Barbie Bungee Jumping

Here is the link to the Barbie Bungee Finale Activity:

Barbie Bungee Finale Activity

Here is the video of our best jump:

 

Reflection:

For this activity, we used information from chapter 3 to be able to calculate the most rubber bands you could attach to Barbie to allow her to bungee jump the closest to the floor without hitting her head. All of our work for this project can be seen in the link above. Our group did fairly well at calculating the number of rubber bands to allow Barbie to have the most fun without getting a concussion. By using the LSRL, we were able to estimate that we would need 29.4847 or about 29 rubber bands for Barbie to bungee jump without whacking her head on the ground, which was about 564cm from the drop point. Unfortunately, our guess was a little off, because Barbie wasn’t near the ground, she had just about reached the meter stick. We added a rubber band, making her total count 30 rubber bands. This time, it worked! Barbie was only 10cm from the floor when we had attached 30 rubber bands to her. The reason our guess with the LSRL was off is because the LSRL isn’t a perfect method of guessing the exact value. As you can see with the residual graph, the line has a tendency to over- or under-predict. Since we were only one rubber band off (or half a rubber band, if you’re looking at the exact value predicted by the LSRL), the error most likely came from the LSRL. Overall, the project was a success, and it was a really fun way to learn everything about chapter 3.

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AP Statistics Gallery Walk Activity

In this activity, we made four different graphs to represent the same data. Each person in the group made a different graph. We had a dot plot, a box plot, a stem plot, and a histogram. Each graph has its own strengths. The dot plot is useful for showing how the data is distributed. The stem plot is useful for showing how the data is shaped and the trends of the data. The histogram allows shape and distribution to be viewed easily. The box plot would best show outliers if there were any, though this data set does not have outliers. The box plot also demonstrates the full spread of the data concisely.

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Summer Assignment

 

Habit  Quotation/Passage 

(with page number)

 How does/can/will this 

relate to my life?

(5-8 sentences in length)
Habit 1: Be Proactive “There are two types of people in this world–the proactive and the reactive–those who take responsibility for their lives and those who blame; those who make it happen and those who get happened to.” (Covey 48)

“Proactive people . . . recognize they can’t control everything that happens to them, but they can control what they do about it.” (Covey 49)

