Media Tech isnt quite what I thought it’d be. We recently just had our pathway visits and to be honest, between the visits and the modules we’ve done throughout the year, I’m still undecided. I’m stuck between the Biomedical Pathway and Media Tech Pathway.

I have recently done the Videography Module and I enjoyed learning the process of learning how to use a handheld camera recorder. I was seriously interested in the Media Tech Pathway so I had decided to do a couple of the Media Tech Modules and they were fun but I just wasn’t having a wonderful time as I was when I was doing Biomed Modules.

From a young age I was very interested in the medical field. When I came into middle school, I had my heart set on becoming one of four things: a therapist for young kids, a nurse at a children’s hospital, a physiologist, or a physical therapist. Those are things that really do interest me and I can see myself doing in the future after going to college and getting settled.

So with that in mind, I finished all of the Biomedical Modules and I had a grand of a time doing them. I learned a lot about the medical field and had became even more interested in this. I had gotten challenged by a couple of the modules but that just made it even more fun. But when I was thinking about my future on pathway night something came into mind.

Austin is becoming a music and film city. So most likely when i’m out of college and ready to settle down on a job, Austin will have become a  music and film industry city. With that in the back of my mind, Media Tech was calling my name for my future’s benefit. But then I had thought, “Was I gonna be happy in media Tech? Is this really what I wanna do?” Like yeah it’ll be a great skill to have in my future and for myself but being in the medical field really does sound better for myself personally. (Plus a registered nurse on average salary is about $68,910, which is a lot compared to other things I could do.)

And when it came time for choice sheets and when I had to decide on a pathway, I put.. Biomed as my number one choice. It just seemed like the pathway I would enjoy and benefit from for my future. After all the modules we have done in PLTW, Biomed had definitely, made up my mind for high school and for my future.

Recently in PLTW, we have been trying to incorporate adobe illustrator and the laser printer into our projects. For this assignment we combined our project in Science (Year 3000) with PLTW. Year 3000 is where we were assigned different cities around the world and we had to research its climate, weather, land features…etc. and then create a blog about it.  So, our whole grade created topographic maps.

A topographic map is a map that shows natural and manmade features using contour lines. Honestly, it was pretty fun and easy, also they all looked really cool. All we had to do was trace the contour lines, send the sketches to the laser printer, put it together and wala you’ve got yourself a legit-looking topographic map. All the maps were then put up in our art hallway for all to see.

my topographic map

Making topographic maps helped me to get a little bit closer to deciding what I want to do for the maker project. The maker project is a project where we create something using all the skills we’ve learned from PLTW and then present them at the Maker Faire in April. I’m still struggling with all the different possibilities but, at least I know for sure that using the laser printer would be very helpful when cutting out precise shapes and designs.

Prosthetics

By Savannah Wallace

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The photo to the left shows my prosthetic leg.

The Prosthetics module has been one of my favorite so far.

The first challenge was to go five minutes without a leg, and it was very very hard. I really enjoyed getting to do that though, because though it was unpleasant, it really was a great experience; getting to see what many people go through and struggle with.

My group members and I hopped around for fifteen minutes, then we wrote about how we felt and what happened. The following is my entry: “When I had to go five minutes without a leg, it felt very funny. My leg got numb from being held up for so long. It was very uncomfortable. I also felt like people were looking at me differently and it made me feel different, like I wasn’t like them, that I wasn’t as good as them.”

Challenge two was to make a prosthetic leg. We thought about all the different factors, and what we could do to make this prosthetic leg something that someone would actually want to use. Although this was obviously a hypothetical situation and no one would actually be using the leg, we still thought of the entire project in the mindset that someone would be using it. First, we scavenged for materials. We found a very thick and sturdy paper cylinder, a piece of wood, sturdy string, bubble wrap, and duct tape. Next, we began to assemble. We drilled holes into the cylinder, which would be the main part of the leg, for the string. We then used wood glue to glue the small piece of wood, the foot, to the paper cylinder, the leg. Next we ran the rope through the holes of the leg, which would hold it in place around the user. Then we decided how much bubble wrap, padding, we would need. We rolled up the padding and placed it around the top of the leg, then placed some on the inside, and used the duct tape to secure the padding in place. Lastly, we tried the prosthetic leg out. We had one of our group members try the leg out, and we tried out the different ways to tie it, so we could make an educated decision on what would be the best way to tie it onto the user.

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The module I did this six weeks was Intro To Photography. We learned how to make a Pinhole Camera and take a picture with it!! It was actually suprisingly easy. All we did was make a cardboard box and we had to make sure absolutely no light was shining through. We then made a hole in it out of a thumbtack so it would be really tiny. When we were ready we put a piece of white picture paper in it and set it infront of something outside and let it sit for like a couple of minutes. We later developed the picture and it actually turned out really good! We took a picture of a flower and it was so pretty!

