DTE Project | Insult-A-Bot/Complement Bot

Over the last few months, we have been learning things like coding and robotics. With these skills, we started our project. For the last few weeks, me and my group Aryan, Saia, and Chris have been working on a project called the Insult-A-Bot and another part of that was the Complement Bot. 

The start of this project was the hard part. We had to come up with an idea which took a while. Eventually, we came up with the Insult-A-Bot/Complement Bot. The first ideas were quite simple. I built a robot that we thought would say stuff when it detected motion but that didn't exactly work. There was also the Arduino which was really complex but we couldn't use that. There were some other ideas that I can't really remember but they didn't work. But I eventually came up with the idea of putting it in a box and having buttons you press on top. We did not end up finishing it but we got quite close.

I have learned a lot during this project like making and using the vex robots. We learned more about coding and working in groups. I really liked this semester and I wish I could have finished the box.

Passion Projects | Finished Project

 This week we finally finished our karts for passion projects. The finished project wasn't the best but it worked. Some things I would do if I did it again would be to try to make the hole where the bolts for the wheels sit smaller because there was a bit too much movement and the wheels didn't really sit well. I would also put more screws in the back piece of timber that the wheels were connected to because we bent it when we crashed and it didn't go straight. Apart from that, the kart was good. Here it is:

Passion Projects | Week 2

Last week we got quite a bit of work done. On the Wednesday we started off by trying to get some pallets. To get some we decided to go across to ask some businesses. We went to a business called NBS limited. We kindly asked them for some pallets and they gave us 4 really good pallets. We took the pallets to the workshop and started pulling them apart by the end of the hour we had all the pallets pulled apart. The next day we took all of the nails out of the wood which took quite a bit of effort for some pieces and barely any for others. On the Friday we cut off the broken bits and put most of them through the thicknesser which smooths out the wood. That's all that we got done last week. This week we might need to get more pallets because we might not have enough wood and hopefully we will finish it in time.

Passion Projects

For the next few weeks, we are working on our passion projects. For my passion project, I am making a push kart. I'm enjoying the planning part of it with a rough model drafted and a materials list organised. The materials are looking a bit pricey but might fit within the budget. 

Saia, Jacob and Josh are part of the team, but a lot of the planning has fallen to me right now. 

Here Is a rough model:

Social Studies | News Article

 Today we were working on a news article type blog post foe social studies about pollution. Here it is:

Pollution

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about pollution. This blog is about what I have learnt over the past few weeks.

We have been learning about whales and how they have been washing up on beaches with stomachs full of plastic. Whales feed micro organisms called Phytoplankton which produce oxygen. They make 4X more oxygen than the amazon rainforest and 85% of all oxygen on earth. Plastic is killing heaps of animals every hour. 8 million tons of trash gets dropped in the ocean every year and that number is rising. Plastic dissolves and turns into things called microplastics which are practically invisible especially to fish. They eat these and die.

I think that the oceans should be cleaned up and taken care of. We could help by donating to charities that clean up the ocean and should stop using one time use plastic.

Metal Reactions

This week we were did three experiments using metal. The first one was metal reacting with acid. Then magnesium reacting with oxygen. Lastly we were testing for the presence of oxygen.  

Metal and acid

Magnesium + sulfuric acid --> magnesium sulfate + hydrogen.

First we got a test tube and put 2ml of acid in. Then we got a little piece of metal and dropped it in the tube. After that we quickly got a boiling tube and put it over the tube. After 2 minutes of waiting we got a little thing called a splint, set it on fire and put it in the boiling tube then  it made a popping sound.

When you put the metal in the acid it started bubbling and forming hydrogen. After a while it started to accumulate in the top of the boiling tube. When the flame came in contact it made a popping sound because the hydrogen. This showed that there was hydrogen. 

Metals and Oxygen

Magnesium + Oxygen --> Magnesium Oxide. 

First we set up the bunsen burner and got a pair of scissor tongs. After that we grabbed a piece of magnesium and lit the bunsen burner. When we put the magnesium over the flame it started glowing and it was quite bright. After that the magnesium turned into a white powder called magnesium oxide.

Testing for the presence of oxygen

Magnesium Dioxide + Hydrogen Peroxide --> Magnesium Hydroxide + Oxygen.

