Category Archives: 5th grade

Capstone#7-Presenting My Final Product

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After Presenting my final product I think I did well, on my Capstone project. I spoke clearly with the mic, my slides fit what I was saying, and I am proud of my Capstone project.

 

I think the most challenging part of being in the auditorium was being in front of so many people and speaking into the mic. Sometimes I felt as if one moment I was talking clearly and the next I sounded quieter. I think this was because I wasn’t talking into the mic directly.

 

Over all I think Capstone has been a very fun project. I think this because you get to pick what topic you want to study so you can research something your interested in, which is always fun. Another thing I really enjoyed about Capstone is that you get to pick which kind of project you want to share. An Ignite a Ted Talk or a short movie. Over all my favorite part about Capstone is having freedom.

 

After a lot of hard work I think that I ended the year on a good note. I think that I did my Capstone almost as well as my Rube Goldberg project. Capstone is an experience I will never forget and a project I really wish I could do again.

Capstone#6-Working On My Final Product

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After writing my essay I had to put all of my information into a slideshow,. Either an ignite, or a Ted Talk. An Ignite is where you have a three minute presentation, and slides turn every fifteen seconds. A ted talk is a presentation that you can turn the slides whenever you want, and you can make your presentation as long as you want. I chose the Ted Talk because I have complete control over when the slides turn.

Before I could start my slide show, I had to make a script. I started by copying and pasting my essay onto a google doc. I then adjusted it to make it sound like it would sound if someone was talking to you in person. One thing I did to adjust my script was that I made it sound less formal / more entertaining. Once I had my script finished I had to make my slides. After all what’s a slideshow without slides.

I started by finding important images that were crucial to my project, such as the first elevator. Once I had these Images I found more entertaining images that went well, with what I was saying. I then separated my script into parts. Since I had twenty-four slides, I split my script into twenty-four parts.

After my basic slides were done I had to make my presentation even more entertaining for the audience. One thing I did was ask the audience questions, such as: “Has anyone here ever been to the Freedom Tower?” Another thing I did was add animations. The thing with animations is that any unnecessary animations can cause a distraction and you don’t want that. I added two animations, one of which showed where the Freedom Tower was on a scale. The other was when I was talking about a building that sunk into the ground, I made the building sink down into the screen.

So far I think that I am making a lot of progress on my Capstone Project, and so far in my few rehearsals I have done well. I memorized all of my lines and talked at a steady pace. But the most important part is that I might have gotten some people interested in skyscrapers, and I taught them quite a few things about them.

Capstone#2 – Crafting a Main Inquiry Question and Sub Questions

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For the second part of my Capstone assignment I had to create a main inquiry question and five sub questions. It took me a few days to figure out a question that would go well with my Skyscraper’s topic. 

The first thing I had to do to pick my main inquiry question was do a little research. I watched a video that showed how skyscrapers have evolved and got taller over time. This led me to think that I should do something about how skyscrapers have evolved. I then went onto a website called PBS.org and I did some research about some special features of different Skyscrapers. This led me to making my first Inquiry Question.

 My first main Inquiry Question was How has the building of skyscrapers evolved? What factors have contributed the most to the building of skyscrapers. Soon after I came up with that question I realized that my question only supported building a Skyscraper, not Skyscrapers in general. I then changed my main inquiry question to How has the skyscraper design evolved, and what factors have contributed the most to it’s evolution? I think this is a much better question because this question allows me to research the building of skyscrapers and lets me research special features of each skyscraper! 

Capstone has been a fun project so far. I like how you are able to do research whenever I want and am able to make a final presentation with models and digital examples I can point to.

I am really enjoying Capstone!

Capstone#1 Choosing Topics

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Our teacher assigned us a project called Capstone. It was a project where we picked a topic that we are interested in and we do a presentation on it. The presentation can be a TedTalk, an iMovie and so on. You can also build models and other visuals to go with your presentation.

As for picking what I wanted to study, my two first possibilities for topics were “Soccer” and “Structural Engineering.” I used a poster board to narrow down my topics. I did this by writing one of the topics down on a post it and putting it in the center of the poster board. Then I put questions I had on the topic next to the post it. I then realized that I had more questions on “Structural Engineering” than “Soccer,” so I picked “Structural Engineering.” Then I realized that the topic was too broad. I had to find a more direct topic. I then realized that on my “Structural Engineering” chart I had a lot of questions about Skyscrapers. I then picked “Skyscrapers” as my topic. I picked “Skyscrapers” because I’m interested in how you are able to build buildings that go so high in the air.

I am thinking of building a model of the world’s tallest skyscraper, and maybe some other tall skyscrapers. I think this will help show my audience what I am saying. While I’m talking about different parts of the skyscraper I can point to the parts on the model(s).

I think that Capstone will be a fun project, I am really looking forward to it.

