Monday was another day for our groups to work on the Wednesday challenge so we immediately formed a table for four and began experimenting with several designs for a jenga block based bridge. This day didn't exactly go as planned because we found a major downfall to using jenga blocks so we are again at square one in creating our winner worthy bridge.
On Tuesday we were once again at square one for a design of our arch bridge which wasn't very good because testing day was just in two days and we wouldn't have a lot of time to test our design. Most of the period we were just trying to brainstorm what material we could use to make an arch bridge that contains the keystone technique to gain more ground when Sofia suggested we use potatoes.
The next day we resumed our great leap of faith and used the potato blocks that Sofia had already precut at home so we could begin the creation of the of the potato bridge. We first began our project by arranging the slices into an arch then cut those slices into halves and recreated the arch block by block with several failures but also many success'.
It was finally testing day for our bridge(s) and was also the freshman football which I was apart of so I had to leave twenty minutes before class ends for our near hour and a half bus ride to San Marino. But before I left I assisted in the building of our bridge built of potatoes and also stayed until Dr.Neato was able to measure the components of the arch bridge. Arch Bridge Competition Powerpoint
The last day of the school/work week began with me grabbing my assigned computer then sitting down to prepare myself with the intense intellect of the JPL team that has further developed their creations in the shop. Throughout the period I multitasked between listening and working on my website so that the next grading period finals will be more in my favor this semester.
Monday was quite an interesting day because we were using sketch up for the one millionth time but this time we learned how to make components or groups of objects so they can just be one solid structure that we could replicate at our will and desire. At the beginning of the lesson I was quite lost and confused but after actually looking up at the screen I was able to get a hang of the not so complicated process that could really benefit me in the upcoming months.
So Tuesday was a lot tougher than other days because we were taught a multistep process to create a rounded effect to a corner on a rectangular block to give an object more likeness or a more realistic appearance. Just like Monday I struggled at the start of the learning session but over time I gained a foothold in the mechanics of the curve effect that I would without a doubt have a hard time with it again when using the effect on a model.
Our Wednesday challenge for today was creating a card house that is much more superior to everyone else's design and stands taller than there house as well so that I could hopefully win this Wednesday Challenge with my group. I was placed into a group of three including; Paul and Andrew where I did pretty much all the work on the house thanks to their hella shaky hands that lead to me seizing control of operation but failed in the end because someone had a house twice the height of ours. Card House Competition Results
To continue this rapid fire week of sketchup models Dr.Neato gained inspiration from yesterday's Wednesday Challenge by basing today's lesson on the curvature of a card's edge and the measurements of each side. To begin the construction of my bridge I laid out a rectangular base with the measurements I punched in then inserted the measured curvature of the card onto the base finishing my product.
Today was once again the "veterans" day to show off their elegant designs to the class, Dr.Neato and the roast master Mr.Wilton who all had many doubts about last week's modified trash truck device that seemed to be the black sheep in the entire JPL group. Most of the time during their presentations I was working on my website and redoing sketch ups to stay to date but when they explained why they would "win", I found it very interesting and admired their creative approaches.
To start the week off with a real challenge we were given a pencil and instructed to create a model of it on sketch up being as accurate as possible all the way down to the lead in the center of the wood casing. To approach this challenge I first inspected the many sides of the pencil a placed a hexagon up on one of it's side then stretched the shape outward making it appear as if there were several hexagons stacked behind one another. Then I added a cylinder to the end of one side (the eraser container)and a smaller cylinder (the eraser) by both length and width. Once completed with the shape I added color to each of the shapes accordingly to the pencil I was given along with writing NO.2 on the back side.
Tuesday was relatively boring because it was really just a catch up day for everyone and their sketch ups. Most of the period I was honestly just playing on my phone and talking but towards the end of the period I started working on entries that I missed last week and added the photos I exported the days before so that I wouldn't get such a bad grade the quarter before.
Wednesday was quite different than most Wednesday challenge days because not only were we given a seemingly easy challenge but then were told that we were able to choose how ever large a group we wished. After that chaos erupted in the classroom most of the class tried a very valid idea of creating a group containing the entire student population so everyone can get an A on the quarter grade so all of our previous grades would be A's.
The last day of this week was pretty much a continuation of yesterday's chaos as the groups were mostly up in the air and the whole challenge was still pretty much concealed by a veil which gave everyone an advantage by luck and virtue. So with the groups randomized half of our group were working on our triangle and I believe with some miscommunication the wrong triangle was submitted and led to our loss. Triangle Wednesday Challenge Form
Today we went over the wednesday challenge and the websites. The website grades aren't up yet but they should be up by tomorrow. We went over every flaw and good of each 5 groups. Our group MegaForce got 4th. The whole period was spent in doing that. Luckily I don't have a next period today because I have to go to a dentist appointment
Today is Tuesday and I did nothing at all. I was all up to date until today. So all I had to do was today's entry. The rest of the class also did entries today for the whole day. Nevermind, Dr. Neato gave me a red lego block to do sketchup of. I finished and then I realized one of my dimensions were wrong. I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. I HAD TO RESTART> I couldn't start it again so I just gave up. I would do it another day.
This Wednesday we have a festive wednesday challenge. We were given 10 candy corn and two sheets of paper. We had to find out how many candy corn fit in one paper while they are standing upright. There were no rules Corn Wednesday Challenge Form
Today we worked on our lego blocks again. I had to start over. My lego block was red. We had to make it hollow as well. I finished with a lot of time left. I didn't know what to do since my website was fully updated.
Today is Friday and we had to listen to the JPL groups. For two of the groups we were inside and for the others we were in the shop. We first saw the Sketchup of the Trash Truck Invention. Then we saw the vacuum Invention. It didn't work great, until they got suggestions. After we went into the shop and saw the Kevin Arm it wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be but it didn't work great. We also saw Cole's Invention. We didn't see it work but we saw it all designed.