Hello, Internet.

So recently in math we’ve been learning about graphing, systems of equasions, and solving by substitution. To show our learning for this unit, we did a project comparing the overage costs for data and call minutes on different cell phone plans.

For our project, we compared Koodo, PC Mobile, and Freedom.

Freedom didn’t offer data, so we compared the data overage prices of just Koodo and PC Mobile. Koodo started out as the cheaper option with a starting price of $35, but became even with PC Mobile at around 75mb of data, and then quickly skyrocketed to become much more expensive the more data you use. PC Mobile started out at a price of $40, but the price didn’t increase very much as the data increased, so for someone who uses a lot of data, it would be the cheaper plan.

We were able to compare all three plans for overage price on call minutes. Freedom started out at $20, and stayed the lowest cost the entire time, never crossing over with the other two. Koodo started off second lowest at $35, but became the same as PC Mobile at about 13 minutes of call time, and then became much more expensive than either of the other two plans. PC Mobile started off the most expensive at $40, but stayed relatively low, especially in comparison to Koodo. Overall, Freedom is the best choice for call minutes in any case.

We came to the the ultimate conclusion that for someone who wanted to use a lot of data, PC Mobile would be the best choice. For someone who wanted to use a little bit of data but not go over, Koodo would be the best choice. For someone who didn’t want data, Freedom would be the best choice.

Toodles!

Hello, Internet.

Recently in science we’ve been working on a project centred around creating a way to get electricity from nature. My group decided to use a water wheel to turn a hand generator.

During this unit, we learned about different kinds of energy, and different ways that people harness energy to power things in their everyday life. We learned about kinetic energy, or the energy of movement; potential energy, or the ability for something to have energy usually due to gravity; and thermal energy, or heat energy, where something heats up enough to produce energy. With the example of our water wheel, as well as actual hydroelectricity plants, we were harnessing kinetic energy from the moving water. This same concept could be applied to the use kinetic energy of rainfall, or wind (a common real life example of using wind for energy being wind turbines) to power our generator with the water wheel.

We also briefly talked about some kinds of energy that we put less focus on: chemical energy, where energy is produced via a chemical reaction (for instance, our bodies getting energy from food); light energy, where energy is created by radiation; and sonic energy, which is essentially the energy created by sound waves. We also talked about fossil fuels and fission and fusion, which are some common ways that people get energy for electricity, although less environmentally friendly than something like hydroelectricity or wind turbines. As one example of a way to get energy from nature, we discussed solar panels, which convert the energy from the sun into usable energy for humans, sort of like how plants convert energy from the sun into usable energy via photosynthesis.

While our water wheel powered generator wasn’t extremely powerful or efficient, having some way of harnessing kinetic energy on a small scale (like an equivalent of people putting solar panels on their roof to harness solar energy in sunnier areas) might be a good way to make use of the amount of rain we get here and be a little more environmentally friendly. Having a better-crafted version of the OOPWAH that utilizes the concentrated flow of rainwater running from a roof or drainpipe to power an electrical generator might actually be a reasonable product for an area as rainy as this, even if it only produces a small amount of energy at a time.

At the start of this unit, we went up to Mission to visit a water-powered generator. While there, we documented some of the things we saw.

We then applied our knowledge to creating our own projects.

Now that this unit has drawn to a close, I’ve created a mindmap to show my knowledge about energy, both from prior to this unit and my new learning.

Toodles!

Hello, internet.

So we’ve been doing a unit on chemistry. Specifically, we’ve learnt about chemical reactions, the Ph scale,  and balancing chemical equations.

At the start of this unit, we each made a mindmap about chemistry. This was my mindmap:

At the end of the unit, I made another mindmap, which looked like this:

Our main project for this unit was to design and perform a chemistry experiment. My group designed an experiment based around testing the acid levels in different substances: a pineapple, a banana, some dirt, a bath bomb, and Diet Coke.

We tested these items using red cabbage juice, which is what’s known as an indicator: a substance that turns different colours when it comes into contact with acids or bases.

This was our final experiment:

We also did a write up explaining the science behind our experiment:

Toodles!

Hello, Internet.

So recently in math we’ve been working on alegebra, polynomials, and algebra tiles. We learned three main things: expanding, factoring, and perfect squares. Then we, working in partners, had to put these things into a game.