 For a good deal of my life, I was a doormat. Life happened to me all the time, and I let it stay that way, because I thought that was the way things had to be. I never thought to put myself first. As a highly empathetic person who’s argument averse, I tended to hand out second chances a lot, oftentimes to people who didn’t deserve them. I offered second chances to people with fake apologies who only ended up hurting me over and over again. I let other people hurt my feelings constantly because I didn’t want to hurt theirs. My depression got really bad during that time. I never realized that I could take control here, that I could cut the toxic people out of my life. When I finally realized that, my life took a turn for the better. I can’t control how other people treat me, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I don’t have to keep negative people in my life. I don’t have to keep allowing these things to happen to me, because I have the power to make them stop happening. I may not be able to control the bad things in life, but I can always control how I react to them.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind  “Why is it so important to have an end in mind? . . . If you don’t decide your own future, someone else will do it for you.” (Covey 76). I have always been academically talented. My grandmother was a teacher, so I learned to read very early on. I was always far beyond the average reading level for someone my age. I’ve taken just about every honors, advanced, or AP course I had access to, and my grades have always been high. Even though I’m good at all these things, I never really saw myself having a future in them. My family did, though. Both of my parents pursued science in college, and because of my talents, they assumed I’d want to do the same. My father works at Case Western Reserve University. I’ve met with dozens of professors there, seen most of the campus, and learned a whole lot about the various programs they offered. The most important thing I learned throughout all of that was that I really don’t want to pursue science at all! If I hadn’t told my parents that I didn’t see myself being some sort of scientist in the future, I don’t know where I’d be today. Now I do have an end in mind, and it’s a really big milestone in preparing for my future.
Habit 3:Put First Things First “If you block out time for your big rocks first, the other everyday activities will fit in as well. And even if they don’t, who cares? You’d rather push aside pebbles than big rocks.” (Covey 115). I always worry about whether or not I’ll have enough time in a day to do everything that I need to get done. Last year I took 5 AP courses, I was in 5 clubs at school, and I still helped run and volunteered at a nonprofit in my free time. Last year taught me a lot about time management. Relaxation and cooldown time is important, but you don’t really need much of it. Even five or ten minutes is enough time to re-energize you to keep tackling the big rocks in your schedule. It’s better to get everything done and relax by having a good night’s rest than to relax all day and have to work all night.
Habit 4: Think Win Win  “Competition is healthy when you compete against yourself, or when it challenges you to reach and stretch and become your best. Competition becomes dark when you tie your self-worth into winning or when you use it as a way to place yourself above another.” (Covey 155).  For a long time, my self-worth was tied to how successful I was in the various things I did, to how much I achieved. If I didn’t have the absolute highest grades, I felt awful about myself. I felt like I wasn’t good enough. Same thing for sports or other extracurricular involvements. Eventually I learned that competition and wanting to be the best of the best isn’t all that important, and even if my grades aren’t always the highest they can be, at least I understand the material! Now I strive to do the best I can, even if it means I don’t always get the perfect grades.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood “To understand someone you must listen to them . . . The problem is that most of us don’t know how to listen.” (Covey 167). Throughout my life, I’ve dealt with a multitude of bad listeners. This came up in a lot of ways. Some people turned pain into a competition; whenever I needed to talk about my problems, they’d tell me why what they were dealing with is worse. Others were convinced that they knew me better than I knew myself, and if I only did xyz thing, I’d be so much better off. Others still told me I was just lying about what I was feeling or going through just to get attention. And let me tell you, all of this was miserable. I stopped talking to people because I knew that most people weren’t actually going to listen to me anyways. Because of that, I always do whatever I can to be a good listener. I listen first, and offer help only when asked. I don’t make it about me. Because like the book says, “it’s the deepest need of the human heart to be understood” (Covey 165). I want to offer others the understanding that I was never lucky enough to have.
Habit 6: Synergize “Great teamwork is like a great piece of music. All the voices and instruments may be singing and playing at once, but they aren’t competing. Individually, the instruments and voices make different sounds, play different notes, pause at different times; yet they blend together to create a whole new sound. This is synergy.” (Covey 200). In my life, I have learned that people are always more productive in groups than they are on their own. For example, I’m a writer. But oftentimes it’s difficult to find motivation to write. With a team of friends supporting me, I always have people to turn to in order to keep me moving forward with a project. In addition, in a friend group of mine we have been working on making a few stories together. Individually we are all talented, but four people working to make characters and a story are far more efficient and produce something more interesting than one of us could do alone.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw  “Have you ever been too busy living to take time to renew yourself?” (Covey 206).

“If you go too hard for too long, you won’t think as clearly, you’ll get cranky, and you’ll begin to lose perspective. You may think you don’t have time to exercise, build friendships, or get inspired. In reality, you don’t have time not to.” (Covey 240).

 Earlier, I discussed just how many things I tried to take on last school year. As a reminder, I was in 5 AP courses, 5 clubs, and I still helped to run a nonprofit in my free time. Thing is, between all of that and minimal breaks to keep myself sane, I hardly had free time. My free time was spent sleeping so I’d have enough energy to keep pushing. In life, sometimes you have to push really hard for a really long time, but it should always be followed by a season of renewal. For me, I pushed and I pushed and I pushed to the point where there was nothing left. By the end of the year, I was so burnt out that I couldn’t find the motivation to do anything. Life should always be balanced. I’ve learned not to push myself too far.

 

SMART Goals:

AP French V SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the French AP exam by continuing to listen to French music, watch videos in French, read French articles, and practice French both by writing/typing it and by speaking it as often as I can. I will study my flashcards at least every other day to make sure I am keeping the language in my mind.