This six weeks we were also working on topographic maps. I love doing these because working on the lazer cutter is so cool! We are finding topographic maps of our country online and then tracing them in Illustrator which does take a really long time but in the end it all pays off! We have to really use a lot of teamwork in this project because everybody has to do their part in order to get the project done. We also have to use time management because we have to cordinate our maps with our project in science so if we are late then the project won’t get finished.

I loved my group this six weeks because we all work so well together. Even though this project is hard we make it fun, but we still make sure we get out work done. We’ve had some struggles because we lost our project online but we got over the obstacle and just made a new one! It was very stressful but in the end our hard work payed off and we had a finished topographic map that was so cool!! I hope we can do something like this project again in the future because I love working with the lazer cutter and the group I was in!!

-Maddie Irwin

When the Maker-faire project was first introduced to us, we expected an entire year of research towards a certain social issue or problem, and large amounts of  work time with a group, brainstorming a solution. But obviously, we were just intimidated and clueless to how casual and laid-back PLTW really is. I’ve found a hidden love for programs like Adobe Illustrator, and machines like our laser cutter. And after so much time into using these tools, now we have to make a decision about what were going to make that will let us remember this class and every tool its given us for the future.

We find people with our interests, we brainstorm a solution to a problem, but then what? After we’ve finished this project I’m sure we’ll feel proud of ourselves and all the other feelings that come along with it, but what is it about this project that teaches us our 8th grade leadership skills: open-mindedness, justice/fairness, forgiveness, etc? It’s something that you really don’t know until the end. This issue that we’re trying to solve, doesn’t even have to be an issue in the first place. I know that my project (a musical instrument/art piece) doesn’t exactly solve a social issue like poverty or cancer, but we’ve succeeded the class regardless. We’ve created something out of nothing, with skills we had to learn with our own curiosity and ambition.

I didn’t save the polar bears or end social discrimination, but sometimes the same steps need to be taken to create something entirely new, with or without experience of PLTW.

So we were sitting together around a table. “How about we make a dog, and then the Little Bits can make the tail wag!” Exclaims my friend and teammate Ora.

That was our original idea, but as you can tell from the title, that idea didn’t exactly workout.

Unfortunately, most of our time spent was wasted figuring out what type of dog we wanted to create. Unfortunately we never found our answer, instead we decided to agree to disagree and we decided that we will look for instructions on how to make a dog using a laser cutter, and whatever dog that the instructions were written to make, we would make… but we never found instructions.

You may think, ‘The internet has almost everything, how could you not find these instructions?’ Well, I honestly have no idea, I just know that the website we were recommended to use did not have what we needed, but honestly after thinking about it, I’m glad we didn’t work on our original idea, because I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did working on our clock.

In the beginning, we thought we would incorporate our dog idea and make a dog clock. We tried looking for instructions, but the instructions never surfaced. We later decided to make a regular steriotypical circle clock, and we did make a circle clock, but we added a small twist to make our clock unique and different. Instead of numbers, we used words, instead of 1, we used, one, and applied that method to the rest of our clock.

At first, I felt a bit useless, both of my partners knew what they were doing, and I honestly had no idea what was going on, the only way I could possibly help was to pitch ideas, but that part was over, and we already knew what we were making. My partners were working with the program Adobe Illustrator which I’ve never used in my life, so I let my partners who were familiar with the program use it, and I did my best to watch what they were doing, but we all have our different ways of learning, and I’m afraid that method did not work out very well. I was still clueless, and I wanted to help desperately but I couldn’t, and let me tell you, that’s the worst feeling ever.

I’m not here to tell you about all of the negative thoughts that I felt, the only reason, I bring out the negative, is so that you can appreciate the positivity that occurred near the end. After my partners were finished using Adobe Illustrator, and I finished with trying to catch up to what they were doing on the program yet failed miserably (but at least I tried, and I’m quite proud of myself for that), It was time to use the laser cutter. Laser cutting is more simple than it looks, so that was an easy part, the only problem we had was trying to schedule a time to use the laser cutter, because a bunch of students and staff use the laser cutter daily, but eventually our clock was finally made. Now we just needed to make the hands move.

Although, it may seem like a small task, making the hands move using the Little Bits was my favorite part of the project because it took a lot of effort and I got to take leadership (Well our school is for young women leaders is it not?) and I got to do something that I didn’t feel confused about, it seems as if it came naturally to me, I can’t explain the feeling but while working, I just felt so accomplished.

