Imagine

The design process is sometimes difficult. My partner Antoine and I had to build a paper tower using the design process. When we constructed the tower first we thought of different ideas and sketched them down on paper. We narrowed down our decisions based on stability, shape, structure, and area of the bottom. After that we concluded with two designs, one with a triangular base and the other with a square base. We came up with different pros and cons to both designs. We concluded that a square base would be much more stable and took up the same amount of paper as the triangular one. After we drew everything down on paper we started gathering supplies. We used one sheet of 20lb 8 ½ by 11 printer paper and 50 centimeters of scotch tape. After we got our supplies we began to work on the tower. We folded half-inch wide strips of paper like horseshoes at the bottom. Then, my partner stacked up the strips vertically patching them together with tape. After 6 strips of paper went up, the tower began to bend and then hit the ground. After that we added 4 strips on the sides to keep the tower up right. Two were added diagonally at the bottom and the other two were added on top of each other to support the top. At that point the tower could only hold one more strip of paper at the top. After that it fell over beyond repair.

After it fell over we measured the tower to see how tall we made it. We saw that it reached a height of 1.5. After we measured it we discussed what went wrong, what went well, what else we could have done, and other options in how else we could have handled the project. We discussed that instead adding supports at the last minute as the tower began collapsing; we should start adding supports beforehand when we had two strips of paper standing upright. We also agreed that we should have built the structure to be sturdier.

During the construction, and sketching of the tower, we needed to film the entire thing with a Canon camcorder. We then used a video editing program known as iMovie to edit, speed up, and add titles to, certain parts of the movie. We added several titles and blended together the clips. After that we published the film into and mp4 file and posted it to a media sharing site used by Palm Beach County known as VODcast. After it was posted on VODcast we used the embed code and embedded it into a comment for one of Mr. Goldstein’s blog posts on PBSpaces weblogs. We were able to make a tower taller than anyone else in his 6th period class. However the record for highest tower was over 6 feet tall. Later, Mr. Goldstein introduced us to this school based social networking site. He had us compile our paper tower video and two other videos which were a platform we needed to build and an intro video that introduced ourselves. After that we posted them on pages that we customize on this website called glogs. With the glog we needed to put text describing the videos and some pictures and some more text describing ourselves. After we created our “glog” we took its embed code and used it to post it on Mr. Goldstein’s weblog.

For this quarter in technology class we learned a lot. Whether it was making a paper tower, or writing down the tech talk. Everything that we did was fun. Something that I enjoyed doing was using the Macintosh computers.

The first thing that we did this quarter was learning the procedure of what to do when we get to class. We need to take out our technology folder and after put our backpacks in a room in the corner. After we were done Mr. Goldstein would tell us what we would be doing for this class period. When we received our instructions for our first project. We had to make a 30 second intro video explaining our names and some things that we like to do or some of our hobbies. We had the chance of picking our partners. My partner ended up being a friend of mine by the name of Kamran. When we made our videos we learned a lot about each other. For example, I learned that Kamran likes to do a lot of video recording and computer things. But I am the total opposite of that; I like to play sports like soccer or football. I feel that everyone benefited from this project because people working with their partners learned a lot from each other. People who had problems worked them out and learned from their mistakes.

The next project that we had to do was what was called The Paper Tower Project. We had to use the following materials: 50 cm of tape, and an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper. We had to make a paper tower at least 1 yard tall. We started with a base of 3 pieces of tape and a strip of tape. Slowly we started building on that strip. Soon we have doubled the height. But now it was starting to lean. We made our tower in a square shape because a square stands better than any other shape. After we doubled the height of the tower, it fell over. So we had to take pieces off from the tower. When we finished taking off 3 pieces of tape, we started to build on it again. When we finally finished we got to the total height of 2.4 meters or 7 feet. We had the highest all of Mr. Goldstein’s classes.

Our next and last project with the use of Macintosh computers, we had to make a stage that was 1 inch off of the ground at all times and held 25 pounds out of a manila folder and 50 centimeters of tape. Kamran and I used a method that was not very effective but we did not know that until we tested our method. The method that we used was we had a layer of manila on the top and a circle on the bottom. We started off by folding the base and cutting it. After cutting the circle we attached the top part to the bottom using tape. Next we tested the project. When I got hold of the 25 pound weight, it was so much heavier than we thought it would be. We thought it would not hold, but when we put on the weight, it held. The instructions were to put on the weight, but after if it holds, you must start stacking textbooks on top of the weight. After we put on the first textbook, we thought we were going to have the best project in the grade again, but we were wrong. After stacking 8 textbooks, we put the last textbook and the whole thing collapsed. Our stage held a total of 48 pounds.

After finishing our project, we had nothing to do because we were the first people done. One of my friends Mariel, needed help because both of her partners were absent. So we helped her with her stage project listening closely to every instruction she gave, we did. She used a method that was by far one of the most effective methods that I have seen. We rolled short pieces of manila folder and taped the pieces on to a layer of manila folder. When we tested the method, it passed with flying colors. We put the weight on and it held. Then we started stacking books. Slowly and piece by piece, we stacked books, and soon Mariel was standing on a chair to stack books. Soon we needed help from our fellow peers to help stabilize the stack of books. Finally Mariel put the final book on that would crush the stage under the weight. Then by accident one of the students let go of the stack and the whole thing fell over. Playfully I stated a joke, “Boy, I do not envy who has to clean that up!” Then we started to pick it up and put it on a scale that we had to measure the weight. Again we started to stack and this time we made sure that he did not let go. It got to a total of 180 pounds!

Mr. Goldstein at the beginning of the year told us that we had to make a PowerPoint and we would keep adding the project videos in a hyperlink onto the PowerPoint. My PowerPoint had a total of 9 slides. All including: a title slide, about me, my dream, video slides, and even Haiti disaster slide. When I was done, I previewed my PowerPoint and revised any mistakes that I did not see before. Mr. Goldstein had told us when we were done that we needed to download it through authorstream.com and post it to the Mr. Goldstein’s blog. When I finished I went over to see everyone else’s glog. The glog was a wall that had everything that we did in one page and you could customize the wallpaper and type of player that it showed. One of my friends put a liger as the wallpaper and made a joke from the movie “Hangover.”

Overall I believe that Mr. Goldstein has a very unique way of teaching and I believe that he should keep it that way because we have learned a lot from him and things that we will need when we grow up.