Ah, another unit, another project. 

So recently in science, we’ve been learning about energy transformations and how energy generally works. Like always, we started off by creating a mindmap that showed our understanding on the unit and like always, none of us really had a good idea on what we were talking about on our mindmaps. I was no different…

Anyways, we got started on our learning but I know you probably don’t want to hear about things like assignment sheets, you want to see what we learned. So in PLP fashion, we kicked off our learning for the unit by going to a hydropower plant in Mission, BC, where we got a firsthand view on how—in this case— kinetic energy is transformed into mechanical energy which is then transformed into electrical energy.  It was a really cool trip as I never had a good understanding on how different kinds of energy can be repurposed to produce various other forms of energy. To show what we learned, we all made a short video summarizing what we learned. Check it out!

Afterwards, it was time to move on to our “big” project as this video was only a slight taste of what we would be doing in the following weeks. So what did we have to do for the big project then? For starters, groups were created. I was paired up with Calum, Mimi, and Simon which was really exciting for me as there was a vast difference in skills within my group. As the for project, it was essentially broken up into two parts; the physical aspect and the digital aspect.

PHYSICAL:

For the physical aspect, we were told to brainstorm and build a machine that could generate and store energy from nature. This machine would also have to be able to run continuously and be able to power some kind of simple electrical appliance. Now, North Vancouver isn’t really known for its wind or solar panel potential but it does have a LOT of one thing… rain. As you might expect, rain does a few things but one of the most important things it does for our project is that it creates/enhances flowing bodies of water. At this point in the project, we all had a decent idea on how hydroelectricity works compared to many other forms of energy. That meant that all of us had solid ideas on how to create machines that could utilize rivers in order to capture and store energy. So that’s exactly what we did…

Drawing:

Real Life Product:

I do want to mention that most of the magic that came from our machine actually came from the mini-generator it that was attached to it. Although creating an actual generator would be great for a project too, our teacher figured that it might be a little too advanced for us at the moment, so we went for the next best thing… using a generator with our project. On the generator, there’s a crank and when it’s spun, it generates energy which can be directed to something simple such as an LED. We found a way to attach the crank to our machine which would spin when introduced to a flowing body of water, therefore creating energy.

DIGITAL:

What would PLP be if there wasn’t a “digital touch” with our projects though? With that in mind, we also had to create a video advertisement about our machine which fit a given criteria.

As for any video, we started off with a vision and a script. Unfortunately, our vision had turned out to be the same vision everyone in the class had too. With that problem facing us, we decided NOT to change our idea, but to present ours a little differently. I always take great joy into writing and making videos so I was definitely passionate about finding a way to make our video different. In the end, the product definitely turned out different but not for the reasons I was expecting prior to creating the video. Here’s what I mean.

So our group was struggling to meet together throughout the time we were working on this project as we could only ever get a maximum of two people together at any given time. So when the time came for Calum and I to record, we made sure that a lot of precautions were taken to make the filming go as smoothly as possible. This also meant that there were a lot of tedious details put into filming that none of us normally do such as new angles, different kinds of equipment, etc. I always had a certain idea in my head for how the video was going to go which was my guideline for filming. The problem was, I had no idea how good we were executing this idea as I would only know once I put it together. When the time finally came to do so, I was thrown off by how different the video looked due to the way we planned the recording session with two people. Being pleased with how it turned out, my group decided to add some more details to the video to enhance it even more. In the end, I think this is probably one of the videos I’m the most proud of for making this year even though I wish I still could have changed a few things. Anyways, check it out!

Regardless, I learned a lot throughout this unit and a lot of my learning wasn’t even about energy! I learned a lot about how different perspectives and looking at problems in new ways can completely change how you work and your expectations for how the end products will look. I learned that it’s worth taking risks whether it’s recording a two-character video with only two people or trying ideas you’ve never done before. And finally, I also learned a little about energy as you can see here.