January 9, 2016
Today we returned from Winter Break. I had a great winter
break but I'm sad that it's over. This is a picture of
one of the things I did:
I played video games like the game in the picture, Battlefield 1,
for a large portion of my time over the break.
January 10, 2016
Today Mr. Miller presented the idea of Google Drive to us.
It is an option that is open for us to use if we wish. If we
struggled with making the website the conventional way, this
would be the good choice.
January 11, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge. We had to cut out a 1 foot
by 1 foot square from a piece of cardboard as accurate as we
could. I did the marking on the cardboard and my partner did
the cutting. Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
1 Foot Square Cardboard Wednesday Challenge Form Here is a picture of the 1 foot by 1 foot cardboard:
January 12, 2016
Today we took a selfie with our cardboard and partner. Then,
we uploaded the picture to our GUSD gmail account Google Drive.
Afterwards, I worked on my Wednesday Challenge.
January 13, 2016
Today we saw the 2017 Robotics Competition Steamworks video.
It showed how the game worked and how many points were awarded
for each of the different parts of the game.
January 17, 2016
Today Mr. Neat presented the two options that we can take this
semester. Option one is to use Google Drive to make the website.
Option two is to stay the course and keep using HTML. I chose
option two.
January 18, 2016
Today we did the Ebola Wednesday Challenge. The device we
tried to make did not work. Here is a picture of the device:
Here is the Ebola Device Wednesday Challenge Form:
Ebola Device Wednesday Challenge Form
January 19, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us how to separate the semester 1 and semester
2 websites. He was very thorough when going through the directions.
January 20, 2016
Today the Robotics club presented to us the video of the
Steamworks competition again. They talked to us about some ideas
they were thinking of in relation to the competition.
January 23, 2016
Today Mr. Neat showed us how he graded the websites. Then, he
showed us some good examples of websites. Afterwards, he
told the HTML crowd to stay in the room and the Google Sites
crowd to go into the Tech Shop.
January 24, 2016
Today Mr. Neat presented a project in which we have to create
a car. The materials that we can use to create the car is
cardboard, wood glue, and straws. It also has certain constraints
in term of size.
January 25, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge in which we had to come up
with an idea of a thing to make. Mr. Neat showed us previous
things that were made in previous years. Here is the
Wednesday Challenge Form:
589 Wednesday Challenge Form
January 26, 2016
Today we presented our idea to the class because we ran out
of time yesterday. Afterwards, I worked on my car and cut
out some wheels.
January 27, 2016
Today, the judges told us the results of the Wednesday Challenge
this week. My group won for the best overall presentation but
our idea was not practical to make 400 of. So, Connor's team
won.
January 30, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed us the list of required links for our
website. Afterwards, Mr. Miller talked to us about using the
resources available to us with caution. I worked on my car
after that.
January 31, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our cars. I made great
progress on my car and made a significant amount of wheels.
February 1, 2016
Today, we had a Wednesday Challenge. We had to make a prototype
of the chosen thing from last week. The chosen thing was a
rotor. We made our prototype out of cardboard and straw. Here is
a picture of it:
Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
Motor Prototype Wednesday Challenge Form
February 2, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our cars. I made
significant progress on my car and cut out all the wheels.
February 3, 2016
Today, the Robotics team presented their progress so far. They
have a CAD of what they're building. Afterwards, Mr. Neat gave
us time to work on our websites or car. So far, I have not
assembled the car yet but I cut out all the wheels and cut out
part of the body. I also glued two of the bodies together.
February 6, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller told us about grading the websites. He complained
about how so many people put "Connor's group won" in the Solutions
box in the Wednesday Challenge Form. Afterwards, we worked on
our cars.
February 7, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us that the car race has been moved to
Thursday. I've decided to make better wheels for my car.
February 8, 2016
Today, we did a Wednesday Challenge where we had to pick a
fidget toy. We picked a stress ball. Our group won.