 

AP Literature and Composition SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Literature exam by reading every book in class as thoroughly as I can and annotating those books to the best of my ability. I will expand my knowledge of literature and how it works by ensuring to always actively participate in class and take notes to help me learn. I will review my notes often to make sure I understand everything I have been taught.

 

AP Physics SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Physics exam by expanding my knowledge of physics by taking thorough notes and putting all my effort into labs and other such activities. I will take time to review my notes and ensure my understanding of the concepts, and I will ask questions if and when I need to. 

 

AP Probability and Statistics SMART Goal:

I will get at least a 4 on the AP Statistics exam by expanding my knowledge of how to gather, analyze, and draw conclusions from sets of data. I will take thorough notes and study them often to ensure I understand the concepts, and I will ask questions if and when I need to.

 

Non-School Related SMART Goal:

This year, I will do what I can to protect myself from burning out again. I will understand that I am already enough, and forcing myself to take more classes or participate in more extracurriculars will not change that. I will take at least half an hour for myself each day to recharge while still ensuring to fulfill my commitments. I will prioritize my schoolwork and myself.

 

Mission Statement:

Do everything you can to help other people while still taking care of yourself. Strive to give others the hope, kindness, and understanding that you never had. Be the kind of person who makes everyone feel like someone, because as you know, there is no worse feeling in the world than being made to feel like nothing. Spread optimism, love, and joy everywhere you go. As a favorite character of yours once said: “Leave every place better than you found it.”

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AP Research Post 3/3

The biggest strategy that helped me get things done was the Nike philosophy: just do it. If I didn’t force myself to work on things, then I wouldn’t get anywhere on my project and nothing would get done. It kept me on track for literal reasons because I forced myself to stay on track. The second thing that helped me stay on track was talking to peers with similar projects for advice on how to write certain sections. When I was confused, it was really helpful to hear about the thing I was stuck on from someone who was already done with it. One scenario I could’ve handled better was fixing my project after being approved with modifications by the IRB. I let that take way longer than it should’ve, and it took too much of my time. A second scenario I could’ve handled better was waiting for responses from bigger schools. I waited for three weeks before sending emails to different schools, and that was generally a waste of my time. Even though I got other stuff done during that time, I definitely could’ve been more productive than I was. In the future, I now have a lot of helpful time management tools.

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AP Research Post 2/3

    Poor representation negatively impacts society’s perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community because it preserves flawed, one-dimensional, and stereotypical images of LGBTQ+ individuals. This poor representation also has an impact on people who are LGBTQ+ because they don’t see characters that make it seem like their identity is okay. Instead what they see is a blatantly inaccurate portrayal of their identity, something that might be better described as a mockery. When negative messages about being LGBTQ+ are spread, LGBTQ+ individuals become more inclined to believe these things are true, which can be negative for their mental health. A media that spreads negative messages about being LGBTQ+ and only offers negative, stereotypical representation will lead to LGBTQ+ youth thinking that there is something wrong with them. The number of LGBTQ+ youth that hate themselves and wish they were dead would likely decrease if they had good representation, if they had access to stories that seem realistic enough to provide hope. LGBTQ+ youth need to be able to see themselves as valid, which cannot happen with negative representation. My study impacts all of this because it highlights the fact that there is a problem with LGBTQ+ representation. It also shows that this issue of representation is a problem that can be fixed, and that it is an important problem to fix.

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AP Research Post 1/3

The process of picking a research topic was a struggle. In all honesty, even a topic I thought I loved came to be something I regretted choosing after spending almost a year with it. The largest thing to tackle was finding a topic that met three criterion: relevant, something I care about, and something I wouldn’t get tired of after a year. I knew from the start I wanted to do something dealing with LGBTQ+ equality, and eventually I landed on the issue of LGBTQ+ representation in television. One thing I would change about how I did my data collection would be doing the survey and the content analysis at the same time rather than doing them separately. It would have saved me a lot of time if it hadn’t been suggested that I not do them at the same time. As a result of doing them separately, I ended up falling really behind in the class as a whole. Making this change would’ve improved the class as a whole for me because I could’ve been on track with everybody else and had important peer review help that I missed out on because I was so behind on data collection. I probably could’ve also collected more data if I had had more time to collect that data.

