Maps & Modules:

By: Candace Castillo

So, this six weeks we mainly worked on topographic maps and laser printing. Why, you may ask? Because, our science teacher Ms. Miesner/Mrs. Sauter decided on combining a project that will happen in both classes. So, during Science we chose a city to work and research on, and in PLTW we decided to put some computer work in and traced a topographic map on Illustrator of our city. It was fun and all, we even got to paint the topographic map, which I enjoyed a lot. Below you will see the topographic map that me and my group created, we were in a rush when painting so, it may look a little boring. Yet it was so fun.

After the topographic maps were done and finished with we moved on to our next modules. Me and my partner were thinking about doing Screen Printing, and to what I read, meant that you could make whatever you wanted on a computer and you could put it either on a poster, shirts, boards, etc. It seemed pretty cool, but was sadly not available at the time. So we started looking at something different and came upon something in Engineering that went by the name of, Construction & Fabrication Basics. Most of you may know what that is by now, but if you don’t, basically what you are doing in this module is learning how to use power tools and learning how to build a birdhouse! Yeah, I know cool right? So far, me and my partner have finished our first challenge, which was to make a wood sandwich. A wood sandwich is where you begin to learn about all the power tools. You get to hammer in some nails and drill in some screws, pretty fun if you ask me. Here is what my finished wood sandwich look like.

This module is looking great so far, we are already planning our birdhouse and are looking forward to finishing it. I hope this blog post gave you a good inside look on what we did this six weeks and also on how fun the module is. For your next module, if you haven’t already, choose Construction & Fabrication Basics. I promise you won’t regret it!

Sophia N.

Period: 8th

Once again, in my class called PLTW; stands for Project Lead the Way, we’re doing another project for the rest of the year, and this time, is all about you. We got the chance to make our own creation that we want to do for our purposes and enjoyment. The project (that I haven’t thought about myself) has been desired by a girl named Celeste. Her purpose in life is to design and create majestic items. Celeste was to first person to think about making dresses, and that’s what I’m doing for the Maker Project, I’m making dresses. This idea was so amazing that we actually have 2 extra members in our group to help us out. We have me, Celeste, Thalia and Natalia. They would all want to be part of this creative design. Unfortunately, we haven’t found out how we would like the dresses to look, we actually haven’t started to think anything for the project. We had been so caught with other school work that we haven’t had time to discuss of what our plan would look like, but we had practiced sewing. I believe none of us had well experiences in making a dress, but with the help we would get I’m sure it would be enough. What we are sure (and probably gonna change the idea at the end) is that we’re gonna create a dress for each of the makers to wear, so I’ll have one with what I’d want it to have or represents me and we’ll make 3 more for the rest of my group members.

By the way, we’re not the only ones working on something, the rest of the girls in the school that (have the chance) go to PLTW, would be allowed to work there or out of school for this project. Basically, they can do whatever they want, either alone or with members. We all have to find that one thing that we really enjoy and would love to do.

But why do this specific project you might ask. Well I’ve always loved the word, ‘creativity’, it just seems so fun and artistic, it needs to be put out there for the world to see. And fashion is some of the things I like, I would always look at dresses and say what needs to be included and something that needs to be an outsider. Especially, the color the use, the color would often represent mood, and if there is something that doesn’t represent the color wouldn’t be something very logic. And it’s not only because how the dress would end up looking, but it’s the effort you put in it, some things were just made to be but some things have meaning behind it and I would like to do something like that, show what meaning is need to be displayed. The process of creating the dress would also have affection for the person who would wear it. Either you did it in a hurry and just wanted to get through it or, you actually cared to know what the consumer emotion would be like when he/she would wear it. The real question from all of this is, why this project, this idea out of a million other ideas that we could have done, and still, we ended up with this one? Well sometimes you can’t find the things that you stand for and you just get the first idea that pops out of your mind to help you out and that’s what you end up choosing to do. I wonder if this project was meant to me, I think it is because (obviously) creativity is involved in it and I couldn’t live without it. Honestly, I just can’t wait to get started.

       by Bella Roberts

As I settle into the second semester I find my mind wandering through different thoughts about high school, my maker project, and most commonly the homework that is due the next day. However, PLTW has been on my mind quite often as well. I am constantly going over old modules I have completed, ones that I had extra difficulty on, and ones that I haven’t gotten the chance to explore yet. And while I was thinking about this I realized how much I have learned from this class, and am excited about how much more I will learn. I think that everything we do will help us in the future regardless of our ambitions and eventually careers.

Right now I do not know what I would like to do when I grow up but as I continue to invest myself into this class I can feel my mind creating a list for my future.