Here is a picture of our planning on a piece of paper:
Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
Fidget Toy Wednesday Challenge Form
February 9, 2016
Today, I worked on my car for the car race. I did not finish it
because it still had to dry from the glue. I plan on racing
tomorrow.
February 10, 2016
Today, the robotics team presented their progress on the
Steamworks Competition. They showed us the robot, which looks
pretty cool.
February 14, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller and Mr. Neat told us about the grading period.
They were disappointed. The graph of our grades had a bimodal
distribution instead of what was expected, a bell curve.
I have also finished up my car, I just had to wait for the
glue to dry on the wheel to the straw and the bottom of the
body. I haven't raced it on the ramp yet though. I still need
to take a picture of the car.
February 15, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge involving passing tubes.
There were two teams, Nicholas's group and Tyler's group.
I was on Nicholas's team and Tyler's group won.
Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
Tube Game Wednesday Challenge Form
Here is a picture of my group in action:
February 16, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat met with the people who were struggling with their
grades. He did this to let these people know why they were
getting the low grades that they were getting. For the others,
he just gave us time to work on our websites. My car did not
pass the length constraints at first, so I had to trim it
down a bit. Afterwards, I raced it down the ramp three
times. My highest score was around 6 feet, which I got on my
first run. Here is a picture of my car:
The lesson that I've learned from the car race is that
the consistent sizes of the four wheels on my car is of paramount
importance. Part of the reason my car did not do well is
because all of the wheels were not exactly the same size
and they weren't perfectly shaped like a circle. I should
have cut my wheels more precisely. I scored 83 on my first run,
36 on my second run, and 61 on my third run. My final average
score was 60.
February 17, 2016
Today, the Robotics team talked to us about the robot they're
building. They said that they were almost finished. Afterwards,
they showed us the robot so far and drove it around for a bit.
A bearing on the wheel broke off towards the end of their
presentation of the robot.
February 21, 2016
Today, the Robotics team informed us of their progress on the
robot. Today is the last day that they can work on the robot.
They presented to us what the robot can do so far, which
is fill up the bottom fuel station and collect and deliver
a gear. They had some trouble with the robot. Here is the
Robotics Competition Steamworks video:
February 22, 2016
Today, we did a Wednesday Challenge in pairs where we had to make a
SketchUp of an A. I made my A out of straight edges and rectangles.
I also labeled the dimensions of the different sections of the A.
Cardboard A Wednesday Challenge Form
February 23, 2016
Today, we continued yesterday's Wednesday Challenge. We had to
do the latter part of the wednesday challenge, where we had to
take some other group's SketchUp and make a cardboard cutout of
their design.
February 24, 2016
Today, the Robotics team showed us the scores on the Wednesday
Challenge. Our group got 7th place with a score of 9.8346.
Afterwards, Mr. Neat gaveus time to work on our Wednesday Challenge
Form. Here is the pictures of my SketchUp A and the physical
A made from that side by side, respectively:
February 27, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us that our websites were going to be graded
during this weekend. He showed us the list of links we need
to have on the website. He told the students that did not
make it at least half way down the ramp to make their cars again.
Here is the link to the A competition results:
"A" Competition Results
February 28, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our cars. I tested my
first car on the ramp and figured out that the problem was
that the things holding the straw in place were too tight,
which caused the car to be unable to turn. The wheels were
uneven as well.
March 1, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge. We needed to make the bottom
portion of a rocket. The group with the smoothest design wins.
Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
Bottom of Rocket Wednesday Challenge Form
March 2, 2016
Today we continued yesterday's Wednesday Challenge. We wet the
cardboard to make it easier to bend into the rocket's shape.
We tried to make the design as smooth as possible between
the transitions. Here are some pictures from the Wednesday
Challenge:
The first picture is our final product, and the second
picture is the mold we used to shape the cardboard into the
shape it is.
March 3, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller talked to us about yesterday's Wednesday
Challenge. He asked us about lessons learned. Someone said
that familiarity with the materials makes you better
able to succeed in building the bottom of the rocket. Afterwards,
he gave us time to work on our websites and work on our cars.