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Sculpture/Expanded Media 1

Title: Balancing Act

Media: Paper, hot glue

Size: 11in x 11.5 in x 10.5 in (length x width x height)

Reflection: “What challenges did you face in completing the assignment? How did you address/troubleshoot them?”

As a group, we faced several challenges in the process of completing this assignment. Making all the fans in order to assemble our structure was simple. Putting them together, and getting them to stay together proved to be a much more difficult task. We tried several approaches. The first approach was just to hook the ends of the fans onto one another. That structure collapsed the moment we set it down on the table. The next approach was regular glue. That didn’t work very well either. We actually ended up tearing a few fans in the process, and it was very lucky that we had extra fans to use as backup. Even then, we had to hold the fans together at the center and pray that they would stay stuck there on their own. They did not. This one collapsed just as easily as the first, although, this attempt made much more of a mess. The table got a bit sticky. Nevertheless, we prevailed. Finally, we found something that worked. Hot glue. After gluing all the fans together in the center of the structure, the hot glue dried quickly. And it stayed. Our structure never fell apart again. It was also much more sturdy than our previous attempts at the structure. We did face issues along the way of making this structure, but the result was well worth the trials we faced.

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Title: Dragonfly

Media: Wire

Size: 11in x 16.25in x 2.5in (length x width x height)

Reflection: “In what ways have you improved as a writer/artist/scientist/etc.? What brought about those improvements?”

Even though it doesn’t look all that fancy, I do believe I have improved as an artist in the creation of this dragonfly. Before this year, the only three-dimensional art I had personally worked with included clay sculptures and origami. I was never one for building three dimensional objects, because they always turned out looking wonky. That’s not to say that the dragonfly isn’t wonky– I do admit that it has its imperfections. Prior to this project specifically, I had never worked with wire to create something. It seemed a lot more simple as an idea than it actually turned out to be. Bending wire is difficult when you only have your hands to work with, especially since I challenged myself not to have to use hot glue. That’s part of the reason why the structure of the dragonfly is so eccentric. The dragonfly is made up of different coils of wire that all interlock with one another, which is evident by all the random-seeming loops and coils. The structure needed to be able to stand on its own, without glue or other support. So it did. Now, it’s most certainly not the most beautiful dragonfly. It’s asymmetric and even a little bland. Our wire insects were meant to imitate natural insects. Nature is not a perfect thing. Nature is filled with things that are symmetric. Nature is filled with things that are bland. Yet, we love these uneven, boring things as they are. In the same way, the messy, simplistic style of this wire dragonfly can be appreciated. It was a first attempt at something I had never done before as an artist, and I do believe it’s pretty good for a first try.

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Title: Cardboard Sushi

Media: Cardboard, hot glue

Size: 1in x 1in x 1in (length x width x height)

Note: This was a group assignment. My two sushi are the third one from the left in each row.

Reflection: “What went according to plan and what surprises did you encounter?”

Most of the process of making the life-sized cardboard sushi went according to plan. All of the ones that were made solely from cardboard and smaller bits of cardboard were simple. They were structures that could be completed in a few minutes, if given your complete attention. My first sushi, the one without the explosion of hot glue dots on top, went exactly according to plan. I built the outside structure of the sushi from thin, textured pieces of cardboard. Then, I filled a hole in the center with thin, rolled-up sheets of cardboard in order to represent the thinly sliced ingredients that would go in the center of an actual sushi roll. For my second sushi, though, I wanted to do something a little more outside of the box. I wanted to do something that no one else in the group had done. So, I attempted to mimic the kind of sushi that are topped with fish eggs. What surprise did I encounter? Well, I didn’t so much encounter it. I handed it directly to myself. Hey, let’s change our plan last minute to make something cool! Nothing could go wrong with that, right? Well, not at first. At first, it seemed like a simple enough idea. How hard could it be to make a tower of glue dots? Evidently, it was much more difficult than I thought. The process was almost painstakingly slow. I could only apply one or two glue dots at a time, and they had to be at opposite sides of the sushi, otherwise they’d melt together and form an incoherent blob. This became increasingly difficult as the tower grew. If one inch by one inch of space was too small, then a tower that pointed inwards like a pyramid was going to be impossible to deal with. It took a lot of time and patience that I honestly didn’t think I was going to find within myself, but eventually, I had accomplished my vision. A fish egg sushi.

