Marco Giacomangeli Semester Reflection
The semester actually went very close to how I imagined it. At first i was not very sure what to expect. I knew that there was going to be lots of hands on learning. Also lots of group work on projects. I work better alone but I was still excited for the group work. So by the end of the semester all those things were pretty much true. We had done a lot of group work in things like building rockets, high altitude balloons, and personal finance. Also this semester included a lot of being outside, exploring, and hands on work. This is all subjects that I excel in. Personally I feel that I grew in the fields of working with others, learning how to structure time to get big projects done, and planning a project so when we started working on it we had a neat plan to get the work done. When it comes to working with others it's never been something i'm bad at, but I definitely did improve. We were constantly working in groups. This means working with people that I do well with and others I don't. I think this semester just helped shift my views that if me and someone else really aren't working well together to just accept that and work around it instead of just ignoring them and work around them on my own. Next when it came to delegating time to finish big projects came quickly because of all the big projects we had to do. I learned to better distribute my time so I could finish projects. Before I would just do nothing and then rush last minute to get everything done. A big part of finishing complicated projects is having a plan before hand. This is something I would never do before. But Adam made sure I did before any project. It made my life a lot easier because I though out problems before hand and had a materials list to go off so I wouldn't forget anything. My writing abilities, my ability to explain complicated subjects to others, and my ability to revise work to a point in which it met high standards. My writing abilities were improved from all the writing we have been doing. The blog posts are a great example. You have to re read your work and check for errors. Also writing something that makes sense to others was a part of my improving writing capabilities. Next is that we had a lot of complicated labs and lessons in chemistry we had to explain what we learned from it. This can be hard but the more I did it the better I got at it. So now I feel that I improved a lot in it. A hard part of writing blogs is revising them. To improve your grade you needed to revise. This was common so we had to do a lot of it. As the semester went buy you found ways to improve past work. This was something I was much worse at in the beginning of the semester. Yes I actually moved closer to a lot of goals. I really wanted to improve in my project efficiency. Things like building structures and working on electronics efficiently. Through this semester I have learned a lot of techniques that have vastly improved my project efficiency. This is because of all the projects we do gives me a chance to learn from fellow classmates and teachers. The two goals I have for next semester is being able to expand my views when it comes to world events and improving my literature. Expanding my views to world events includes things like listening to others opinions in thing that are going on in warring countries. This is really important because being closed to every opinion only hurts you. It's really hard to grow your knowledge if you are closed to all outside views. Improving my literature is something i'm always trying to do. This is includes things like spelling and being able to write an interesting paper. Although this is something that I have been working since the beginning of school but it’s something i'm always going to want to be improving. I believe that I did engage in my projects really well. When It came to doing work in class for projects, I got quality work done quickly. Home work was a little harder for me. I wouldn't call it homework, just work I wouldn't finish in class I had trouble doing at home. That is something that has always been hard for me. Hands on work just comes much easier to me. We had a lot of that this year so it worked out really well. For the most part I think I was really engaged this year. If I could design a semester it would include a lot of being outside. This semester would entail having kids go out and learn a lot about a certain area of that group's choice. They would learn things about the plants, animals, stars, and environment. They would also learn basics of first aid. Next they would become guides. Friends, family, or random people could pay a small price to have a guided overnight trip in a local southern california area. This could incorporate astrophotography package for certain customers. Students would have to come very well intact with the local environment to create a good guide service. I think your class was awesome first of all. For Andrew I think a written reflection from the teacher after each class lab, discussion, or blog post would really help. Just so if we forget what that blog post is about we have a place to go back and be reminded. For Adam I think getting a little involved in class discussions is important. Kids can have a hard time thinking of different views on certain topics especially when they all agree. Teachers can add thoughts that will expand their thinking.
