Tag: Math

It’s nature’s energy

In science class lately we have been working on our sustainable/nature electricity projects. My group (Maggie, Lucas and me) decided to take a different route. We decided to create a pulley to generate our electricity. We had learned a whole bunch about sustainable energy and where we can source it from and how we can source it, so our idea didn’t take to much time to produce! We decided that we would capture the mechanic energy that is produced when rain falls. We thought to harness the gravity pull from the water to turn our pulley and power our lights. Though in the end using a pulley system didn’t really pay off for my group and I. We realized that the effort the person would have to put in to generate electricity is far to much, and that the machine does not run consistently. Our machine does work, but in the future we can think about how the energy sourced will have an impact on the people who buy it.

Here is the video we made to sell our machine. In the video you will see the the comparison between the machine and solar panels. Our machine actually makes more energy then solar panels at this time of the year because the sun is only out for 1/3 of the day, instead of all day. Whereas with our machine we are capable of catching energy all day if there is rain all day! 

Throughout this project we learned a lot of core competencies. I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the 3 core competencies that I think I saw the most of during this project.

The first core competency I used was collaboratively and individually plan, select, and use appropriate investigation methods, including field work and lab experiments, to collect reliable data. I used this core competency because to conduct our research we had to figure out the wats and joules our machine produced before we could tell how long it would take to power a iPhone. We used our field research to figure out the first draft of our product, which we tested and realized what worked and what didn’t work. 

The second core competency that I used was construct analyze and interpret graphs interpret graphs (including interpolation and extrapolation), models and or diagrams. I used this core competency because throughout the project my group and I used graphs to demonstrate our learning. We used graphs to show the contrast between our product and solar panels when comes to generating energy. We also used graphs to show our cost savings over time. 

The third core competency I used was formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon. I used this core competency when my group and I created our diagram showing how our energy gets generated and where it comes from!

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Cell phone slope!

Recently in scimatics we have been exploring the costs for phone plans with when you need to roam for calls outside of canada. To start our work off we decided to pick the companies that we would be researching during the project. We chose to research Rogers, Bell and Telus. 

 

The plans we found for each are as follows:

Rogers = $2.00 per minute roaming, and a starting cost of $165

Telus = $1.50 per minute roaming, and a starting cost of $180

Bell = $1.45 per minute roaming, and a starting cost of $195

The next step was to turn this information into a slope intercept equation. The slope intercept equation makes it so that you can graph the equation. In the slope intercept equation  each letter has a meaning they are : Y=MX+B.

Y = the grand total, what you want to find out.

M = the slope intercept.

X = the first variable, the amount you have per will have.

B = the Y intercept

Here are the equations for the cell phone companies.

Rogers: y = 2.00x + 165

Telus: y = 1.50x + 180

Bell: y = 1.45x + 195

We then graphed these equations to see the slope of them. These are the graphs that we made. 

Rogers is purple, Telus is red, and bell is green. The best cell company, most affordable, would be Bell after 300 minutes roaming!

The final step of the project was to make a keynote to show our leaning to the class. Our keynote was a simple step by step version of this blog post. To make our project unique, Morgan and I decided to create a rap to help other people understand our project and alos to create a more unique lens on this project. 

Here is our keynote

 

 

Throughout this project I used a few curricular competencies. I would like to mention what they are and how I used them below!

The first competency I used was explore, analyze and apply mathematical ideas using reason, technology and other tools. I used this competency because throughout the project I was constantly learning about analyzing new mathematical ideas such as the slope equation, and then applying it to our project, and finding where our facts and ideas would fit into the equation.

The second competency I used was represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms. I used this competency because for my end project I was able to show my learning in many different forms. We had concrete forms of our math in the form of graphs and equations and to spice it up a bit, we decided to do a rap, and rap the math to have a more creative form of our project!

The final curricular competency that I used was using mistakes as opportunities to advance learning. Throughout the project we made a few mistakes with our math, but instead of getting down, or continuing to present math that was incorrect, we decided to ask around and figure out how to properly present the math in graph form!

Thank you for reading!

adlih

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Alge-go!

 

Recently in scimatics we have been working on a math game that can fully achieve the concept of algebra, as well as being fun for all ages, and easy to play. Luca and I decided that we would make a game the brings out competition as the drive. That harnesses the need to better the other player, what I’m talking about is Alge-go.

Alge-go is a game that takes an interesting stand point on the competition aspect of games. It derives from the betting but with out anything to lose when playing the game, it does not bring with it all the negative aspects of betting. The game is simple to play. It starts with both of the players figuring out which one is the youngest. Once they’ve figured out which person is the youngest, that person gets to go first. The first step is telling their opponent how many algebra cards they can answer in one minute. After the youngest person has told the competitor how many cards they can answer the competitor gets a shot to say more cards then what the younger person said. If they dont think they can answer as many cards as the first person said, then they can back off, but if they think they can say a higher number.

 

It can go back and forth like this till someone has said the highest number. Once somebody has said the highest number, and the other player has backed down, it is up to the player with the said highest number to fulfil the number of algebra equations that they said. If they fail the point goes to the opponent, if they succeed they receive the point. And then the turn starts all over agin, and the first player to zero wins. (You start with -5 points!)

The Curricular competencies I worked on for this project are thinking creativity about the solutions to problems and how to create a game that shows all we’ve learned in a fun way, and as well as thinking creativity I also had to developers new thinking strategies, to help myself and others understand the concepts!

Thanks for reading

Adlih

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