Geoffrey

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein

Category: Uncategorized (page 1 of 2)

Independent Reading Reflection

I have completed 5 full works of fiction for English so far as part of my independent reading. I did not particularly enjoy any of these 5 books, but if I had to choose a favorite, I would choose Ender’s Game due to how solidly-built its setting is. However, while Ender’s Game has an immersive universe, it does not have a lot of creative language which makes it a boring book to read.

While reading, I gave up on two books, both of which was borrowed when I had no idea what other book I wanted to read. I tend to dislike realistic fiction unless they are written well, and these two books were both realistic fiction that was very poorly written. This tells me that I should consider more when picking my books, and that I don’t have to pick a book immediately if I have no books to read.

Grade 9 Engineering Project Develop & Plan

In Grade 9 Science & Engineering’s Engineering Project, we were tasked with designing and creating a device that involves energy transfer. After deciding on my product and its purpose, I started planning.

My plan

Some main features of this plan include:

The “Launch Capsule”

I planned for my airplane launcher to have a part made for carrying the airplane as well as transfer momentum to it when the plane is launched, which I called the “launch capsule”. While this would increase friction and reduce how fast the airplane is launched, there needs to be some sort of buffer between the paper airplane and the rubber band. Paper is fragile, after all. I planned for my launch capsule to be made out of cardboard as opposed to wood to reduce weight, so that the device can shoot paper airplanes faster.

The Trigger & Handle

I planned for a trigger mechanism that is triggered by pulling, along with a handle which will make holding the device much easier. I designed this with an extra piece of wood jutting out to make sure that the finger doesn’t slide off of the trigger. One thing I missed in the plan is the axle I will use to hold the trigger in place while allowing it to rotate.

The Aim Assist

After doing some calculations, I decided to add a notch at the end of the device to assist with aim so that paper airplanes can be launched in an optimal way. Due to the design of the launch capsule, this design will launch the airplane downwards if held parallel to the ground. Adding a notch with a 11.25º offset would make it easier to aim, since now all the user needs to to is make sure that the notch is parallel to the ground when firing.

The Tory’s Story

Bob Andrews, his name was. Fought in the American revolutionary war, they said, and for the wrong side. People judged him because he was a Tory, but that’s alright. Even Tories had stories to tell. Bob Andrews had his journal: three entries, spanning multiple years, which gives a peek into what his tale was.

Was the War Worth Fighting?

The American Revolution changed a lot, for many people. One of the most important changes was the fact that after the revolution, it was possible for anyone to rise in social status if they worked hard enough. This contrasts strongly with how it was before the revolution: before, if a person was born a status they would stay with that status. Another change was the method of governance. The revolution abolished the monarchy and instead replaced it with a Republic. There is still a person in charge of the country, but he is restrained by several others: the members of the congress. Average citizens also now have a say in the governance of the country through the new voting system.

Not everything changed, however. There was still one central government with power. People who faced oppression such as women, Native Americans, and African Americans were still mistreated like they were before the war even though many had helped the Patriots win the revolutionary war.

While the war did not bring freedom and equality for all, it did allow for much better social mobility. The American Revolution also removed a central figure who has the potential to become tyrannous. Overall, the American Revolution was definitely worth it in the end.

I Survived the Borden Murders

Introduction

For the Stranger Than Fiction Unit in Humanities, I read the book The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller while managing to not die from boredom. The book is about a murder case that occurred in the city of Fall River during the late 19th century. Specifically, the murders of Andrew Borden and Abby Borden. The book talks about the murder itself, information collected on the case such as the testimonies given by key people, the legal processes of the case, and additional pieces of information. This book focuses especially on Lizzie Borden, the daughter of Andrew Borden and the main suspect of the crime.

My Notebook Pages

During the book club, I had to keep track of my thinking in my notebook. Here are some of my pages.

In this page, I compiled my evidence to support my claim that the enforcers of the law were very unprofessional during the Borden Murders. This page is the longest page I have, because the author seemed to really want to get that point across.

