus our parents are coming to watch us launch our rocket.

Design Rocket #2

Posted on October 8, 2019 by awachs27

When we started building our rocket it was going really well, I think that our final design turned out well I don’t know what we could have done to make it amazing. Now I will explain how the process works.

We were told that we could only change one thing about our rocket. The thing we would change about our rocket was our fins. We made the fins bigger and we put them higher, we also put three fins instead of 4. We used four fins on our other rocket. I think that

I think that I have a few things I would change about our rocket. I would say that maybe we should have done a thick body because then more air would go into it, and it might have gone higher. Also maybe we should have kept the fins the same size and put four fins again. I feel that our rocket wasn’t our best work.

Overall I enjoyed the process of making it and if there were a third launch there are many ideas i have and I wish we could use them!

Launch 1

Posted on October 3, 2019 by awachs27

Our first launch we learned a lot. It was not very successful but we had a second chance and we fixed it and then it was the third highest int the class!

Our first rocket launch ever was not the best. Our nosecone fell off and one of our fins came loose. I think that maybe we should have spent less time arguing about the colors and more time about how stable it is and if we think there is something else we could add to it to make it even better.

Once we had the chance to fix it we used more for glue wich definitely helped. First we made a new nosecone, then I hot glued it on and then we taped it. That definitely helped. For the loose fins we hot glued the top and the bottom.

I think that next launch we have a lot of things we could do better. Maybe we could make the nosecone a little more skinny, and the fins bigger and more up the body.

I am really excited to see how our next launch goes and if we made enough improvements to get our rocket to be the one that went the highest.

Designing Rocket 1

Posted on October 3, 2019 by awachs27

In class we have been working as a team to create our first rocket design. The process has been difficult because you have to agree with everyone in your group, there are four people in my group. Our group name is Blast Off!!!

Our first design had four fins a narrow body and a nosecone. We used tape to keep the paper body together, and we also used tape to keep the nosecone onto the body. We hot glued the fins onto the body, our nosecone was made out of paper, our fins were made out of cardboard and the body was made with paper.

We used a narrow tube and covered it with paper, but we made sure that it could slip out of the paper that is how we shaped our body. With our fins we traced a triangle onto paper and then put it on top of the cardboard and cut four triangles. For our nosecone we used materials from the classroom the were circular, and we traced them and then cut them out. When we finished doing that we folded it in half and cut a line down the center and then rolled it and it made a nosecone.

I think that making the rocket was a super fun project. It used a lot of creativity and I can’t wait to make another one.

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