Tech Blog post #9

I’m so sad this is the last week of the quarter. Overall, this has been so much fun. My favorite project was either the flashlight or the jewelry. The reason for this is because I got to be very creative and use a lot of fun building materials like the Soldering iron and the drill press. I can’t wait to continue to do tech in 7th and 8th grade and also explore the different quarterly’s.

Blog post #8

This week was really fun. One reason this was fun was because we got to design our own thing out of pipes for a flashlight. Also, we got to use stencils and make our own diagram in scale which was really fun as well . But the most fun thing was cutting wires. It was really fun because we got to use wire cutters and after we cut the right size it was really fun stripping them and taking the over wire thing off. Overall, this week was really fun and I can’t wait to start making my flashlight.

Tech blog post #7

This week was very fun. The reason it was fun was because we got to use our creativity and make it into our own cool switch. It was also fun because we got to use drill presses and hot glue guns which I’ve never used before so I got to try something new. The reason we made these switches is because on Friday we will be playing a card game. The way the switches work is by touching tin foil to tin foil it makes a small light go on because there are wires connected to the tinfoil which runs to the bread board. Overall, I think this week was my favorite and I can’t wait to play the games with my switches.

Tech blog post number 6

This week was really fun. We worked on making switches with cardboard and tin foil. It was very fun using all of the big equipment like hot glue guns and much more. My fist design was a seasaw and we have to make 3. I am still trying to decide what to make the other ones. Overall this week was really fun and I’m so excited to make my other designs and test out switches.

Tech Blog post #5

This week we continued our Jelwery project. It was very hard for me when making the frame because it had to be perfectly straight and I had a hard time working with some of the wire cutters. It was really fun making the design inside the frame. One thing I had fun with was using a metal hammer to get a bend in a wire to put it over another wire. I did this so when I solder it is easier to put it together. Overall, this week was really fun and I can’t wait to start soldering and connecting my frame to my basketball that I made.

Tech Blog post #4

This week we sketched out jewelry to make for a friend. I chose my friend Jackson. I am going to make him a basketball bracelet. I made a lot of different designs to make sure I got the right one. Once I got the right one I was very excited. Once I was done I started shaping the pendant and that was really hard. It was hard because I was trying to make the wire a perfect circle. I am really excited to start making the bracelet and work with metal and Overall this week was really fun. 

Tech Blog post #3

This week we made our own designs in Vectornator. I did my initials in a cool design. First we had a blank piece of paper. Next we got graph paper and made our design to scale. After that we uploaded it to Vectornator and used the pen tool to make the engraves and cuts. The one thing that troubled me the most was using the pen tool because it was very new to me. One thing that I liked the most was using the blank piece of paper to brainstorm what to make. I made a keychain. Overall I really liked this week because we could get really creative. I also learned a lot this week. I also liked tracing over the lines in Vectornator. I can’t wait to make new designs in the upcoming weeks!

Tech Blog Post #2

This week we learned a lot about atoms. At the start of the week I was really confused. But later as we got into the week I started to understand it more. One thing that I got really excited and interested about was the games that were on the Nearpod. This helped me learn about it a lot because I was interacting with it. In my opinion I think that helps kids learn the most when they are interacting with it. The reason I like this is because instead of sitting and watching I was engaged and interacting. Overall this week was really fun and I learned a lot. I Can’t wait to learn more about atoms and everything else to learn in tech coming in the following week but this week was really fun.

Tech Blog Post #1

Breakout day was really fun. One thing that helped us was some of us would be looking for clues while other people would be at the locks trying to break in based on the clues we have already found. It really helped because it was more efficient but also we didn’t have everyone crowding over the locks. I think this really taught us teamwork because if we had everyone yelling over each other and nobody would ever break out. Another lesson I liked was when Mr. Calvert was teaching us about how big the galaxy actually was. The reason I liked this was because it really showed me how much bigger the universe is than we actually thought. He also taught us how small and fast things are which was very interesting because compared to the big galaxy it’s cool to see that some things were really big and others were small. Overall this first week in Tech taught me a lot and I look forward to start building and learning new things next year.

Capstone Blog Post #3

My capstone essay and project is on sports card. My main inquiry question is, “What is the process of making a Baseball card and how has the business of Baseball cards changed over time?”

The process of my capstone project was long, exciting and challenging at some times. One thing that was challenging was memorizing my script.  The reason it was long is because there were tons of steps. Some steps where, thinking of questions, doing research. Lots of it, drafting a lot of versions of my script. One thing that helped me was making a essay. This helped me because once my essay was done it gave me a structure for my script. The next step was making the presentation. I chose to do a TedTalk. I chose this because I wanted to talk in front of people and because I got to move the slides and chose how long each slide is while a ignite is each slide 15 seconds and the slides auto advance. This included making a slideshow, putting in text and images and much more. After all of that the next step was the hardest in my opinion. This step was memorizing my script. The reason this was really hard was because my script is long and it took hours and hours too memorize the whole thing. One thing that helped me was making note cards. These helped on my first few presentation’s before I fully memorized my script. All of these steps took a while but were actually really fun! (Down below is my capstone essay and a link to my final presentation)

This is my capstone essay:

Most people have seen a sports card; whether it’s a baseball, basketball, or football card. But have you ever wondered how a card is made or how the business has changed over time? My main inquiry question is “What is the process of making a sports card and how has the business of sports cards changed over time?” The process of making a card is very long and has a lot of important steps.    The business back then was very up and down with popularity and profits. New technology has made the business more profitable.

Although sports cards are easy to find. The process of making a card is very long and has a lot of important steps. Well the way Topps a sports cards business  does it is First they sign individual contracts during spring training with every MLB player. It is really important that they do this so they don’t get fined and have to pay more then they already do to use the image. The fee is usually around $5000 and that money goes to an athlete or organization. Next every player gets a photo session for the cards and there is a process on which photo is the best and what is the best background for it and special features for it for example holograms foil or special paper. Finally, outside companies produce them then Topps cut and ship them to some sellers and sometimes they sell it on their website.

You may be wondering what the business was like in the 18 and 1900’s. The business back then was very up and down with popularity and profits. Well the first card printed was in the 1860’s but it was just a piece of cardboard with a drawing on it. In 1869 the first set of professional baseball teams. The Cincinnati Red stockings were produced.  1909-1915 was known as the golden era for sports cards. In the 1940s when World war ll came cards became less popular because paper was scarce. By the 1980s cards were becoming hot again but There were about 6 or 7 new companies  that came and made baseball cards and there were just a ton of cards in the market. By the 1990s it was less popular and no one was excited and a lot of companies went out of business. But now sports cards are the hot new thing and I think based on my research they are going to stay the hot thing for a while. Now with  New technology coming out is and will keep making  the business more profitable.

When I was doing my research on sports cards, I interviewed an expert on that topic and I asked How do you see sports cards changing in the next couple of years? He said We are starting to see sports cards change a lot. These  past few months there has been an increased focus on digital cards. New technology where Topps make digital versions of cards and is unique and cannot be copied makes it special. Topps just released with NFT technology last month. In the future instead of going to the store he thinks it will be digital and not physical. You can sell a digital card online and Topps makes money on future sales because they can track the sale.

In conclusion,  The process of making a card is very long and important. The business back in the 18 and 1900’s was very up and down with popularity and profits.  New technology has made the business more profitable. Hopefully this information taught you a lot and maybe one day you can start a sports card company.

Overall capstone was a lot of fun and very educational. It taught me how to conduct an interview, it taught me how to conduct a interview, how to put together a slide show, and learn how to present something, plus lots more.

This is my final presentation: