The Project Path
Destination Imagination, better known as DI to the students of PLP.
This year we took part in two tournaments, the Regional tournament and the Provincial BC tournament.
Category: Destination Imagination
Skill Sprint with Rollercoasters (basically mini Destination Imagination)
Alright, smol post time.
Media
What I learned
In this mini project, I learned the power of frie- just kidding. In this project, I learned about what kinetic, potential, and thermal energy is and how to determine where it is (with roller coaster examples). For example, the most potential energy is usually found at the top of the biggest hill, because it has the most potential. The most Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is usually found just before the roller coaster stops sloping down. So basically at the bottom of a hill.
What I Liked
I really liked the PHET simulator with an adjustable track, where you could launch people to the moon. (I think the rest of the class did too.)
I also enjoyed the process of creation and planning. Figuring out a design that could score us points, while still looking at the logistics of material cost and the sturdiness of the structure. It really let our imaginations run wild in our own unique ways (basically what an imagination is). I chose to make a Rick Astley coaster- nah. That would be funny is it worked though. My group settled on using the spiral to get multiple points while keeping the structural soundness, and it worked…for the most part.
I also had fun coming up with the name. “The Topsy Turvy”. That’s all I need to say.
What I would do better next time
I think that next time, I would add more support to the actual track so that it wouldn’t stop the marble from rolling, as it did in the videos. The sad thing is that, in almost all the test runs, it worked smoothly, going around all the spirals and turns perfectly, but in the videos, it didn’t work properly, and in the performance, it didn’t work the first few times and didn’t work properly the 3rd time.
That is all. Thank you for your time
Halfway Through Surviving Year 1 of High School (mPols)
Welcome to my presentation!
Today, I will be talking about every subject so far this year and highlighting the most fun projects I did in each subject.
Humanities:
The Medium is the Message AKA Creating Ads:
For the first project, we were assigned a local business and were tasked with creating an ad for them. Me and my group were assigned a local real estate agent (Patricia Houlihan). We went through multiple stages before achieving a final design that both the business and our group liked. At the start, we were just creating our own personal ones that we thought the business would like. Then, we combined ideas with our group members to make a rough draft group ad. We all got a turn to get a group interview with David Hepburn, an ad creator agency. We ended up choosing Ruby’s comic book theme and Makai’s mountain background. In the end, this project was a pretty fun startup to a first year of high school.
The Outsiders:
For this project, we read a classic novel both at school and at home, and partook in book discussions every 2-3 chapters. Near the end of the project, we got assigned a scene from the book and started practicing making that scene into a tableau (a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story or from
history) to perform at the winter exhibition. We were then supposed to transpose the scene into what it might look like in 2021. Me and my group got the Darry slapping Ponyboy scene. We had a lot of fun practicing the tableau. This was a fun project and I gotta say that this was the highlight project of Humanities so far.
Working with Words AKA Poems
For the latest project, we were charged with creating multiple different types of poems over the course of a few weeks and then told to make it into and eBook. It was supposed to be centred around our worldview personally. Not only were there poems in the eBook, but also complementary text (e.g. photos, videos, or drawings that complement the poem) and meaning statements (audio recordings telling the reader, in relation to the driving question [How might I construct text that shows who I am right now?], the meaning behind the poem). At the end of the project, as a presentation of our learning, relatives and friends were invited to watch a live stream of the “Coffee House Performance”, where we would show off the poems that we created in class that same day to show them how neat poems can be. Overall, Humanities has been a really fun subject and I can’t wait to do it again next semester.
Scimatics:
Fractions of your Time:
This was the probably the easiest Scimatics project so far. We were told to track our screen time and make note of the different devices and subjects on that respective device. We then made a graph/diagram showing the different types. Even though I could easily understand all the data, others had a hard time figuring it out, probably due to them not being the ones recording the info. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable starter project to begin the school year with, with easy to follow instructions that most new grade 8s could probably understand.
Tectonic Chances:
We started off by learning more about tectonic plates, mid-ocean ridges, and other things to do with plate tectonics. We then started brainstorming how we could incorporate these vocabulary words into the board game or card game that we’d be creating for it. Me and my partner ended up making a tectonic plate quiz game. We were supposed to include chance in it but I ended up forgetting.
Laser Laws:
Laser Laws has to be the best project in Scimatics so far. It was really cool to experiment with the different angles of lasers and how it could make a cool shape with the right measurements. My group members and I made our laser display space themed, with a funny spaceman reaching out, and our battery pack hidden inside a NASA spaceship. I thought that was pretty clever. One problem that appeared near the end was the fact that our battery pack was dying! This was a BIG problem because we couldn’t remove the batteries from the spaceship without knocking the laser and messing up the trajectory. Luckily, a classmate was able to give us a second battery pack, which I quickly thought to us to just move the wires and connect it to that instead of moving the first battery pack. It didn’t look as good but at least it worked! After that, with the help of no lights and spray smoke, we had one of th most powerful lasers in the room! This was definitely my favourite project so far in Scimatics.
Maker:
Becoming a PLP Learner:
Introducing us at the start of the year to PLP, we have this project. The end goal of this project was to show what you learned so far and prove that you were worthy of the title PLP learner. We learned a lot of cool techniques to making things and used a lot of fun apps. We also learned a lot more about ourself and the world through this first project. At the end of the day, everything went great and we learned a lot.
Constructing Creative Communication:
This project had 2 parts. We were split up into 2 groups: Herzog and Carr. Two famous people with two different talents. Carr people would practice drawing and learn new tips and tricks. The Herzog people practiced their photography skills and worked on new angles and approaches to photo taking. Half way through, once you were finished with that topic, you would switch to the other group. Overall, we learned a lot of things about both subjects and learned some really neat techniques that will definitely come in handy in the future. Personally, I liked Herzog the best, because I want to be a professional photographer, even though i already knew most of the tactics they were teaching us. This was my favourite subject for Maker.
Geek Out Blog Challenge:
This project was a fun and easygoing one. We got to choose a topic that we are really interested in, write blogs about it, and then let people read it online. I chose to write my blog on music; for example, the songs I like to listen to or play on instruments, my musical history, and much more. This was a pretty open project where you could just ramble on about your interests without hesitation.
Destination Imagination:
This is an ongoing program that I can’t spoil much about. All I can tell you is that we are each assigned a challenge and compete by creating inventions, making stories, and then doing an unknown instant challenge. At the end, I’ll definitely do a blog post detailing everything, but until then, adios!