I think the design and learning processes that we work through in this class are very helpful and are only two of the many skills that I hope to fully obtain. I have learned how to laser cut, somewhat use a saw, a sander, and levy my way through the production lab. However as far as the 3-D printer goes I have only admired it for its glory, hoping to print something later. These are things that I am so happy to have learned and hope to incorporate rate them in high school and beyond.

But maybe just as important as these other skills I learned how to work with groups in all sorts of fashion. I think it is important to learn his to work with a group but I think it is even more important to learn how to work with different shapes and sizes of groups which I have found in PLTW. If you know how to stretch your comfort level you may find yourself exploring things that you really enjoy. I feel that I have been able to stretch my comfort level and I owe it to this class.

I think one really important part about this class and the maker project is that supplies us with a lot of freedom that helps us create things that are truly creative and innovative. After continuously failing and succeeding in this class I feel ready to take on new responsibilities, like my maker project.

So, as I continue to enter the makerspace everyday, I find new inspiration in everything that I see which fuels my drive for future projects and discoveries.

 

One thing I love is to be creative. Sometimes I may not be the most creative person, but I find that in making videos my creativity comes out. I think it’s easy to be creative when there’s so many possibilities on how you could bring something to life. Recently I completed the videography module with my group. Our assignment was to create a video that would portray our mission statement. In this module, I learned lots of new skills that are important in filming. For example, one thing I learned was the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is when you divide an image on a grid, and your main point of focus is where the lines intersect. I also learned more about the equipment, like using a tripod. Another thing that my skills developed in is editing. One of the things in editing I learned was how to record voice overs.

In the beginning of this whole process, we had to brainstorm ideas. We started by how we interpreted the Ann Richards mission statement. Then we thought, how could we represent this in our video, how could we show this? To us, the mission statement meant that we never give up and do our best to solve problems. We used that interpretation as a start, and it was very exciting to see our video grow from just a few ideas into a final piece that we were proud of.

In our video we tried our best to make it unique. I will admit, at many times through the process it was hard to be unique because it was very stressful, but looking at the final product was worth all the hard work.

Although I love film-making, I don’t think it is something I would pursue in the future. It’s fun, but I like it more when I get to be creative and let my mind roam instead of having certain guidelines. Although, I do feel that in this module it was more broad and open to anything. I may feel this way, but I’m very glad I choose and completed this module. It was a fun experience and I learned lots of new skills. It was a chance for me to be creative and represent the mission statement however I wanted. It’s good to be creative every once in a while.

When I first heard about the Maker Faire last year, I thought of it to be a place for inventors to show off their new inventions. As it is a place to display creations, I immediately crossed it off my list of things I want to do as I knew I was an
amateur. Later into the school year around December 2014, we were told that one of our projects was to be for the Maker Faire even if it didn’t get displayed there. I was uneasy to the idea at first but soon came across a couple ideas that got me loving the project.

When it came time that we had to put our thoughts on paper, I started to think of my interests and things I’ve always had fascinations with. The first thing that popped into my head was music. I am extremely fascinated with the things people can do with wind, motion, impact, etc. that makes beautiful sounds. I thought of something a little less complicated and thought of wind chimes. Everyone has heard the beautiful sounds and admired the art incorporated into it. This thought gave me 2 things I wanted to do with my Maker Faire project. A musical art piece.

I thought of my project as strange and unpredictable, but found that a lot of people were thinking the same things as I was. About 3 other girls brought their similar ideas to mine and we were set on the creation of something amazing. We started basic with the different points of what kind of sound we wanted to make, what kind of instrument, what kind of art, materials, deadlines, etc. Although it took awhile, we settled on a rough draft of what was set out for us.

After a couple of classes and major critiques, we managed to get a finalized materials list and an amazing blueprint for what the instrument would look like.

     The instrument will be a hanging piece (as a wind chime is). The base of the instrument will be a wooden and laser cut tree with glass ornaments swinging around them that appear to be birds (this is what will make the sound when the wind blows). Overall the teamwork to this piece has been widely experienced and is still more to come. Although the project is nowhere near finished, it’s a great feeling to have knowing that you are going to accomplish something greatly.

For the 7th module in our Project Lead the Way class we made a birdhouse. At first when I heard we were doing this, I got kind of overwhelmed. Once I realized all the broken down steps, I thought that it would be a little bit easier. Once I got the concept of making this birdhouse, I started to think that it will be really fun.

Before we could actually make the birdhouse, my group had to answer some questions. Would the birdhouse be big? Small? What type of bird will this birdhouse be made for? After discussing these questions for a long time, we decided to make the birdhouse for a fairly small bird. Since the birdhouse was being made for a small bird, we had to make a small birdhouse.