March 6, 2016
The websites were graded over the weekend and Mr. Miller talked
to us about it. The number of people in the class with F's
rised to the number 17. He was very disappointed. Afterwards,
Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our cars.
March 7, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on our cars. I finished
up my second version of my first car and went for a trial run
again since I didn't pass the first time. I got 15 ft and 1 inch
down the ramp with it, so I passed. Here is a picture of it:
March 8, 2016
Today we did the Potato Chip Wednesday Challenge. We have to make
something that encloses the potato chip so that it would not
crack after being delivered in the mail. Here is the Potato
Chip Wednesday Challenge Form:
Potato Chip Wednesday Challenge Form
March 9, 2016
Today we continued on the Potato Chip Wednesday Challenge.
We finally decided on the idea that we were going to do.
It includes straws, strings, and a cup in the middle. It's
like a triangular pyramid.
March 10, 2016
Today we continued to work on the Potato Chip Wednesday
Challenge. The judges walked around and got the file of
the image of the device we were making and got our
predicted score.
March 13, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the Potato Chip Wednesday
Challenge. We finished up on the picture of the device
for the other group to build on. During the first portion
of the period, the veterans went around and handed out
the picture that other groups made for building. Then, they
moved on to the other groups that had to finish up their
picture. This is our picture of our design for the other
group:
March 14, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the Potato Chip Wednesday
Challenge. We are nearly finished with it. The device we
received is basically a box with cotton balls all around
the potato chip, which seems to be a recurring theme
for the rest of the class. I observed that that idea
was the most common after looking around the room.
March 15, 2016
Today, we finished up the product we were assigned to build.
It was a 4-inch by 4-inch by 2.5-inch box with cotton balls
inside it surrounding the potato chip. We used shipping tape to
keep the box intact since duct tape can't be used for mailing for
some reason. We tested it by dropping it on the ground and the
chip was untouched. Here is the picture of our finished product and
the picture that we got side by side, respectively:
Here is the PDF link that we received from the other group
to make the container:
Potato Chip PDF link from the other group
March 16, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed us a video of a Sky Crane that was
made by National Geographic. He told us that there are two
paths to take - put people on Mars or put only machines
on Mars. Afterwards, he told us to put a picture of what
we received and our final product side by side. However, we
received a PDF instead of a picture so I put that up instead.
March 17, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us that the Robotics competition was
happening right now and that he was looking for a livestream
of it. He'd give a candy bar to anyone who found one. He
also reminded us of what we needed for the website before
Spring Break started, because he may grade over the break.
March 28, 2016
Today, the Robotics team talked to us about their experience
at the First Steamworks Robotics Competition. Afterwards,
Mr. Neat told us we needed a picture from Spring Break
and a paragraph describing what we did over the break.
Mr. Miller told us to stay on top of our websites as well.
During Spring Break, I used up a lot of the time playing
video games, among other things. One of the games I was playing
was God of War III Remastered on PS4. It's about Kratos, bastard
son of mythical Greek God Zeus, who seeks out revenge on Zeus for
his betrayal.
Here is a picture:
March 29, 2016
Today we did the Math class Wednesday Challenge. We had to
decide between writing out all the numbers from 1 to 1,000,000
or taking a math course. We had to present our arguments
for whichever choices we picked. Here is a picture of our work:
Here is the Math Class Wednesday Challenge Form:
Math Class Wednesday Challenge Form
March 30, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat announced the winners of yesterday's Wednesday
Challenge, which were the veterans and my group. He told us
that he assigned this Wednesday Challenge to get us to
estimate. Afterwards, he gave us time to work on our
Wednesday Challenge Forms and websites.
March 31, 2016
Today, we had a substitute teacher since Mr. Neat was absent.
The veterans tried to get a live stream of the event
going on. The substitute left us to our own devices.
April 3, 2016
Today, the veterans told us about their experience at the
Steamworks Robotics Competition. They were assigned with
random teams so they did not have absolute control over win or loss.
