Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Influential Architects

Vand der Rohe
·         Used steel as a skeleton so more light could enter
Takamatsu
·         His buildings are unusual but original.  Some of his buildings look like engines.
Palladia
·         He loved Roman architecture.  He used proportions in his work ad focused on beauty by planning.
Louis Boulle
·         Used classical roots but on a huge scale to get people’s attention.
Le Corbusier
·         First modern architect, particularly interested in urban living.  Looked at stuff in a different way than architects of the time.
Furness
·         Furness used Victorian Architecture.  His style looked “overgrown” because everything was oversized or over stretched.
Wright
·         Used organic free flowing forms, low over hangs and used ornament details.  He sought to have architecture that was unified.
Gaudi
·         Said that work does not have to be regular or symmetrical.  His structures looked kind of abnormal.
Ando
·         His style was deliberate, bold, and serious.  He used lots of concrete and believed that you could say more with less.
Himmelblau
·         Deconstructions shuffled plans and seemed to be put together in an odd way.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Egg Drop Challenge

Acheivements=24
Material Preparation:
-Generate a list of materials required for build day
-Document a plan to ensure materials are brought in on block day
-Sean Lee will bring in the egg, cardboard box, foam/bubble wrap, and masking tape. I will bring in the wood plank, rocks/counterbalances, and the long string
Size:
-Your materials fit inside a printer paper box
Weight:
-Your materials weigh less than 500 grams
Drop Accuracy:
-You hit the butcher paper!
-You hit inside the third ring!
-You hit inside the second ring!
-You hit inside the first ring!
-You hit the Bullseye!
Drop Time:
-Your solution takes more than 2 seconds to hit the target!
-Your solution takes more than 3 seconds to hit the target!
-Your solution takes more than 4 seconds to hit the target!
-Your solution takes more than 5 seconds to hit the target!
Egg Resilience:
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
-Your egg didn't break in any way! (awarded three times)
Calculations:
-Used arithmetic to calculate the amount of weight needed for the counterbalance
-Used geometry in the size and measurements in the box
-Used algebra to find out how long it would take for the box to reach the ground
Other:
-Helped set up the Bullseys
-Video
-Pictures
-Made of House Hold Materials




Parachute Design


Elevator Design (The design we used)


Wing/Parachute Desing



Materials List


Materials


Finished Design








Thursday, March 15, 2012

Khan Academy: Algebra II: Functions and Probability




Khan Academey was extremely helpful with probability. I couldn't really understand the concept when the teacher explained it. After going over it a few more times on Kahn Academy, I was able to understand the concept. The playback feature was extremely helpful.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Moneyball Reflection



1) What was the “Moneyball” approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion)
• Rigorous statistical analysis had demonstrated that on-base percentage and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive success
2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
• OPS= OBP + SLG where OBP is on-base percentage and SLG is slugging average. These averages are defined SLG = TB/AB and
OBP = H + BB + HBP/ (AB + BB + SF + BP)
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
• A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made.
4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
• Billy Defined the Problem. He realized that his team was going to be bad if he didn’t change something.
• Billy brainstormed with Pete to find a way to make his team successful with a smaller budget.
• As the movie went on, Billy and Pete were able to refine their approach by picking certain players with statistics and their potential.
5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)
• Confidence
• Organization
• Perseverance
6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
• Beane confidence that his team would be successful
• Had each person playing a certain position, and each player had a certain role
• At the beginning, one of the players was playing a different position. Beane had to work with him until he got the position down
7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak?
• 4:5
8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)?
• 44 Percent
9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak?
• 20games won.
10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)
• .000013
11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
• No, he used statistics to increase the chances of them winning
12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team.
• Yes there was an art; he picked players with the statistics and their playing ability. I think he picked players that he thought who would do well.
Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?
• Blind Side
• He has written sport themed and inspirational books

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Airplane Construction

-Our goal was to create a balsa wood plane. It consisted of balsa wood, glue, a rubber band, a propeller, and tissue paper.
-We added weight to the front of our plane to make sure it would fly straight.
-Our aircraft did well. It might have not gone the farthest but it had the longest flight time.
-Our team brainstormed ideas to find a way to make our plane fly straight. With trial and error, we were able to refine our approach by adding paper clips to the front. We had to select an approach to fix our wings because they were not holding during the test flight; so we added glue to reinforce the wings



Completed Plane



Finished Design



Trial Flight Video

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Marble Ramp Challenge

This is the picture of the longest working marble ramp. It is made of straws , coffee stirs, and labels.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Activity 2_1

Achievments: 8


Video Questions

1. How is it possible that an object that feels and looks like cloth can stop a bullet?
• At a molecular level, this cloth which is synthetic is very strong. The appearance of an object can be deceiving because of the way it feels.
2. Why is hydrogen fuel not very efficient? Are there any other options?
• Hydrogen fuel is very hard to process and quite expensive. A tank of gas goes further than a tank of hydrogen fuel.
3. Why are things becoming smaller?
• Making things smaller means more storage. I remember when ipods could only hold 1 GB of memory; no ipod can store over 100 GB!
4. How close are we to getting people invisible?
• We are pretty far away. Right now we can only disguise invisible and it is not very usable and it is not completely invisible. It could be possible in the near future thought.