In this page, I focused on the other side of the story: the pieces of evidence that makes Lizzie Borden look suspicious. The central idea of this page is “Lizzie Borden was suspicious”, and I found lots of evidence to support that.

In this page, I looked at the information related to the newspapers, since the newspapers played a huge role by influencing the public’s opinion on the case. This notebook page is short because most information related to the newspapers of Fall River are presented as Fun Facts in the book.

Conclusion

I found this book rather repetitive and kind of boring, especially in the law-related sections of the book since not much happens in court. I would mostly recommend this book for research instead of casual reading, since it contains lots of information but does not feel interesting. Well, thanks for making it to the end of the post!

Master Lego Builders: Car With a Purpose

This is my final result for this lego project. It’s a racer and I built it out of lego technic pieces.


Reflection:

How do you feel about your final product?

I feel that this project is nice (partially because I made it, I guess).

What would you change if you had more time?

I would probably focus more on the details if I had more time, because I did not have a lot of details.

Are you proud of what you made?

Yes I am. I spent a lot of time trying to get the shape of the vehicle right. In fact, the back part alone part took an entire lesson! The result was worth it though.


Pictures:

Here’s a picture of the racer (I made a mini-person. They’re on the seat right now):

Another picture (the seatbelt is unstrapped and the person is besides the vehicle):

Creature & Habitat Lego Challenge | Master Lego Builders Enrichment

This is my creature (I didn’t have time to build the habitat). It’s a robot.

Image:

Some strengths of this creature are:

• Wheels can make the creature move fast

• Can receive signals (See the antennae on the head?)

Two things I would improve next time:

• I would probably add more details. Right now the creature is just a box with wheels and a head.

• I would ma a habitat. It might another planet, or maybe a factory.

Drama Around ISB Drama Project

Here’s my Drama Project video.
Click this to go to the DragonTube video

Mentoring

Activities

It would be nice if we could do something fun, such as going outside, playing card or mafia, etc

Services

I still think that surveys would be nice, because they can improve many things.

Reflection

I think that it would be great if we were able to stay on task for longer periods of times, and I think I can try to participate more.

Humanities Final Project ThingLink

This is my Humanities Final Project ThingLink:

In this project, we were supposed to compile all the previous assignments of this unit into one. Some assignments include the six-word memoir, the emotional timeline, the daily journal and the performance piece. This is my reflection:
How would you summarize this unit and the project you made?
• I think that this unit is fun, but confusing and sometimes tiring. For my final project, I would say that I am pretty happy with my final project. I organized it well.
Explain how you organized your project and why.
• I organized my project chronologically. That is because I feel like a chronologic project can outline how things are changing, which is one of the major things I want to outline, and since there is a lot of change in the past few months, the final project will be more saturated.
How might this primary source be useful to a historian, or even future 6th graders, in the future? What might they learn about/from your experience?
• I think that in the future, the people watching the final project might learn about the “flow”, or how the coronavirus situation changes. That would be because I organized my final project in chronological order (see above).
What do you think went well for you in this unit? (What are you most proud of?)
• I think that the final project went really well: My schedule is great and it wasn’t too hard for me.
What did you find challenging within this unit?
• I found the researching to be a hard part. I always consider too much, which made finding a article I wanted take a lot of time.

Dear Abby Letter with The Lost Hero

Dear Abby with The Lost Hero

Dear Abby,

My name is Jason, and I just got to this place called Camp Half-blood. The day was crazy: winged horses, storm spirits and Coach Hedge being half goat is just part of it. Something doesn’t feel right about Camp Half-blood: I feel like I don’t belong. They say that I do but there’s this part of me that tells me that I shouldn’t be here. Why, I don’t know. And that’s the problem. Today, I woke up on the school bus with no memories of who I am, who my friends are, and how I got on this school bus. So I don’t have any memories of anything. Why do you think I might feel that I don’t belong at Camp? What should I do to get my memories back?

Forgotten Everything

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