Capstone Blog Post #2

Posted on by
Reply

Our purpose of the interview was to interview an expert on our topic, to get more information about our main inquiry question.

Figuring out who I wanted to interview was easy, I looked up experts on my topic, and I immediately found three people. That night I came up with an email to send the three people I found. The next day I burst with joy after I found out one of the people replied. I was very excited and spent the next three days coming up with questions.

Conducting the interview went well, the person whom I interviewed gave me a lot of good information, and allowed me to record the interview. If I could change one thing I did, I would have asked more follow up questions on certain questions.

Capstone, has been a blast so far, and I can’t wait to write my script!

Capstone Blog Post #3

Posted on by
Reply

One of the most memorable experiences in my 5th grade was the Capstone project. I chose to study the relationship between music and the brain. I chose this because I love music and I am really interested in the science of the brain. Then I had to come up with five sub-questions, and finally start my research.

I chose to present my research in a Ted-Talk, because whenever I watch someone present something in front of an audience, without a script, I find it very impressive. I thought that if I could do that it would be very cool.

The research process was very exciting, mainly because three years ago I watched my sister present her Capstone project, and I was very inspired. I learned many things along the way. One thing that I will keep in mind for future projects is to stay calm. I think this because, your entire Capstone project doesn’t have to be done in one day, and even if you hit bumps along the way it’s important to stay calm and focused.

The research from a book was a bit challenging. This was because most of the books were geared towards people studying neurology, and I had to find a book more suitable for an elementary student. So I had to read and reread parts that were relevant to my topic. I was fortunate that my interviewee was very cooperative and friendly.

Overall I learned a lot. I know way more in the field of music and the brain, and I am much more interested. I enjoyed the Capstone project a lot, and I cannot wait to present my Ted-Talk.

Capstone Blog Post #1

Posted on by
Reply

The Capstone project, the project designed to reflect our learning in Heathcote School. The first step is coming up with your topic. Then you come up with a main inquiry question, and five sub-questions. Now the step we are on is finding, and scheduling an interview.

First let me tell you how I found my topic. I knew that I wanted to do something with music, and I was also really interested in the science of the brain, so I just put the two together. The topic I chose was the relationship with music and the brain.

Finding the main inquiry question was also pretty easy for me. Since I wanted to do something in the relationship that music has with the brain, I decided to ask the question “How does the Music You Listen to Affect the Functioning of your Brain”

We needed to come up with five sub-questions to help answer our main question. I thought, “What is the meaning of my question?” By thinking  about that it helped form questions like, Can music help you learn? Or, “Can different genres of music affect you in different ways?

My Capstone journey has been great so far! I cannot wait to see what lies ahead.

Rube Goldberg #2

Posted on by
Reply

My experience designing a Rube Goldberg machine has been amazing, all of the steps were so fun. My favorite part was definitely when the machine worked. It felt so good to be successful.

I learned a lot about simple machines, I think the most useful simple machine that I used in my contraption was definitely the inclined plane. I used the ramp twice. I also think that you should stay calm in situations because if your idea does not work you have to improvise.

I took a lot of inspiration from my sister, because I watched her build her Rube Goldberg contraption three years ago.

I watched some YouTube videos of other peoples Rube Goldberg machine, and I think it’s cool how our videos will be up there. Making the video was nice, because you got to see all of the work in one video.

 

My list of resources:

YouTube

Wikipedia

RubeGoldberg.com

 

 

My sketch:

 

My video:

Rube Goldberg

Posted on by
Reply

The process for designing the machine and testing it was really fun! I loved coming up with ideas. Something that was challenging was finding the materials, but I got a lot of inspiration from YouTube videos, and from my sister.

So far my testing was good, something that has been frustrating was some of the ideas that I was coming up with, that I thought were really good, were not working. I had a few challenges here are some of them:When I was building I had a three foot drop in my build, but that was not working so, I made an inclined plane for the ball to roll through. Another challenge I came across was I had a golf ball going down an inclined plane and it kept on flying out of the ramp so I changed it to a different ball and then it worked.

My “Aha moment” was when I was building, my first step originally was a marble would go down a structure and hit a toy car, but the problem was that the marble was not heavy enough to move the car. This was a big problem because without this step the whole project would not function. I tried to change the car to a ball but the marble still would not move it. So I decided to remove the whole marble run step completely, and start of with the car going down the ramp. Then I added a fan at the end of the Rube Goldberg.

Overall my Rube Goldberg journey has been great.

Here is a picture of my sketch:

 

What Are The Limitations To Freedom Of Press

Posted on by
Reply

I chose the question, “What Are The Limitations to Freedom of Press” for my project because, I thought it was a really interesting question. I came across an article which was discussing someone who crossed the boundaries of freedom of press, and divulged information to the press. I was intrigued. I looked into freedom of press and found it really interesting, because there seems to be a thin line in between reporting and crossing the boundaries. The reporter could think that their telling the truth but, they are could be exploiting freedom of press.

I really enjoyed researching this topic because there was so much to learn. I have a lot of respect for journalists now because, it takes a lot of effort to get the information and they have to obey the legal construct.

I answered my question and I learned so much. My favorite part was definitely writing the script because, I could share my research with everyone. This was a great experience, from November to January.

Here is the link to my video:

Welcome to 5th Grade!

Posted on by
Reply

Hi. It’s Rylan, it is my last year in elementary school, I remember being in kindergarten and not knowing anybody now 6 years later i’m in 5th grade. Halfway through my 3rd grade year in 2020 Covid hit the whole world, then life as we knew it changed. It is now September 2021 things have gotten better but Covid is still here and we are still wearing masks and living cautiously.

The last 18 months were okay, there were good times and challenging times too. I went to camp for the first time and it gave me a sense of normalcy because after we got there and quarantined for a week, we took a Covid test at camp we got to be in large groups of people without wearing a mask. I got to mingle and play with other kids. Make a lot of new friends and experience new things.

Something that I am looking forward to this school year is the rube-goldberg and rocketry projects. I am looking forward to a good school year.

Bar Model Tutorial One

Posted on by
Reply

This is my first time using screencastifiy and bar modeling and it was awesome! It was inspired from khan academy I really enjoyed it and hope to use it again. I worked really hard on it and hope lots of people see it on YouTube and if they didn’t know how to do bar models they learn how to!

 

Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Posted on by
Reply

In science we are  learning about balanced and unbalanced forces. We created two models to show balanced  and unbalanced forces. In this project, I learned what friction is. One thing that was challenging was making a blog post. One thing I enjoyed was watching Brain-pop. I hope you learn about a balanced force and an unbalanced force that creates a net-zero!

 

This picture of tug of war is an example of Balanced Forces because  each  side has equal people.

This picture is an example of unbalanced forces because each side is unbalanced.