Immigration #3- Spark video

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At school my computer teacher showed me a new website to make a video/slideshow! It was called Spark! My computer teacher showed us how to use Spark, and then told us we were going to make a spark video about immigration. Spark is like a slide show that can have videos as well. Spark will be an easy way to show off what I learned about immigration from my research, and my interview. I am looking forward to using spark video.

Rube Goldberg #7 – Resources/Inspiration

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Over the course of my Rube Goldberg, I had a lot of inspiration. Most were on you tube. My first piece of inspiration was on a you tube channel called Bearded Science Guy

The Bearded Science guy video I watched was about making a Gauss gun. This video was where I got my first Idea of doing a Gauss gun. This video clearly showed what you need, and how to make a Gauss gun.

The second video I watched was called the craziest trick shot ever! This introduced me to the cobra weave/stick bomb. This gave me the idea to do the stick bomb.

The third thing I watched was  how to  make a stick bomb/cobra weave. This accurately explained how to make the stick bomb.

The fourth and last video I watched was called Insane Stick Bomb Chain Reactions,(by Hevish 5  This video explained how to set off the cobra weave/ stick bomb with domino’s.

All of these videos helped me along the course of my Rube Goldberg,+ they were really fun videos to watch.

Rube Goldberg #6 – Success

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All I needed now was a success… And I GOT ONE!!! After 100+ tries, I finally got a success! Almost everything went as planned, the only thing that didn’t was my domino split to activate my stick bomb. My Dad knocked the domino’s down with his feet and it still worked! My project still would of worked even if my Dad didn’t knock the domino’s down, anyways. Over the course of this project I learned that if you put your mind to something, and you give it your all there is a chance of success no matter how difficult it is.
Not only I got a success, My video worked well to. In my video I explained how my Rube Goldberg worked, my fails, my success and other ideas I had in mind, (that I didn’t use.) I ended my Rube Goldberg with 28 steps, 20 more steps then expected.

Rube Goldberg was a fun project that I will never forget. It is the only project that I ever done that requires building at you or your friends house. Rube Goldberg was a great project I wish I can do again.

 

 

Hope you liked my Rube Goldberg!!!

Rube Goldberg #5 – Starting to tape

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After  completing my final steps, I placed cameras all around the house to tape my Rube Goldberg in action. I plan on using more than one camera because I can get all kinds of angels, plus if one camera runs out of battery, the other cameras will still get the video. From the beginning of taping, I have been making adjustments accordingly on what fails. There have been at least 8 things that didn’t work that I fixed and then they did work without having to replace the step. There also have been times that something that has always worked didn’t. At these times we didn’t do much about it but try again. If it doesn’t work twice in a row, that means it probably has to get fixed. A lot of taping is just trial and error.

I have taken at least fifty takes now, and my Rube Goldberg is so close to working. There have been times where the last domino fails or something really close to the end doesn’t work. At the beginning I wasn’t even getting past the first step-now I am getting close to the end every time. Without a doubt, I will get a success.

Rube Goldberg #4 – Gauss gun

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A while after I finished my sixteenth step, I realized once again that something on my sketch wasn’t going as planned. On my sketch a lego was going to hit a key on a computer which says “Hey siri call home.” It turned out that the lego wasn’t strong enough to press the key. After some inspiration from you tube, I figured out what was strong enough to press the button. It was a gauss gun. The gauss gun is just a ramp with magnets and metal balls. Magnets are placed throughout the track with two or three metal balls behind it. What’s supposed to happen is that a metal ball will roll down the ramp and it will get sucked into the magnet, and the force from it getting sucked in will free the farthest marble from the magnets force. The farthest marbe from the magnet will come out with tremendous speed.

The last marble will shoot out and will fall into a funnel and the marble will hit the key on the computer. The only problem with this is that the last marble that came out had so much force, it would literally knock the funnel over. The solution to this was having a bigger marble at the end so it came out with less speed. The gauss gun wasn’t just a solution, it looked way cooler.

Now I am on step 24 and I hope that I can finish the remaining steps and get a success, when I film my Rube Goldberg.

Rube Goldberg #3 – Fixing Problems

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After I finished my sketch, I started building more steps to my Rube Goldberg machine. At first I thought that it would be just as hard to build the next steps as it was before, but I was proven wrong. The sketch helped me know what materials I needed and where to place them. This helped me a ton on timing.The only problem was that some things that I built kept falling down, specifically the keva planks. The sketch only showed how I wanted the keva planks, it didn’t show if it was physically possible or not. I had to make some adjustments to my sketch so my Rube Goldberg was possible.

Another flaw in my plan was the dominos. It was very difficult to set them all up. In addition to that, I am planning  to use 1,000 of them. To solve this problem I put big spaces in between sections of dominos so once I set up one section I wouldn’t knock it over again. Eventually, I would put dominos in the gaps of the sections and hope that I don’t break them. So far I have built 16 steps, and I hope to build even more.