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The launch began on December 8. We started school by getting everything for the launch ready. This included things like the package, parachute, rope, tape, gps, electronics, helium, tarp, balloon, and zip ties. Once that was done we had to coordinate getting enough helium and then packing all those components into two vans. Because we didn't have enough helium initially we stopped by Party City to pick some more up. Our launch site was a park in Oceanside. We arrived there around 12pm, took everything out of the car and got started. But quickly we ran into a problem. The balloon did not have enough helium and would not lift our package. Quickly Andrew called up local areas, loaded the helium tank back up into the car and went to replace it. About an hour and half later he arrived back with a full tank of helium. We unzipped the balloon from the rest of the package that consisted of package, radar deflector, parachute, and balloon (in order from bottom to top). We filled the balloon to about 3 times its original size, zip tied it together and sent it off. It took off really fast and we could see it for a good amount of our drive home. Our plan was to retrieve the balloon the next day. Later that night I found out that it had landed really close to Mexico and lost gps transmission. When I came to school there was a bit of discussion and we decided because of its harry landing area we would retrieve it the following monday. That’s where we are at this moment, planning it.
This is our prediction for Thursday, December 8. This is the day we are planning to launch. We are a little afraid of it landing in Mexico. But we have been having this problem a lot lately. But still most of these predictions have been very accurate so we are hopeful that it won't catch a jetstream and fly into Mexico. We chose Carlsbad Beach because we believe it is far enough north that it will leave us a little bit of room from Mexico. Also it's a really pretty beach. The biggest problem that we have run into is, the balloons catching a stray jet stream and being shot out somewhere crazy..
We could not use the shake machine so we had to do it by hand. Phillip shook it very hard with his hands and everything stayed in place. Weather has been a little more complicated. The weeks that we wanted to launch a lot of the areas blow either straight into the ocean or to Mexico. We are hoping that soon by the last week of the project a weather window will open up and we will be able to launch. If not we will be very disappointed.
Our package design consists of a large styrofoam box. Inside with heat pads the gps and other electronics will be held. But outside the pancakes will be suspended. The way we are keeping things warm and safe is the layered with foam in between the electronics we think we will keep it safe. For our suspension system we wanted to use something light and strong. We went to the local fishing store and bought a 150 pound swivel. This way when the top balloon spins the bottom box with cameras won't. Also because the bottom package is much heavier it is less likely to spin.
We are planning to conduct a HAB project with pancakes. We want to send these pancakes suspended in space on a peice of glass. We thought this would be interesting because we want to see what happens when you send something like pancakes to space. Will they be destroyed, will they stay there? These are all question we want to know. Our hypothesis is that it will make it to space but from the radiation and cold they will be trashed when they come down. For our holding of the pancakes we will suspend it on a peice of glass and on the other side there will be weight to it is equal.
Expeiremental ProposalFor our experiment we want to send a fish to space. We want it to survive in space and be alive when we retrieve it. We will be doing this be building a pressure resistant container out of a hydro flask. We expect this launch to go really well as long as the conditions hold up. We want to learn more about what it takes to live at 100,000 feet. Also record data of pressure and temperature at that height. We are very excited to see if we can keep a fish alive at that height.
Reflection During the first build of the balsa rockets I learned a lot. First how to build and setup a rocket out of balsa wood. Second how to make an effective and ineffective rocket motor. The biggest thing I learned while building the rocket is to make sure it isn't too back heavy. Are first build had massive fins and was very unbalanced, it never made it off the ground. From that I looked at effective rockets and I created the theory that are rocket was far too back heavy. That theory was well tested because even after baking the fuel and making a good motor the rocket still did not launch. Next time i will make sure to make the rocket nose heavy, well balanced, and make a strong dry motor. Balsa Rockets 2 Link to Specific Build Components: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6KhQyEx_TnoNFctWUVaNU5jY2c?usp=sharing Final video link https://vimeo.com/182585500 Scratch Rocket Build Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14dMOwCZ0FqFAl6pKekcqUHkEOE6qOfG54m3nBT_gu8I/edit?usp=sharing |
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December 2016
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