For the final project of Technology, we had to make something called an automata. An automata is a machine in which you spin a stack and something on top of the box moves. For my automata I wanted to do something related to sports. After a lot of thought, I decided to make someone shooting a basketball. In my diagram I started with drawing a box and the wheels inside. I am going to make is so that the stick is connected to a wheel and the wheel pushes up the basketball player. I then decided to draw the payer and the hoop. I decided to make the basketball player shoot it by connecting the arms to wires when the player goes up, the ball comes down and vice versa. I now started building the base which is the box. I made a hollow box and then held up each corner with cardboard. Once I put the wheels in I had the stick going up and down, so my base was complete.
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Making the Flashlight
Once we had our diagram, we had to now make the flashlight. We were given a plastic bag with the parts that we need for the circuit inside the flashlight, and the parts we need for the flashlight. First, I drilled a hole into the cap that will have the light and the pipe that will have the switch. I then put together the circuit by soldering the parts together. All that I have to do now is put everything together and decorate the flashlight. The first thing I put together was the circuit and the flashlight hole. I connected the cap to the rest of the flashlight and pulled the switch out. I put a cap on the switch and then I had the basic flashlight done. The last thing I had to do was decorate it. I decorated it to be Mets and Giants theme. 
Flashlight Diagram
The only thing we have to do before making a flashlight is to diagram it. We were given a piece of diagram paper, and we had to draw the flashlight to scale if every box is 1/2in. The only limit our flashlight had was it had to fit in a box that is 7.75in. long 6.25 in. wide and 6in. tall. I wanted to try and use as many different pieces as I can, so I used one of each pipe. We had to make every line straight, so it is exact. After we had the basic diagram of the pieces we had to add the wires and the circuit into the diagram. We also had to measure the wires and cut pipes inside of the flashlight. Once we had the diagram with all of the wires and pipes in it we measured what length wires and pipes we needed. Our diagram was complete when we had everything on the diagram and the measurements.
Switches
This project in tech was one where you have to make switches that complete a circuit. We had to make three different unique circuits.
In my first one, I was just trying to make a switch that worked, but I also wanted to make it pretty cool. I thought that I would make something that had two sides and when one goes back the other goes forward and hits the tinfoil.
For my second one, I decided to make it a little more complicated and cooler looking. I decided to do one that pushes a popsicle stick into tinfoil on the bottom. This was the hardest one to make, because I had to make the popsicle stick not loose enough to fall down or go out of place, but not tight enough to get stuck. This one is my favorite out of the three.
For my last switch I decided to make a small one that works easily. I wanted to make one where you push tinfoil into other tinfoil. First, I built up a little bit, and then I made it so you push a straw with tinfoil on it into a wall of tinfoil. This one didn’t take as long to build as the other ones, but it still worked fine.
Solder Person
The Solder Person project wasa project in which everyone would get a wire and we would have to bend it and solder it in a certain way to make it a person. This project was the hardest project we have done so far in my opinion. First we were gave a wire that was about 8in. We had to cut a 5in piece to make the head and legs. This was the most difficult part because we had to wrap the wire tightly around a pencil and around the body. Eventually, I got it though. Once I had the head and feet I took the 3in piece and soldered it the the back of the person, and now I have a basic person. The only thing left to do is to give my person something to do. I chose baseball. I cut a little piece of wire to make a bat and then soldered it to my person. Overall this project was really difficult, but the soldering was really fun.
Self-driving cars
Cars are transforming. People are trying to create cars that don´ t need a driver. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when making one of these. You have to make sure that your car knows what everything is. There have been cars that have mistaken a cargo truck for a bridge, and rammed into it. These are one of the many things you have to consider when making a self-driving car. Another thing people have to be careful of is bad drivers. There are a lot of bad drivers in the world and self-driving cars will have to know how to deal with these people. There are also many other things people have to take into consideration when making a self-driving cars, but these are some of the main ones.
Simple Circuits
Today we made our own simple circuits. Mr. Calvert gave us a light, a battery, a switch, and multiple wires. It was a pretty challenging task because we had to fit the wires under screws. It took a pretty long time to make the light bulb turn on, but eventually I got it. 
I had to connect the loose wires and wires from the battery to the switch and light. If I put the switch the other way then it would break the circuit and the bulb won’t light up. All of the wires and object in the circuit have to be touching for the electrons to flow through the circuit and the light to light up.
Overall this project was challenging and fun at the same time.
Breakout!
Yesterday, in technology we played a game called breakout. We had to0 find clues and crack the codes of the locks. Both teams were given a folder with three papers in them. These were the clues. We were given one lock that had arrows on them, one with letters, and one with numbers. Mr. Calvert gave us two clues about where to find the clues to the locks.
It was pretty easy for us two get the letters one and the arrows one, but we couldn’t figure out the numbers one. We were very confident we knew the code, but the lock wouldn’t open. We tried and tried, and even called Mr. Calvert over, and he said we had the right idea. We kept trying to line up the clues with the lock. Eventually Mr. Calvert came over and all he did was pull on the lock and it opened. I couldn’t believe it, the person who was entering the code couldn’t open the lock.
Overall, this game was really fun and a little frustrating at the same time.
Reflecting On Presenting In Front of the Parents – Capstone Blog Post 7
The lat step in Capstone is the final presentation in front of the parents. When the day came to present in front of the parents I was really nervous. I really didn’t want to screw up in front of a lot of parents. I was presenting in my classroom. There were three kids in front of me that preformed before me. When it was the third person’s turn, I was freaking out in the inside. Finally, it became my turn. I stood up and went to the side of the screen. For a second I blanked out and couldn’t remember what to say, but then I started. I got through my whole presentation and then it was time for the video. I was so relived that I wouldn’t have to do any more speaking. After the video was done I said thank you and then went back to my spot on the carpet. I was so happy that i just completed the final project of elementary school.
Overall, This project was really fun and interesting. I learned a lot and got better at working hard on researching and presenting.
Here is a video of my presentation:
Working On My Final Project – Capstone blog post 6
The last thing I have to do before our final presentation is make our final project is make a slideshow for final project. This was a very long and hard experience. I had to make a script and a slideshow. I am going to explain my experience of doing this.
First I had to make a script. I created a table and started writing. At first, i didn’t know where to start. I just wrote, “Hello, my name is Matthew and I will be talking about my Capstone project.” I had know idea what else to write. I was really nervous, but before I knew it I had five slides done. After I did this I went back to my slideshow and did the slide for each one of these. I kept on working and then, a few days later I had my whole script done. When I had my whole script done I was so relieved I was almost done with my whole project. I just had to finish off the slides and then edit them when this was done I was ready to move on the practicing. practicing was really hard I thought I would never memorize all of my lines, but, after a lot of practicing over and over again I had my whole script memorized and was ready for the parents.