They did what they could. They went through inspection in just
20 minutes, which was a time much shorter than previous years.
April 4, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us to start working on our cars again.
I am already finished with the first car and need to complete
the second car that I have to build from a CAD.
April 5, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge. We had to estimate pi
as best as we could using a physical circle that we measured
the circumference and diameter of. We used a soda container.
Here is the Pi Wednesday Challenge Form:
Pi Wednesday Challenge Form Here is our work:
Here is what we measured as a circle (the top of it):
We received our potato chips back as well. Here is a picture:
April 6, 2016
Today, Kevin showed us how we would make a skateboard in SketchUp.
He showed us various methods that would help us get it done.
We have to make a SketchUp of a skateboard for practice.
April 7, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller presented us to the GoFundMe for raising
money for a trip to Houston. Afterwards, the potato chip and
pi scores were shown to us. Monte and Armen won the
pi challenge because they did not add in unnecessary decimals.
Keilah and Mason won the Potato Chip challenge. Here is the
link to the potato chip score sheet from Kirk's website:
Potato Chip Score Sheet Our estimate score on the Potato Chip Wednesday Challenge was
0.0038 and our actual score was 0.2508972084. The long decimal
on the actual score is actually wrong because your score is
limited to the number of decimal places your measurements
go to. That is a lesson I learned from the Potato Chip
Wednesday Challenge.
April 10, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us that he was disappointed in the
veterans' performance on their websites. He showed us
Kevin's website, which was very good, and commented that
none of the other veterans had a website like his. He told
us that the Wednesday Challenge was half of your grade.
April 11, 2016
Today I didn't attend this class because of block schedule.
April 12, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed us a five minute long video. Afterwards,
he told us to get to work and be productive. I worked
on my skateboard sketchup. Here is the real skateboard
and my sketchup of it side by side, respectively:
April 13, 2016
Today I didn't attend this class because of block schedule.
April 14, 2016
Today Mr. Neat was not here. I thought about what longboard
design I'm going to use to make my longboard. I'm not sure
what I'm going to do yet.
April 17, 2016
Today, Kevin went over how to create the skateboard on SketchUp
again and Tyler recorded it so that people can refer to
it in the future. The robotics team is going to Houston
and raised their money through a GoFundMe that they started.
Their goal was to raise $15,000 for the trip and I think they
reached that goal.
April 18, 2016
Today I worked on my skateboard SketchUp. I finally figured
out what kind of skateboard design I was going to go with.
I decided to go with a certain design to avoid the scraping
of the wheels against the board. It's also a longboard so
it's easier to ride.
April 19, 2016
Today I didn't attend this class because of block schedule.
April 20, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed us a stream of the veterans at Houston.
While it was playing, he told us that we should continue
working on our skateboards and then print it. He told the
boat people that they had to finish their boat today.
April 21, 2016
Today I didn't attend this class because of block schedule.
April 25, 2016
Today, some of the veterans told us about their trip to Houston.
They told us about the heavy shipment. Mr. Miller said that
there was barely any time left to pack up. They also learned
some things from the high-end teams.
April 26, 2016
Today, we did a Wednesday Challenge involving a 5' by 5' board.
We used post-it notes to sketch out different ways to solve
the problem. Here is the 5' by 5' Wednesday Challenge:
5' by 5' Wednesday Challenge Form
April 27, 2016
Today, we were told of the results of the 5' by 5' Wednesday
Challenge. Evan's group won because they considered the
thickness of the blade cutting the board when doing their
Wednesday Challenge. After that, he gave us time to work
on whatever we needed to work on.
April 28, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat showed us a video about a space program. He
told us about how they worked on it for an enormous amount
of years. And once they launch, they also have to keep track
of it in space. Afterwards, he gave us time to work on whatever
we needed to work on.
May 1, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller told us about the grades we got on
our website. For some reason I got a 0 on the Wednesday
Challenge that the non-skateboard people did even though
I'm working on the skateboard.
