Category Archives: Capstone

5th Grade, Capstone, Social Studies, Technology

Capstone Final Blog

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You’ve heard of solar panel’s. You’ve seen them on a roof while driving somewhere, or maybe there are some installed on the roof of your house. But have you ever wondered how solar energy works and how it helps the planet? The answer was solar energy converts heat into electrical charges and then converts the electrical charges into energy we use everyday. It helps the planet by being a renewable resource and does not pollute the planet.

After I wrote my essay to answer the question, I had to work on my final product, the Wevideo. First I reviewed my research, so I knew all the information I was going to use in the script. My intro was similar to the one I used in the essay. “Have you ever seen solar panels on a nearby house? Maybe there are some on your roof. Solar energy is a renewable resource that helps the planet”. Then I explained how solar energy works with a short explanation, I then went deeper and talked about PV cells and their role in producing solar energy. I then explained why global warming happens and the effects. Since I had a sub questions about the downsides of solar energy, I couldn’t not include it because I had to answer all the sub questions. Then I talked about the pricing, like the average cost of a watt (Which is $3.05) and the cost of an entire system ($17,000 – $21,000). I talked about the incentives, PBIs, Rebates, Tax Credits. And the benefits for businesses. I also talked about degradation and how if effects the production and cost. Then I ended with my conclusion. “In conclusion, solar energy is a great resource which will help us stop global warming as a problem. This isn’t the only solution though, we still need to use other sources of energy. Now that you know all about solar energy, maybe you will consider investing in some panels or alternative energy. For more information visit my blog or scan this QR code”. I then had to add images, and I wanted to an animation format. What I did for the animations was I just made a google drawing and took a screen shot for every frame. If I didn’t make an animation for a part, I just used stock footage. Overall,I enjoyed making this project and I am super proud of what I finished with.

5th Grade, Capstone, Science, Social Studies, Technology

Capstone Blog #2

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For capstone, we were required to interview an expert on our topic. It was a way to get a source of information from a person who knew their facts. We had to come up with questions and a list of materials we would need to use for the interview. I did mine over email, but you could do video calls or voice chat. I needed to figure out who to interview though.

I had a lot of trouble finding someone to interview, because I didn’t know where to start. I searched constantly for specialists at museums and designers. I was having trouble finding their emails. I then asked Ms. Robert for assistance, and she told me to try to find a high school teacher to email. I reached out to an environmental sciences teacher at the high school, Richard Clark.

Conducting the interview wasn’t difficult at all. All I had to do was email my list of questions and await a response. It went as expected, I got all my questions back with answers. I learned a lot of things I wouldn’t normally learn off a website. One fact was that you need rare minerals to create solar panels which is an issue. I also learned more about all of the gases that can affect global warming, so this interview was helpful.

I enjoyed reaching out and I wouldn’t have otherwise I hadn’t been required. I enjoyed this part of Capstone.

5th Grade, Capstone, Science, Social Studies, Technology

Capstone Blog #1

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I chose Space – Stars as my topic. Coming up with a lot of questions was pretty easy because of how often stars are involved in a variety of topics. During my interview I leaned more toward a math related question. It was a more single word answer.

Another one of my questions was on solar energy. I found that that was the better question. The question was: How does solar energy work and in what ways can it help reduce global warming? Finding sub questions was easy as I had two topics to work with. They could either be related to solar energy or global warming. I have not had an interview so I have not confirmed my questions.