Month: February 2021

Technology: Blog post #3

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This week, in class, we are learning about trusses. In the Nearpod lesson yesterday, I learned that triangles are much more stronger than rectangles and such other shapes. Mr. Calvert then said that is why triangles are used for buildings like bridges more frequently than rectangles, rhombus, and parallelograms. Today, he proved that to us by building a  3D cube, and showing it to us what will happen if we put weight on them. He stacked books until the cube couldn’t support them anymore and broke. When watching his experiments, I was amazed because I had never really looked into what shapes were used when building skyscrapers and bridges. When people construct and design their structures, they need to think about how much the structures will be able to hold and how long it will hold simultaneously, so I thought that being a constructor is an really arduous job and requires critical thinking skills.

Technology: Blog Post #2 Part 2

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Today, I made a Flipgrid about the two I Beams that I made. They turned out to be more successful than I thought they would be, so I was content when I was doing the experiments!

Well…. Honestly, the experiments didn’t go in the way I wanted them to be. Even though I added more layers to my original I BEAM than Mr. Calvert’s, it still only holded 7 books. ( Mr. Calvert’s design’s I BEAM holded 13 books!)

I was shocked and my jaw dropped when I saw the score, but I think this project was really elating as conducting these experiments made me more interested in Tech!

Overall, I really liked the first project in Technology and enjoyed it, so I hope that I will in the future projects too.

Technology: Blog Post #2

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Hi!

So… This is my second blog for this quaterly (Technology) and I will write about my first project…. ” I BEAM” today!!!!

I learned all about “I BEAM” in class with several nearpods, therefore, I was ready to make the actual “I BEAM” by the time my teacher Mr. Calvert told me and my class to do so. You make them by watching the short video tutorial that Mr. Calvert made and upload the experiements you did with the beams on an app called “Flipgrid”.

For the first beam, you have to make the same one that Mr. Calvert made which is the typical “I BEAM”. For the second one, you have to make your own. ( which basically means that you have to plan and sketch out your design and construct it on your own!)

While making the first one, I had myriad hardships such as my hands getting too sticky from the glues, the cardboards not getting glued together very well, and me not being able to cut the cardboard neatly. Yet, somehow it turned out great (I’m not bragging, but it really did!)

After I finished the first one, I started making my second beam. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me too long to figure out what kind of design I would want for my own beam. I was going to just put more layers to the basic beam that I made first. ( But I had to test two simultaneously in the video that I was supposed to upload to Flipgrid, so I made the same one as Mr. Calvert’s again and then added more layers to it so it will be stronger and will hold more items that were inside the bag.)

In the next blog, I will write about the results of the experiment! Until then, bye!

Technology: Blog post #1

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It’s been almost 8 months since I last wrote in my blog! However, I will start writing a lot more. You’ll know why soon…… ( Because I will have to write 9 blog posts in total including this one in this quaterly)

Last week, I started Tech. For that week, the homework was to complete the Nearpod that was all about adhesives. I really enjoyed watching the videos that Mr. Calvert made as they taught me things I didn’t know before. What exhilarated me in the videos the most was the number of the kinds of  glues. Before I watched the videos, I had never thought deeply about the glues and just used them for craftings. Nevertheless, I was able to learn how glues became the way they are today ( the ones we use today like Elmer’s glue)  and was able to learn the history behind them! I was especially surprised by the fact that Elmer’s glue contained milk before!

This quarter, I am looking forward to learning new things that I didn’t know before as much as I can, and gaining knowledge from a lot of different areas. The experiments and assignments may be arduous to complete sometimes, but I hope that I could finish them and be auspicious in the end. I hope I can achieve my goal by the end of this quarter!  🙂