First we got some test tubes and put some magnesium dioxide into it. After that we lit a splint. Then we put some hydrogen peroxide into the tube. After that they started reacting with each other. Lastly we blew out the splint, put the smouldering splint in the tube and it set on fire again. 

Metal Carbonates and Acids

Metal Carbonate + Acid  --> Metal Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide

First we grabbed two tubes and put a bung in one with the delivery tube going into the other test tube. Then we added some metal carbonate into the tube with the bung. In the other tube we put some lime water. After we quickly took off the bung, added some acid and put the bung back on. After a few attempts the lime water started going cloudy.

Cryptography | DTE

Last term we were learning about cryptography. If you don't know what cryptography is it is basically hidden messages in things called cyphors.  We learned about 9 different cyphors in three different categories easy, normal, and hard. I liked learning about cryptography and some of the cyphers were quite interesting. A site we used to learn about cryptography is dyscover crypt.

This is a slide I made that shows the 9 cyphors that I learned about.

Metallic Lattice

Today we were learning about Metallic Lattice. I made a structure showing this.

Metallic Lattice is is the shape of bonds in metal structures.

The sticks show the metal and the play dough shows the atoms.

Arts Kete

 Over the past few weeks we have been working on a thing called arts kete. For this we had to make a poster/clay model about you or your culture. We needed to make these for displays around the school and to show our culture. 

For mine I wanted to make the New Zealand flag out of clay. This didn't really work. At first I had to make a rectangle which for some reason was quite challenging. Next I had to put the four stars on. I got about two on it then the next day it was destroyed. So after a few periods of thinking I decided to make a clay model of me like my friends. Unfortunately it fell apart and I couldn't get it to work before we needed to. So I ended up failing because I had nothing to present.  

Live Aid

This week we were learning about Live Aid. Live Aid was a concert held in Philadelphia and London to make money for poverty.  It was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.

In the 1970's Bob Geldof was a singer and musician was born in Ireland and was educated at a Catholic private school. He was famous for the single Do They Know It's Christmas. He produced this song with Midge Ure.  Bob was mostly involved in the band Boomtown Rats and Live Aid.

In the 1970's Midge Ure was a singer that was in quite a few bands and made a few popular songs. He was famous for the single Do They Know It's Christmas which gave him the motive to organise the event Live Aid.  Midge was involved in seven bands. His most famous band being Ultravox.

The song Do They Know Its Christmas was sung by many singers that were famous at the time. This song was made for the Ethiopian kids because people were wondering if they knew it's Christmas. All of the 200 million dollars went to people in Ethiopia. This is what inspired Bob and Midge to do the live aid show. 

Science | Acid Rain Experiment

 Over the past few weeks we have been learning about acids and bases. One thing we have been learning about is acid rain. Acid rain is mostly caused by factory's burning fossil fuels. The smoke go's into the clouds and mixes with the water molecules. When it rains it can damage people, builds, plant life, animals and make the water toxic. We done an experiment today on acid rain.

Aim: To observe the effects of acid rain 

Hypothesises: I think the petal will dissolve, the calcium carbonate will have no effect, the apple will dissolve, the universal indicator will weaken the acid, I think the bromothymol blue will not do anything.

Method: In petri dish place items around edge. Wet dry ingredients with drop of water. In the middle put a weigh boat

Observations: The universal indicator turned into a pale red because it was an acid. The bromothymol blue turned yellow. The apple did nothing. The petal went lighter. Calcium carbonate kind of bubbled. 

  

Social Studies | Give Peace A Chance

 This week in social studies we are learning about Woodstock and the Vietnam war. For one of the tasks we had to listen to a song about anti war. The song I am listening to is Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon.  It repeats give peace a chance. The song is basically saying to give peace a chance and stop fighting the Vietnamese 

Reflection Section Week 9

 This is my reflection for the past few weeks. 

We haven't really done anything memorable over the past few weeks at school but we did get a day off last week. But in the weekend I went to the beach. We took some shovels and a wind cart thing that has a sail and gets pushed by the wind. I got the cart quite fast but I only got a few turns because it wasn't that windy. I also dug a really big hole and made a little hill and stated putting water at the top and it made a waterfall. A few weekends ago I went fishing off a wharf thing at diamond harbour. We used squid as bait and I caught a few starfish and threw them back.

I haven't really done much at school but I have done a few things in the weekends.