My partners and I didn’t know how we would make the clock hands turn. Especially when we had a small problem: the hole to insert the hands was a tad bit too small, but that didn’t stop us. I decided we should use a toothpick to hold both of the hands, and that worked. Now we needed to connect the hands of the clock to the toothpick that would go into the hole. This process didn’t happen so smoothly because somehow one of our hands broke and we had to repair it, and a few other things here and there, but although we had a few problems, I didn’t care, the same happy feeling that I felt still remained and I was glad to help. Finally we got the hands in place and everything was coming close to an end, but then we had to thicken the toothpick because it was too skinny to fit the Little Bits hole that would move the hands to our clock. I used masking tape and hot glue to make the toothpick fit, and it worked. Now we needed a place for the Little Bits to sit since they couldn’t just hang there and fall off because of the forces of gravity. So I made a box to contain the Little Bits and hot glued it to the backside of the clock, this was also a bit tricky because the first time we did this we didn’t glue it correctly but on our second try, the box was located where it needed to be and the Little Bits sat in there, making the hands in our clock move was such an enjoyable experience. Knowing that I did that, although it seems so small and may be such a silly thing, I felt so good knowing I did that, that I took part in making that clock.

I hope you will be able to feel what I felt while making this clock in the future.

Sincerely, Ginger Rodriguez

Topo-what

When we first learned about topographic maps, Mrs. Sauter told us we were going to have to make on in 3D. Saying I was confused would be an understatement. The first thing that came to my mind was how in the world was I supposed to make a map that looked like the ones Mrs. Sauter showed us? Luckily, with the help of my team we did an awesome job.

We learned that topographic maps, or topo for short, are maps that show elevation using contour lines in a piece of land. It can show craters or high elevations. We were told we had to make a map of the place we chose for our project we were completing in science, called Earth 3000, where we look at a place’s past through plate tectonics, it’s present through weather and climate, and future using topographic maps and global warming. My group chose Pederson’s Glacier in Alaska. Through this entire process we learned how to use adobe illustrator and the laser cutter. I already knew how to use the laser cutter, but adobe illustrator would be a new challenge for me.

The first few classes we had to learn some basics of adobe and how to use the laser cutter. Whenever I needed help my group members didn’t hesitate to help me. When we started researching for some topographic maps of Alaska we were stumped. We couldn’t find anything! After a lot of time dedicated to searching we found one of a volcano in Alaska. I really liked it and so did my group of one at the time.

When we first started tracing I was beyond frustrated. I couldn’t get my lines in the perfect curve, or I missed key parts. I was very frustrated but I got through it and now I and many others can stare at this piece of art Lauren, Payton and I made.

After making a topographic map, from hand I can truly say I am amazed at to the amazing pieces of art we have made! I enjoy looking at other peoples’ projects and truly admiring them. I don’t want to tell you all this sappy stuff about how this project was the best I’ve ever done and blah blah blah. But honestly I can say that I’ve had the same experience doing this project as any other. But the end result was amazing. I love my map!

I enjoy knowing that I can read these maps, use adobe illustrator and the laser engraver. These are good skills to have for the future. I hope I can put my new knowledge to use in another project this year, or for many more to come.

-Nishi P.

So it’s the second semester in my PLTW class, and to kick it off, we completed a new module. My group was once again Marlene and Astrid. We weren’t too positive on what we wanted to do this time so we were just sitting by the computers trying to decide. I had a feeling Marlene wanted to do something that had engineering involved, which is what I wanted to do as well. After a while she asks us if we would be cool with doing the computer science module. We all thought that it would a challenge and something we haven’t done yet so we agreed. I mean how hard could it be? All it was were some wires. Well believe me, it’s more complicated than it seems.

After we told Mrs. Sauter what module we wanted to do, we decided to get a feel for the material we would be working with. These things were called Little Bits. The Little Bits we used were in a set inside a box that came with simple things we could use. There wires, batteries, buttons, lights, a sound box and much more. We could connect all these small parts and turn them into something greater, which was the goal of this module. After we played around with them and knew how they all worked, it was time to come up with an idea.

The next class, we sat down and thought about idea on what we could make using the Little Bits. I remember we came up with ideas like a car, a clock, a glowing sign, and even a glow in the dark pizza. (Yeah we were kinda running out of ideas at that point.) So we starting thinking about the best parts to use, and then maybe we can think of an idea that way. I knew we all liked the lights, sound box, and the wheel and axle. So we thought we could use the lights and sound box to make some sort of car. And then Astrid says, “but a car is just too boring!” And Marlene tells her to think of another idea instead. And that’s when we decided we wanted to make a Dump Truck. So we started designing it right away. We thought we had all the files safe and sound for next class…. but we didn’t. We lost everything. And trust me I still don’t know why today but we decided to do something else besides the Dump Truck. I guess we thought it was like a sign or something. So now we had a new idea in mind.. A Confetti Cannon.

Once we were set on building a Confetti Cannon, we realized that we basically had none of the materials together and our time was running out. So we decided to come together outside of school. We were gonna meet at Astrid’s house and build the canon. We actually got so much more done than I expected if I’m honest. There was only two big obstacles left for us to figure out. 1.) How do we get a fan that is powerful enough to blow out confetti? 2.) What are we going to use as a screen to block the confetti from the fan? To answer number one, we decided to make a fan out of cardboard for now, even though we knew it wouldn’t be strong enough. It would just be for now. And for number two, we decided that we should just poke holes in aluminum foil.

When we were all done with building the cannon, it looked better than I expected. But I still didn’t like the screen we made. So I decided to look for a substitution. And I found the perfect net type thing for the job. It was strong and the right size. The next day in class, we used the net and realized that we were almost done. But we still had one problem… what about the fan? We decide to ask Mrs. Sauter and with our luck, she found a perfect Little Bits fan for us that wasn’t in the set we had in the beginning. The fan was perfect! Everything was set. Now all we needed was to put it all together with the new fan. And it worked after a couple tries.

I had learned a lot from this experience about myself and my teammates. I learned that when we actually focus and take time to finish something, we can. This was the first module we did outside of school all together and it was so much fun and we had completed a lot. I also learned that we can be resourceful and very open minded when we wanted to be. And overall, I feel like this was the first module that helped us grow closer and teammates. And that’s good enough for me.

Hey y’all!

Today I will be telling you about acting and how it relates to PLTW. A module I recently completed was about making videos, or videography. I think that my favorite part of the module was the acting. I love to be in front of a camera and performing. Acting involves selling the character to the audience. The video I made was actually a commercial, so I kind of had to make it interesting for the audience so they would buy the product. The product we made a commercial for doesn’t even exist yet, so I had to be pretty creative and use my imagination. PLTW involves creativity, imagination, knowledge, and strategy, all of which are important in this world. PLTW is not just boring stuff, in fact, there is almost never a boring moment.

PLTW can actually relate to acting in multiple ways. When you are acting, you need to keep calm and keep your mind on the scene you are in. In PLTW, you need to be completely aware of your surroundings, otherwise you could find yourself in a very dangerous situation which might include losing a limb. You also need to use imagination in order to develop a character because there is a limited amount of information you have on the character. You need to use your imagination in PLTW when you are creating something because there will not always be a step-by-step instruction manual. There are a lot of projects in a PLTW class which include taking information and using imagination to create something to benefit someone. Another similarity between acting and PLTW is that you need to sacrifice some of your time in order to complete a project or memorize your lines and develop a character. You need to be willing to push yourself and sometimes go outside your comfort zone. In PLTW, you need to go out of your comfort zone sometimes in order to make something. You might have to be willing to talk to people who are part of large companies, or people who you have never even met or heard of just so you can move on and finish your project. When you are acting, you need to be okay with not being yourself sometimes, but also completely being yourself at other times. Sometimes, you will have to do embarrassing movements, or say embarrassing things. You also need to be able to move on and improvise. If you are acting and you or somebody else messes up, you need to be able to take your knowledge of the play and improvise so that the production can go on. If you mess up on your final product in PLTW, you usually need to just work around it. However, if you absolutely need to start over in PLTW, sometimes you can, but more often than not, you don’t have time to start over, or you don’t have the materials, so you just have to make do with what you have. Cooperation is another big thing needed in both because when you are working in a group, you need to work with them and not go off and do your own thing without the rest of the group. When you are acting, unless you are doing a monologue, you have to work with other people because you can’t take over the whole show, otherwise, that may end in disaster because you would be trying to cover the entire show with only one person. Let me know how that works out, because I think you would have to be really in tune with the production and really good at improv or plan everything ahead of time. Also, if you try to take over the show, it might mess up your career, but I am just guessing about that. Dedication is also important because in acting, you might need to take on multiple jobs in addition to acting. In PLTW, you need to be dedicated to finishing your product and making it the best it can be.

There are a lot of similarities between acting, one of the arts, and PLTW, an engineering type class. There are many things in this world which seem completely unrelatable, but there is probably something connecting them to each other.

CHALLENGE!!!: SEE IF YOU CAN FIND 10 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN A FINE ART AND ANOTHER SUBJECT OR EVENT!

Sincerely,

Regina S.