Technology Post 6 | Building a Crank Mechanism

Building a crank mechanism was just like last week’s project where we built a cam mechanism. The difference was that the crank looked different then the cam. When the crank was used by spinning the wheel, it swayed repeatedly side to side in a circular motion. The cam when up and down.

Since I was used to building the cam mechanism, this was a breeze and went by very quickly. What I love about these automata projects is that the class sits on zoom while we all are building our cams, cranks, gears, etc. and we can ask any questions we have. It is calming and I looked forward to that each time.

Technology Post 5 | Building a Cam Mechanism

I would say this project has to be my favorite so far. This week’s lesson was all about automatas which I learned was a moving device that did things that imitated a human. Mr. Calvert provided us with the stencil and instructions. We had to cut, fold, and glue the pieces together to create a cam mechanism that moved up and down as you spun the wheel on the side. What made it so much fun in my opinion was that it was basically arts and crafts. It uses all of the same techniques as arts and crafts, and it creates this cool cam. I also learned a new thing while making my cam which was how to use a slice cutter. A slice cutter was sort of like a pencil with a small blade at the end of it. With this tool I was able to cut out the pieces inside the larger pieces without ruining the outside. It worked very well in the end and also look fun once I added a tissue paper ball with eyes and a beck to look like a bird flying as the cam road goes up and down.

 

the inside of the cam⬆️

The bird on top ⬇️

Technology Post 4 | Catapults

This week we did our first “real” project in my opinion. The instructions were to make a lever out of the things from the tech bag and around your house. There were two options, you could either make a catapult or a shaduf. I made a shaduf because I thought it would be really interesting to make. The steps I took to make it were harder than I expected. First of all, it was sort of like a two person project because every time I tried to tie the sticks (the base) together it would slip and fall apart. In the end I was happy with how it turned out. For extra credit, we were able to take our catapult and create a game using it. The shaduf originally was supposed to have a bucket to pick up stuff, but when I used it to pick up water it floated because it was tin foil. I realized that I had to get creative. I took the bucket off of the stick so just the stick was remaining. Next, I made balls of playdoh and the goal of the game was to used the stick to pick up the playdoh (sort of like a claw machine but without the claw). Overall it was a project I would definitely do again.

Technology Post 3 | Building Trusses Experiment

This week, my class and I were assigned to build trusses in a 3D shape out of toothpicks and carrots (or gummies). I created my design out of pyramids. I created 3 pyramids that all connected and at the top there was a flat triangle to make the design one cohesive structure. After the building stage, everyone was told to make a flipgrid video of testing out your building, and observe what happened. We had to test out the trusses by adding book on top to see how many it would carry. My pyramid design ended up carrying 6 books before it fell. I think what I could’ve improved on in the building process is to make more than 3 pyramids, and instead add more so the structure would have a larger width.

Technology Post 2 | Beam Testing on Flipgrid

This week we were assigned our first project in technology! In this assignment, we were told to make two beams. One of the beams was an I beam, the beam we were learning about, and another beam that was our choice and our design. Mr. Calvert provided us with a video on how to make an I beam out of cardboard and glue. After I finished building the first beam, I started thinking about what I should make my second beam look like. I was having a hard time deciding what I should do, but I remembered in 5th grade during our bridge unit that the triangle is the strongest shape. I ended up creating the beam of my choice as a three sided beam that was glued at the corners ( a triangle shape but long)

That was only the first few steps. Once the building process was done, we had to test out our beams. The testing process went like this:

Get two chairs and place one of your beams on top. Then, get a bag and collect a bunch of cans. Put the beam through the bag loops while still having the beam sit on the chairs. One by one, add the cans (I just kept adding as many as I had). Try this method with both of your beams. Evaluate what happened and if the weight caused any damage to the beam. Record this whole process on Flipgrid.

I noticed that both of my beams were sturdy. They both stayed up and held all the weight, which would be 12 (8oz-ish) cans. The only difference I noticed was that where the bag loops were placed, it created an indent in the cardboard.

Technology Post 1 | I beam

This week was our first week of technology. So far, I am really enjoying it! Something I have learned so far is “What is an I beam”. Mr. Calvert taught us what an I beam is and the parts of it.

These are somethings I took away from the lesson:

There are different parts that make up an I beam. The middle part that holds the top and bottom flanges is called the web. A downward load on an I beam is going to cause the top of the beam to be under the force of compression. When the beam is bending down, the bottom of the beam spreads into tension. The neutral axis has no resistance to bending.

Here is a picture that I marked up with the different parts:

 

Final Computer Tech Project – Tynker

I chose to do the Tynker option for our final computer technology project. I accidentally did two Tynker projects because I thought that I lost my progress in the first trial I did. I made one quiz and one slideshow. For my quiz, I created a American quiz with questions about presidents, Vice Presidents, and politics. There were 5 questions in total. For my slideshow, I had an idea to make characters walking holding thanksgiving food with a fall background. The fall background changed throughout the slideshow.

Some parts that I wish I was able to do was creating points for my quiz. I feel that if I were able to create points and take away points, it would take my quiz to another level.

 

Spreadsheets: Wellness Blog

Over the course of about two weeks, I worked on creating a spreadsheet that tracks what physical activity I did. Last week, I tracked down at the end of each day what activities I did and for how long. For this week, I added some final touches to my spreadsheet from last week. What I added to my spreadsheet were totals and averages of my data, and a chart. To create my formula to get the total number of physical activity I did each day, I added up all of the boxes in the column for each day. If you press on the  bar to add data, then add the equation in (ex. =c4+c5+c6+c7) it does that math for you and puts in the answer in the correct spot.

I feel that spreadsheets can be very helpful when keeping your data in a neat and organized way. The first thing that came to mind when thinking of other times that you may need spreadsheets,
is when you are seeing how big an ecosystem grew over the course of a period of time. Maybe in the top of one row you can put down, month 1, month 2, month 3, month 4, … . In the columns write different organisms like, mushroom population, deer population, tree population, bird population, … This spreadsheet would be helpful for tracking the growth of an ecosystem.

Playgrounds 2

For my the work of 10/13, I played around with swift playgrounds. I worked on the loops portion of playgrounds. With this, it was more challenging because there was different parts of the code that meant different things. For instance, if you wanted to solve for a portion of the code that repeats in the obstacle, you have to put together existing codes to do so. To add on to the challenge, you have to remember what each of the codes do.

Another issue I had was figuring out how to get around the map without any bugs. As you went on in the course, the maps would get longer and more difficult. It was hard to process in my mind. This leads me to how I solved these problems. Some ways that I went about programming was to mark up, so I didn’t have to do it all in my head. This could get complicated. I also did what I do a for a lot of these maps, is to just look at the code as you play your program. This will make you aware of your mistakes.

Swift Playgrounds 3 (“Answers”)

For our Computer Technology period, week of 10/19, we were assigned to try out the Answers Playground in the app Playgrounds.

At first, I wasn’t sure about how to come about this project or what to make it on. I ended up deciding on doing something dog related. This helped me in the process because I think that doing something you are interested in will help you get through the project.

The thing is, that wasn’t the end of my problems. When I first introduced myself to this project, I was having trouble with writing out the code. Each time I wrote out the code I was confused why there where errors. After speaking to my friend, Louisa, It all made more sense to me.

Once I knew how to go about doing the assignment, it all was a piece of cake. If I didn’t have anything else to do, I would’ve stayed on it all day to add more and more to it.

Over all, once you get the hang of the programming, it is extremely fun and easy.