Capstone #5: My Reflection

We just finished presenting Capstone to the parents. I did fairly well, but I did forget a few points. Sometimes I would forget to say a quick fact and I wouldn’t want to go back because that would be weird. So I would just continue and no one would know. I think that this project really helped me learn, not only about tanks, but about engineering. It also helped me with public speaking which we will have to do in middle school. I also learned a few terms like, temper, explosive reactive armor, coax gun and bow gun.

I learned about how we can improve upon our designs without ever even examining a tank fully. I also found out some specific details about powerful tanks.

Capstone made me even more interested in how stuff works. I also think it’s interesting that it wasn’t that hard to find this information, but I didn’t really go into specifics.

This project was probably my favorite. This is because, we had a choice in what we learn and research. And, if we are spending a long period of time on a project, we should probably like it.

I think overall, this project was a great learning experience and if I have a research project in the future this experience will have helped me.

If you would like to see my presentation click on this video

Capstone #4: Answering My Main Inquiry Question

I finally finished my script and even my slideshow! I think once I go over it I will start rehearsing. 

When answering my question I had to start with finding resources. I found a few search terms, (and I’ll be honest I really hated this part). Some that really helped me were, “How are tanks built?”, “Design of military tanks”, and “Army tanks and the process of building them”. I had some trouble creating search terms, but eventually, after typing in my search terms I already made, I formed a few new questions. I then made search terms for those questions. And, this is how most of my search terms were formed.

I think I got a good amount of notes from YouTube videos, though there weren’t that many. I think most of the extremely helpful notes came from my interview. Probably because it’s almost like a personal article. I have everything I need answers to. I will be doing a Ted-Talk for my presentation. I really want to find a way to make it more interesting though. I think some people will get bored during the presentation. If I had to do a second presentation on tanks, I would probably do something about the different flaws and advancements over the years. Only because it is something that has really interested me. 

I am really excited for my presentation. I hope I do well. I am not really good at public speaking, so I think this will definitely be hard for me. But I have help.

 

Capstone #3: Site Visit

For Capstone we require at least one site visit. I probably wasn’t going to some military base, so I went to a museum called The Museum of American Armor. It was really helpful and I got something pretty cool too.

For my site visit, I brought two things to document my visit. A notepad and my phone. I took some notes and pictures, which will probably help in my presentation. For example, one thing I learned is, when a tank is shot or penetrated, the army will try and fix it. But, once burned, they won’t touch it. The reason being, When a tank is burned, the temper on the metal is gone and a bullet can easily penetrate the metal. I also learned that there is a tank (The M18 Hellcat), that uses an airplane engine. This was extremely interesting. I also found out everything -except the guns- on the tanks were functional in the museum.

Once I got some more research about tanks, the employee took me around to see different armored vehicles and some guns. At one exhibit, the employee gave me a bullet shell from World War II. It was a really cool artifact that I might incorporate into my presentation.

Overall, I think I learned a lot of new information. Before, I thought I wouldn’t get much new information, but I was very wrong.

This is the bullet shell
This is part of the M18 Hellcat’s wheels
This is the entrance to the museum
This is the full M18 Hellcat