Charity Fair Project Blog 12/20

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1_6YWG6rtJ4_6YY2cL5oTjbxMHGDh7t/view

For Charity Fair this year, our group chose the charity The Children's Defense Fund, a charity that helps children in poverty. We launched the project in Social Studies, where we researched our charity and what it does for the issue(s) it tries to solve. The Children's Defense Fund strives to give each child the future they deserve by abolishing child hunger, poverty and lack of education. The founder, Marian Wright Edelman, dedicated her career to helping these children and making the future more hopeful for them. Every child should be able to have the life that they deserve, so our team decided to to make tote bags with the Children's Defense Fund logo on them to raise money for this charity. Once the products were made, we had to make an Ignite Presentation on the topic that we would present on the night of Charity Fair.The presentation had to have meaningful images that supported what we were saying. The link above leads to the pre-timed presentation that my team made. 

Backward-Looking:

• How much did you know about the subject before we started?

I'm an eighth grader here, so I've been to four Charity Fairs. The concept was the same: make a product and an Ignite and sell on Charity fair night. This year, though, we were selling in the gym for more space. We also needed to make a business card for our 'company' to hand out to people at our booth on Charity Fair. I liked selling in the gym, and I thought that it was nice with the business cards. It had our charity's information on it as well, so if we were already sold out, people could still donate on their own time. 

Inward-Looking:

• How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I'm really proud with what I made on Charity Fair. My group sold out, and our Ignite presentation made it into the finals, so we stand a chance of getting $5,000 donated to our charity. I liked presenting the presentation to everyone the most; I felt that I had worked the most on that, and we did a really good job. I thought that our trifold and booth was also nice. There were a couple of things with the making of the product that I would make neater, but I'm really proud of my work.

Outward-Looking:

• Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

Everyone had the same assignments, but everyone did theirs a little bit differently. At home, I made the base of our product and the team added final touches at school. Other groups made the whole things at school, and some made it all at home. We also split up the work among two people each and did what we were best at for the trifold. Some people did decoration while others typed and some printed. Other groups just worked on the same thing.

Forward-Looking:

• What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?

I would make the product a little bit neater in some places, and I would manage my time a little bit better if I could do this over again. The hardest part was time management. We finished everything in time, but I would still manage better. 

Physics 12/14

Speed is a scalar quantity, using a numerical value and units to describe how fast an object is moving. Velocity is a vector quantity, using a numerical value, units and direction to describe how fast an object is moving and in what direction it is moving. Speed could be 75 km/hr, 61 mph, or 3 m/s. Velocity would look like 32 m/s North, 8 ft North, or 6 mph SW. Velocity is important. If someone told you that you had to go 7 meters at 1 m/s to get to the bathroom, you could go in as many directions as you wanted to and you would have a very low chance of ever reaching the bathroom. if someone told you that you had to go 7 meters to the left at 1 m/s, you would be able to find the bathroom right away. To show the relationship between the position of an object and time, we use position v. time graphs. Position v. time graphs show where an object is and the time it took to travel there. On the graph, the horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is position. If the line on the graph is horizontal, that means that the object is not moving. If the line is vertical or sloped, the object is moving at a steady speed.

Image by Mariana Garcia-Serrato/GoFormative

The first part of the line shows that the object is moving at a steady speed and that time is passing. The line cannot end halfway through the graph because that means that time has stopped, and that can't actually happen (yet). The horizontal part of the line shows that the object has stopped moving and is stationary. Then the third part of the line is more sloped than the first, meaning that the object has picked up speed and is moving after. 

S&EP: SP4 Analyzing Data

This week, we analyzed data in tables to match different graphs, tables and stories together. Different graphs can have different stories that go with them. For example, the graph above can have a story like this: Jerry started out on his walk to school. His watch fell off of his wrist, and he stopped for a while to look for it. When he found it, he started to run because he was going to be late for school. This story matches the graph, because the object/person started out slowly (walking) and then stopped (looking for the watch), then picked up speed (running because he was late). Using graphs can help find the average speed for different objects. On Friday in class, we built a Hot Wheels course and ran four different cars down it. We measure the distance the cars moved and how long it took them to move that far, and then we calculated their average speeds to see which was fastest. 

XCC: Cause and Effect

In the example of the hot wheels course, cause and effects can matter a lot. When measuring the speed and velocity of the cars and comparing them to see which is the fastest, it's important to keep the course the same. If a green car ran one course, and a black car ran a steeper course, then the experiment wouldn't be fair. Both of the cars need to run the same course for the experiment to be fair. A steeper course could make the car go faster, and a flatter course might let it go slower. Even if both cars were on an unchanged course, an accidental push of one of the cars could let it go faster or move further than it would've on its own. 

Physics 12/7

Motion is just one branch of physics, and there are multiple branches of motion. Scalar and vector quantities can impact things like distance and displacement.

Scalar and vector

Scalar quantities are quantities that are measured by magnitude or some sort of numerical value alone. An example of a scalar quantity is 109 mph. Scalar quantities can be how big, how fast and how quick.

Vector quantities are quantities that are measured by a numerical value and a distance. An example of a vector quantity is 27 km/min NE. direction can be right, left, up, down, north, south, east, west, etc. If there is no direction, it is not a vector quantity.


Reference Points

Reference points can be anything. A tree, a rock, your couch, the bus that just passed your car. Reference points can decide whether you are moving or not.

If the distance between you and your reference point changes, than you are moving. If you were sitting still in your car and the reference point was your seat, you would not be moving. However, if the reference point was a tree in a yard your car passed, than you are moving. Your car passed by the tree, and the distance between the car and the tree is changing, so even though you sit still in your car, you are moving relative to the tree.

Distance and Displacement

Distance is kind of an easy concept to get. You walk two miles south, get in your car and drive 10 miles west. What is your distance from your starting point? Twelve miles. But displacement is a little bit harder to understand.

Distance can be moving straight or turning. You start at your house, walk three blocks, turn left and walk four blocks to get to your friend’s house. Displacement starts at the same origin (beginning) but it travels in a straight line. While distance is a scalar quantity (numerical values only), displacement is a vector quantity, meaning that the displacement is written incorrectly if there is no direction in the answer. Based on the question above, what is your displacement?

If you walked three steps forward, three steps left, three steps back and three steps right, you would end up at your starting point. Your distance would be equal to twelve steps, but your displacement is equal to zero because you moved back to your starting point (origin).


S&EP: SP5 Using Mathematics

I used math (ex: the pythagorean theorem) to calculate distance and displacement while completing the formatives this week. Math is useful in this case because it helps you calculate a faster way to get places. In the google map example, we can see how math is useful to find the distances between places. If you were going around museums and ended up in the place you started at, you displacement would be zero, no matter what your distance.


XCC: Structure and Function

This structure (the model) works very well. It is a visual representation of distance in displacement. While not to scale, it is still useful. The function of this model is based on its structure. If you draw the model wrong, you won’t be able to use it and may end up with an answer that is completely wrong. The mistake could be putting the lines in wrong and saying that the displacement is going in a different direction than it actually is. It could be calculating the displacement incorrectly and ending up with the wrong numerical values. Whatever the case, building the structure of this model correctly directly impacts its function as a tool.