May 2, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us to be safe and get to work on whatever
we needed to work on. I used my time to lay out the printed
sheets of my skateboard and started to cut them out.
May 3, 2016
Today we did a Wednesday Challenge where we had to design
a paper airplane that flew the farthest distance. Afterwards,
we had to make a paper airplane from someone else's instructions.
Here is the Paper Airplane Wednesday Challenge:
Paper Airplane Wednesday Challenge Form
May 4, 2016
Today, we continued the Wednesday Challenge for the groups
that did not go yesterday. We flew ours and it did not go very
far because of the wind.
May 5, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller told us who won the Paper Airplane Wednesday
Challenge. The first two who threw their paper airplane
the farthest were disqualified because they did not follow
instructions. So, the third group won. Afterwards, Mr. Neat told
us we needed to hurry up with building the skateboard if we
were going to finish.
May 8, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat gave us time to work on whatever we needed to
work on. I worked on taping together the printouts of my
skateboard.
May 9, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us to specify which path we were taking -
building a longboard or a car. I am planning on building
a longboard. When I taped the printouts of my longboard together,
I taped the papers together unevenly. So, I have to print it out
again.
May 10, 2016
Today, I was absent while taking an AP exam. I was taking the
AP Macroeconomics Exam.
May 11, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat addressed the skateboard group and told them
to post pictures of their progress. Here is the picture of
the SketchUp of my longboard: Here is the picture of my longboard printout:
May 12, 2016
Today, I'm working on taping the longboard printouts together.
I need to cut out the printout as well. The results from this
week's Wednesday Challenge was displayed as well.
May 15, 2016
Today, Mr. Neat told us that he graded the websites. The amount
of people failing the class decreased. He gave us time to work
on either our cars or our skateboards. I continued to tape together
the printout of my longboard.
May 16, 2016
Today, I worked on taping together my longboard printout. It
was difficult to keep the longboard straight as I taped them
together.
May 17, 2016
Today, we did a group Wednesday Challenge that involved the
whole class. We were assigned to a partner and one of us
had to give the other partner instructions to build a
box of tubes while that partner was blinded by some glasses.
Here is the Wednesday Challenge Form:
Box of Tubes Wednesday Challenge Form
May 18, 2016
Today, we talked about the Wednesday Challenge that happened
yesterday. Mr. Neat recognized the group that used clapping,
shouting, and sound to direct his partner around the area.
Afterwards, he gave us time to work on our websites, cars,
or longboards.
May 19, 2016
Today, I was absent and I did not attend this class. It was
Senior Ditch Day, so you know how that goes.
May 22, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller gave the people that were not doing the
longboard a final to do. The final was to make a water filter
by only using materials that can be found in the school.
Also, we must make the filter by only adjusting the bottle.
May 23, 2016
Today, me and Nicolas got a piece of wood that we're going to
use for making charcoal. It is the size of a small stick.
We're going to put it inside an iron pipe and then
burn it until it becomes charcoal. We're going to use
the charcoal as part of the water filter.
May 24, 2016
Today, Mr. Miller did not have enough iron pipes for every group
that wanted to burn some charcoal for their water filter. So,
he randomly picked groups to get the charcoal. Mr. Miller burned
the wood inside the iron pipes with a torch. After the period ended,
I took the pipes into the shop.
May 25, 2016
Today, we continued to work on the final. We got the charcoal
from yesterday, then gathered grass, pebbles, rocks, a cotton ball
and sand. We used these materials for our water filter and filled
them into the bottle one by one. We also taped a piece of paper
around the bottle to make it stand upright. After we were
done, we turned it in to Mr. Miller.
May 26, 2016
Today, we did the testing for our water filters. We filled up
each of our cups with dirty water and then poured it into
the water filter while timing how long it took for the water
to fill up to a certain point marked by a sharpie. Our water filter
had seven components: the bottle, rocks, pebbles, sand, a cotton
ball, grass, and charcoal. Here is a picture of our water
filter:
Here is the Water Filter Wednesday Challenge Form:
Water Filter Wednesday Challenge Form