The next step we had to do before making the birdhouse was make a sketch of the birdhouse. We had to do this because in the real engineering world you can’t just go and start building, you have to make a blueprint or some other type of sketch. When we got started on the sketch of our birdhouse it was kind of difficult.We had to really think about how the birdhouse was going to look after we built it and if it would come together nicely. Eventually, we made a pretty good sketch with accurate measurements.

Now, it was time for the fun stuff! We got to build the birdhouse! My group and I measured out each length of the wood with a speed square for straight and precise lines. After this we had to make a hole in one of the sides for the bird with a drill with a bit that made a big hole.Next, we cut them using this special saw called the Miter or Chop saw. Before using this saw we had to take major safety precautions. We had to make sure we were wearing goggles, hearing protection, and there was not any loose hair or clothing hanging.

After cutting each piece of wood, it was time to put it together. We used wood glue and clamps to hold the pieces of wood together over night. Once we came back the next class, we took the clamps off and reinforced the birdhouse with nails using a very powerful brad nailer. At first I was scared to use the brad nailer, but after using it a couple times, I learned to love the brad nailer.

After doing all of this, my team members and I got to paint the birdhouse. We painted our birdhouse camouflage so the birdhouse could not be seen by predators. Once we did that, we were done!

This module was really fun to do and it made me really consider doing some more things in this type of field. I learned how to use a miter saw, a brad nailer, and a drill. I think that these skills will help me in the future just in case I need to fix something around my house really quickly.

The maker project is coming around the corner Sage and I luckily thought of  an idea. Well actually two ideas. Our first idea was mine, it was a phone case that projected what was on the screen. When we tried the beginning of the application we kept on pulling blanks on how to make the projector compact, how to make it project the phone, and how to make a clear image in the light. Then when we looked up phone projectors we saw a lot of really cool.

 Then while we were trying to figure out how to make it more unique and innovate it more Mr. Smith, the art teacher mentioned an idea that we decided we were going to go with. The idea is we are going to make a virtual world much like new video games coming out. There is cool addition, it will be on a phone that we will program.

 The maker space idea was originated in a new and not so known idea from google cardboard where it is a samsung phone program and a cardboard piece. The cardboard piece you cut to form a goggle looking glasses that holds your phone. Then you program the app using a google program to make a virtual world.

 The virtual world app is where if you move or you look a different way the view will change. Sometimes depending on how advanced the programming is you can add a  noises. This virtual world is a cool, convenient, and can be used for views, moments, and much more.

 The new thing that we are adding besides programming the  of a virtual world and the cardboard headpiece sage and I will program for apple phones instead the samsung because that is not existed yet.

I am very excited to say that I have my maker project idea and I am very thrilled! So, I’m gonna be working with Thalia, Sophia and Natalia, and we are all really good friends, so this project is going to be so fun. I love fashion! It’s like my life! I love to design dresses and make them something amazing. I like street style for myself, but glam for fashion.                                                 

 

Street style is so comfortable and cute to me. Glam though, it looks like you are the most beautiful person in the world and you own everyone’s attention.

 

So, what my group and I are going to do for the maker project is, a collection of dresses designed and constructed by us. Now, we wanted to incorporate some kind of unexpected element that takes engineering so it would be futuristic and cool. That element is lights! We are going to arduino lily pads in between the seams of the dress and other parts.

With the arduino lilypad inbetween the dress and as a design element it will look amazing! We’ve still yet to discuss how exactly the dresses will be but, we have

plenty of ideas to spare.

Hello! It’s almost time for our maker project! I am a little nervous, but I am sooo excited to finally start putting my crazy ideas into action!

This past semester has been crazy! Throughout the semester, we completed different modules under 3 different pathways which are media tech, engineering and biomed. The point of the modules was for us to take a sneakpeak to each pathway offered (we will have to chose a pathway for high school) and see where our main interest fit(s) in! As we finished each module, I got some ideas for my maker project, but at the same time I doubted them. The two pathways that interest me the most are biomed and engineering, so I thought of some ideas that would fit into both categories. I am still not sure what I am going to make exactly, but when it came time for each of us to put our ideas into a discussion board, I got to see others ideas and I guess kind of “collab” with them.

One particular idea that got my attention was the idea of a microscope/telescope. As I talked to the person who thought of this idea, so many new things came to mind. I pictured what it would look like, what it would be made out of and how to make it original, like maybe put a little logo or something to make it uniquely ours. Of course, it’s not going to be a telescope that looks into space (which would be so cool), but more of a microscope.