This was the criteria for the game:

We went through several sets of rules in order to meet this criteria, but these were the rules we ended up with:

GAME RULES:

Cards: x, -x, 1, -1
Materials needed: pencil, paper, algebra cards, dice
Rules:
– roll dice. Number on dice = number of cards you pull
– randomly position cards on grid
– roll dice again to assign ‘x’ a value
– solve equation
– answer to equation = score
– 5 turns each per round
– BONUS: In case of a perfect square, square your current score
(If game is too simple, increase number of dice to 2)

Based on these rules, we created game pieces and recorded a video of us actually playing the game, as is shown below.

All in all, I think we did an alright job of incorporating the skills into our game. However, it could have been a lot better.

Toodles.

Hello, Internet.

So, recently in math we’ve been learning about the golden ratio, and the Fibonacci spiral. The golden ratio, 1:1.61803398875, is a ratio that appears in many famous structures and shapes, as well as in a lot of places in nature. The Fibonacci spiral is a spiral that follows this ratio.

We did a project around aesthetics that involved creating something (a drawing, model, song, etc.) that showed the golden ratio and Fibonacci spiral. I wanted to see if the spiral could help me draw more realistic facial anatomy, so I drew a girl’s head from the side. Then I added in clouds that have the Fibonacci spiral in them, and a sidewalk made of rectangles that adhere to the golden ratio.

This was my write up for the project:

In order to display both the golden ratio and the Fibonacci spiral in my work, I started out by drawing a girl whose head and ear line up with the Fibonacci spiral, then added in background details such as the clouds, which each have three Fibonacci spirals within them, and the grass, which has stripes that demonstrate the golden ratio.

I zoomed in on the screen in order to measure as accurately as possible, and measured the long side of one of the grass stripes to be about 3.4 cm, and the short side to be 2.1. The ratio between these two numbers is approximately equal to the golden ratio (1:1.61803398875). I drew a rectangle around the main Fibonacci spiral in the right cloud, and measured the long side to be 8 cm, and the short side to be 4.9 cm. The ratio between these numbers is also roughly equal to the golden ratio. I drew a rectangle around the Fibonacci spiral lining up with the head and ear of the girl depicted in the drawing, and measured the long side to be 10 Cm and the short side to be 6.2 Cm. The ratio between these two numbers is also approximately equal to the golden ratio.

I think the spiral did successfully help me draw a good-looking drawing using facial anatomy, so I would consider this project successful.

Toodles!

Hello, Internet.

So, in science, we’ve been learning about DNA and Genetics. We started out the unit by each making a mindmap of what we already knew, and ended the unit by making a mindmap of what we had learned. Here are my two mind maps.

Start:

End:

Our main project for the unit was to create a podcast that answered the question: If a set of identical twin girls married a set of identical twin boys and each couple had a child, would the children be identical? We did various activities

This is the final result of my project, which I did with my friend Ruby

Overall, I feel like the podcast could have been better in terms of production, but I learned a lot from this unit and I think our final project did a good job of showing that.

Toodles!

Hello Internet,

So recently in math we’ve been working on trigonometry. Mainly, we’ve been focusing on the trig ratios tangent (tan), sine (sin), and cosine (cos), and how to use them to calculate angles and side lengths within triangles. We started out learning what each ratio measured, using the pneumonic SOH CAH TOA to remember: Sine measures the ratio between the opposite side and the hypotenuse, cosine measures the ratio between the adjacent side and the hypotenuse, and tangent measures the ratio between the opposite and adjacent sides.

In order to demonstrate our understanding of these ratios and our ability to calculate angles, we each had to choose a location and find the ideal angle for a solar panel to operate in said location. Then we had to create a model (digital or physical) of the solar panel and the building it would sit on, and to label that model and give an explanation of why that angle and that place were optimal.

I chose to place my theoretical solar panel in Arviat, Nunavut, and to have it at an angle of 60 degrees.

Toodles!

Hello Internet,

So, for our science class, we’ve been learning about the basic rules of lab safety.

Some of the things we learned about include where to find different things like safety goggles or fire blankets, and what to do in different scenarios in order to prevent someone getting hurt, or what to do if someone already has gotten hurt.

To show our learning for this unit, we split into groups of about three or four, and were asked to make videos demonstrating how to be safe in a few different scenarios.

We chose our video to show why you shouldn’t wear headphones, drink chemicals, or climb on the counters. It was a very fun video to put together (You can see me break character and start laughing a few times).

Toodles!