The Last Post

 The Last Post was played during WW1 during funerals and memorials. It is also now played every year on ANZAC day. This song is very important because it is a memorial for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers that fought in the war. This song was first played in WW1 from what I could find. It is significant  because it commemorates the fallen soldiers at funerals and other things.

Reflection Section Week 6 | Athletics Day

Reflection Section Week 6 | Athletics Day

Last week on Thursday we had athletics day. There were two things you could do competitive or social. Competitive was you chose 5 events that your good at and you got points and you could go to zones which is the big Christchurch competition. Social is the one I chose and it was basically just following a teacher around and doing some of the activities with your year group. In competitive you go to form and then you start but social you have period one and two. Period one and two we did no work and got to sit on our phones. I missed my first event which was long jump even though I was looking forward to it. When I found the group I was meant to be in our second event wasn't for a while so the said we should do  a paper scissors rock competition. I lost straight away and the teacher ended up winning the year 10 boys paper scissors rock competition. The next event was sprints which was a bit of a mess because there heaps of us running at once. Then it was high jump which I couldn't do then my last event was discuss which I didn't do good at either. At the end of the day there was the house sprints and my house came second in total. I liked athletics day because we did no work, it was fun and I got to hang out with my friends the whole day.

Atomic Science | Periodic Table

 This term we have been working on learning about atoms and the periodic table. 

An atom is made up of 3 things. The neutron, proton and electron. The electron is on the outside while the proton and neutron is in the middle which is called the nucleus. Every element has at least 1 atom in it. But the amount of electrons, protons or neutrons depends on the element. The number at the top of an element shows how many electrons there are and the bottom is the neutrons and protons. But the protons and electrons are the same so you take the top number off the bottom. The number left over is the number of neutrons. 

The first row on the periodic table is the alkali metals. The metals only have one electron  so they want to get rid of it. So they are very reactive. We did an experiment with alkali metals. The first one was lithium. When it got put in water it just spun around. Next we did sodium. It took a few attempts to get the right amount but eventually it set on fire and exploded

Parihaka

 Over the past few weeks we have been learning about the story of Pariaka. Which was about how the British soldiers took over Parihaka and arrested the leader because they were on there land. For this blog post we had to answer some questions from a song called Parihaka. Parihaka Song Link. The main message of this song is about Parihaka and Te Whiti. In the song "you can't pull out your roots" means you can't stop them from plowing and planting seeds. The song also says "His children's children wearing the white plume"  means they are wearing the white albatross feather which represents Te Whiti. Te Whiti will never be defeated means hell always be remembered and talked about so he will never be defeated.

Reflection Section W4 T1

This week we had to write about a book that we have read this week. My book is called Bone, The Great Cow Race. 

 At the start of the book the main character Fone Bone. Talks about the great cow race then some rat creatures that live in the forest. Then he starts walking around the market with his friend. They go to go buy some honey. They don't end up getting honey so Fone Bone goes and gets some. When e gets back he'd been stung a lot But his friend doesn't need it anymore. After that he goes to some of his friends which had made a cow suit and enters it into the race. Then Fone Bone goes to the go's to the forest while his friends go and open a betting table for the race. After that the race starts and Fone Bone gets chased by rat creatures and ran right to the race. The creatures started attacking the cows and the people in the suit. After that the people in the cow suit had to rebuild someone's barn.

Slaves

For past few weeks we have been learning about slaves, how they tried to escape and there lives. Slaves would sing songs called spirituals. Most of the time these songs would have secret meanings like escaping.These songs were sang at thing called bush meeting which were basically churches for the slave Harriet Tubman helped thousands of slaves escape through secret tunnels. She was an ex slave who used music to transmit messages.

Wade in the Water. God’s gonna trouble the water.

Who are those children all dressed in Red?

God’s gonna trouble the water.

Must be the ones that Moses led.

God’s gonna trouble the water.

This was a part of one of the songs she sung. The hidden message was go through rivers so dogs cant track your scent. This stuff is still significant today because of the black lives matter and black civil rights movements. They use slavery as points in their protests. This music also influenced just about all of the music genres.

Here is a map that I made showing the slave trade triangle, what happened to the slaves and the escape routes.

Cybersafe

 Today in ICT we had to make a poster about cyber showing what you should do to be safe on the internet.

Here is a video that could also help keep you safe: