Conceptual+Physics

Sound Abatement Solution Description of Project The purpose of this project was to solve the noise issue for the school, as well as to learn about sound and how it works. We were able to make nearly any choice to solve the problem, except for building walls completely to the ceiling, because this is a temporary fix. My group made the choices to use layers of egg cartons on the rooms that didn't have too much of a problem, and high density foam for the worst rooms, being the Chinese classrooms. We chose egg cartons because they work very well to abate sound, and they are very cheap. The high density foam because it is actually used in sound abatement, and isn't too expensive. We came up with these ideas because Mr. Bottelier taught us that porous materials abate sound, and many people in the class suggested egg cartons. The project was worked on throughout class and at home for 2 weeks. First we identified the parts of the school that needed the most sound abatement, then we chose what materials to use. Once we got a plan for the entire school and a budget, we made a PowerPoint with our entire plan and presented it to the class. We only made one draft of this project, because of time and the amount of work to revise. I hoped that our project would demonstrate that the students can contribute to the school, and not just have the adults dominate it. The project was fairly easy, but there was a lot of research and calculations to do. Mr. Bottelier and the students within the group were giving each other feedback. I think that our final plan was the best that it could be, and I feel good about it looking back. Description of Quality The school website defines "Inquiry" as, "Not only asking questions, but acting upon those questions in an effort to discover the answers, accepting confusion, uncertainty, and the risk of failure as a part of the process." I define inquiry as asking many questions and determining what the real question is, in order to solve the real problem. The project shows my understanding of inquiry because we tried to ask the question of, "What part of the school is the real problem?" We found what areas need abatement materials and how much they need. Before the project, my understanding of inquiry was just asking questions. Now my understanding is that multiple questions need to be asked to solve one problem. My definition changed as well. At first it was just, "to ask something." Now my definition is asking questions to determine the real problem and finding the needed solution. The process I used was to ask many questions to myself about which classes it was hardest to hear in, and which classes were away from any real noise. Once that question was answered, the next question was how bad the sound really was, and how well the abatement materials work, and how expensive they are. If I were to revise this project, I would use inquiry to ask how well this plan would have actually worked in comparison to the temporary solution currently in place (just a bunch of sound baffles above some of the severe problem areas). The school website defines communication as, "Communicating ideas clearly and have the ability to reflectively consider others' ideas, even when those ideas differ from their own." My definition of communication is to share ideas with others and, when in a group, communicate to each other outside of the classroom to have the same amount of work completed, and to be on the same page the next day. This project shows my definition of communication because many texts, emails, and messages through social networks were exchanged. My understanding of communication changed some, as I now know the importance of multiple sources to communicate. My definition changed, too, because this was the first project that I needed to communicate with other classmates outside of school. The process I used with communication was to do more work with the project at home, and to communicate my ideas with the other students in the group so that we all agreed. If I were to revise this project again, I would use communication to better communicate my ideas because of the lack of communication in the first draft.

Public Service Announcement Description of Project The purpose of this project was to make a public service announcement concerning global warming and the prevention of it. The choices that the group was able to make were just about anything concerning the design and content of the video. The only thing that we were not allowed to decide was the length of the video. It had to be between 15 and 26 seconds long, so that the top videos could be published on Think TV. We came up with the idea to promote fuel efficiency because it is something that most people can do in their lives, unlike switching their energy sources. We worked on this project every day, in class, for about 2 weeks. First we had to design the video with a song, pictures, and facts. Once we had those, the video was put together. We made several drafts of this video, improving the timing of the pictures and the placement of the song with each revision. i hoped that this project would demonstrate my understanding of global warming and the urgency to take action against it. This project was easy because I had previous experience with Windows Live Movie Maker, the program used to make the PSA. Several times throughout the process, the class held peer critique sessions, which helped very much with the final product. When I look back on the project, I wouldn't change much of the video, because it was voted to be one of the 6 videos shown on Think TV.

Public Service Announcement Description of Qualities The school website defines inquiry as, "Not only asking questions, but acting upon those questions in an effort to discover the answers, accepting confusion, uncertainty and the risk of failure as part of the process." I define inquiry as using questions to help in reaching the final goal. A question that I had for this project was, "What is something that ordinary people can do to help prevent global warming?" The answer came to me and helped in reaching the final goal,"They can increase their fuel efficiency." My understanding of inquiry changed from just asking questions and answering them, to actually using the questions asked to stay on track to the final goal. I used inquiry in this project by inquiring on what kinds of things people can do to help slow down global warming, and how to make a PSA that grabs people's attention and persuades them to help the globe. If I were to revise this project again, I would use inquiry in asking how people react to this PSA, and how to persuade them further.

The school website defines collaboration as, "Working independently and as contributing members of a team, accepting and reacting to improve oneself based on feedback and criticism, and demonstrating compassion and honesty in all interactions with others." I define collaboration as, "Working well together in a team instead of individually to improve the outcome of a project." This project shows collaboration because it was made by a team of two, myself and another student. We worked well together and improved each others' ideas as the project went along. My understanding of collaboration changed from just working well in great numbers, to working well in smaller groups of two as well. I used collaboration in this project by sharing the work and ideas presented in the PSA evenly with my classmate. If I were to revise this project again, I would use collaboration by increasing the number of people in the group so that a greater number of ideas could be presented and incorporated.

To watch the PSA, click the link below http://youtu.be/dnFSBmtDBWI