The whole point of this maker project is to create/meet a human want or need(s) to make life easier/better. Not only that, but to create it ourselves. Use our modules knowledge and creativity and make something amazing.

The first idea I thought of was a solar powered charger. Another girl had the same thing in mind, which was pretty cool! We looked up some ways to build it and while reading some information, I got another idea, which was coming up with a solar powered keyboard that lights up at night, or anytime to be exact. It seemed a lot more challenging than what I thought. Another thing that came to mind was the amount of time it would take to create either one. I realized that it would take a little longer than 2 months to make it actually function, so I let that idea kind of wander off, but it’s still in mind. Not long after, I talked to Bella about her microscope/telescope idea and I kind of fell in love with the idea more than the solar powered charger/keyboard.

Our main goal is to have our product(s) completed before April 10th, just in time for the maker faire! The maker faire is a time in which people show off their work and ideas. I think it’s going to be amazing to look at my other classmates ideas and others and maybe develop something of my own based on others ideas!

The neat thing is that we get to fill out applications. We apply for our idea and our teacher approves or declines with suggestions. Honestly, the application lowers my stress a little. With the application, we get to really think about our project. We get to put our ideas into paper and really think about our idea(s).

Today actually, I was talking to Truc (one of my classmates) about a magnetic puzzle globe! Bella also got interested too! We don’t just want it to be a plain globe, but we want to create multiple globes that make people think differently about the world and our community.

I personally want to make a wooden globe, like the one shown below. Maybe add a few facts about each continent underneath the engraved continent shape! Talk a little about the   lifestyle, history to how it came to be named and such!

Not only would it be educational, but fun! A hands on thing!

I have been looking forward to this since the beginning of the year. I am a little scared though. I fear that my project will be an epic fail or not really possible. But whatever. It’s time to let go of those thoughts and think of the amazing end product(s)! I am so excited to see what I end creating! Also, learn about others ideas and maybe think/see something that  I believe can improve myself and make it bigger and better!

By Izabella Matheson

When I first heard the words, “Week of Code” uttered by my teacher, admittedly, I groaned. I’d heard the circulating tale of this so called “week of code” from my classmates quite some time before the announcements of its arrival from the teachers had begun. Then, I had denied the Week of Code’s existence because, well, it was just a rumor, and rumors typically turn up false. However, now that I was hearing it from authoritative figures, it was painfully clear that this “Week of Code” was one of the few accurate stories passed along between classmates.

When I got over my initial despair upon the confirmation of the “Week of Coding,” I began to actually consider that, Hey, maybe this isn’t exactly what I think it’s going to be. However, formerly, when I heard the word coding, my mind had immediately flashed to an image of me slouched over a computer, bags under my eyes, fingers aggressively bashing the keys as a series of 0’s and 1’s whirred across the screen, so I was stuck on this presumption of mine. It would be safe to say I saw coding in a pretty unappealing light, and to think, a whole week dedicated to it. Unbearable.

Then, a couple of days before the Week of Code began, I made a decision. I decided I was going to have a more positive outlook on the whole concept of coding; instead of just bracing the week, I was going to embrace it, if you will. After all, I hadn’t had much experience, if any, with coding, so obviously my idea of it would be skewed. When the week finally rolled around, I felt a little more hopeful.

Once in PLTW, the class we would be coding in, my partner and I began working. We followed the teacher’s instructions, visiting the website with the coding program, and we made an account that would document our creations. Upon seeing the site, I was a little shocked. It actually looked fun. When we opened up the program, I was even more surprised upon discovering that this coding we were doing was filled with cute animations and backdrops, letters, paint tools- exactly the opposite of what I had expected.

My partner and I read through the fairly simple guide on how to navigate the program, then began experimenting with it. We placed a large, bold “I” and “E” for our initials on the templet, then messed around with the actual coding part, which was actually quite simple and not at all 0 and 1 filled. We set up our letters to spin and move around the screen on an infinitive loop. However, that’s not exactly what happened.

The “I” began to circle around the screen, which I guess was kind of our intention. The “E,” however, stayed put, twitching rapidly. It wasn’t even spinning. It was twitching unbearably harshly, which sent us into a fit of laughter. It was then I realized that not only had I just learned about coding, but I had also thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I know that typically when we hear the agonizing phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we likely roll our eyes and dismiss the advice, taking it as just another cliche. However, the week of coding has taught me that there really is something to the statement. We shouldn’t judge something so harshly without experiencing it first, because perhaps it will exceed our assumptions. I thought coding would be the most mind numbingly dull thing ever, and it turned out to be not only entertaining, but also interesting. Don’t let your previously formed opinion of something hold you back from trying it, because you could potentially miss out on something fun and possibly even life-changing.