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Title: Discontentment

Media: Foam board, paint, hot glue

Size: 8in x 8 in x 0.5in (length x width x height)

Reflection: “Describe the  aims and strategies that led to the completion of this artifact.”

My aim in this project was a little complex. I wanted to create something that has no definite look to it. To explain, I find myself listening to podcasts rather frequently. In one, the villain is described as taking on the colors of a black opal. If you’ve never seen one, it’s a deep black with splashes of red, green, yellow, and blue. That’s what the colors I chose were meant to emulate. At times, the villain is also described as possessing far too many eyes. Bright white with colorful irises. So, I attempted to recreate this. I painted the surface on the very bottom in random patterns of red, green, yellow, and blue. It does look extremely disorganized, yes, but that’s how it’s meant to be. It mimics the random, nonsensical patterns that can be seen in a mineral found in nature. Then, I used hot glue to add on strips of black foam board, towering over the rest of the structure. I did this for two purposes. The first was that I didn’t want to simply paint black over all the colors on the bottom. It would look far too tacky, and it wouldn’t catch your eye at all. One of the interesting things about the manner in which I built this structure was how at each angle you look at it, you get a slightly different image. It shifts. The second purpose for the strips of black foam board was that the assignment instructions required our structure to extend outwards from the wall, so I made mine do just that. Then, I glued on the eyes that the villain is described as possessing. Overall, the project does look a bit messy from first glance. That’s the point, though. You don’t think of a villain and see something pristine and polished. You see something that’s a little rough around the edges, something that is evidently imperfect. The piece is titled Discontentment. I did this for a reason as well. The heroes of the show often referred to the villain as “The Hunger”. When the villain learned of this, he remarked that the term didn’t quite fit. This entity, this being was not hungry. It was discontent. It was looking for something far greater than what the simple bounds of humanity could offer it. So, the villain pointed out that a much more fitting term for the entity would be “Discontentment”. That is why I named the piece as such. It is made to represent the villainous entity that has no definitive look, since it is an audio-only medium. I do believe that I did well on this project. It looks very similar to how I had originally pictured it to look, except originally, I had wanted to make it bigger. I then decided that with the time restrictions we had, a larger piece would be too ambitious. Instead, I ambitiously added as much as I could to this smaller piece in order to make it a clear representation.

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Title: Petrified

Media: book, tissue paper, printer paper, sharpies, markers, glue, ziploc bag, colored pencil

Size (when closed like a normal book): 5.5in x 9in x 1in (length x width x height)

Size (when posed “open” like in the image): 5.5in x 9in x 5.5in (length x width x height)

Reflection: “What challenges did you face in completing the assignment? How did you address/troubleshoot them?”

The challenges I faced when creating this project were the sheer amount of time it took and how to make it look as neat as possible. So, on the point of making it look neat, no work of art looks perfect. There’s always going to be some flaws. My goal with this project, however, was to have as few flaws as possible, because I had my heart set on a certain look for the final product, and I knew that would never quite be achieved if I wasn’t precise. That leads to the second point, the sheer amount of time it took. As a combination of both the amount of work and types of work that had to be done, I spent several of our 85-minute and 35-minute class periods working on this, and even still, I had to bring the project home over winter break to add some finishing touches and other details. Cutting out rectangles in every page was one of the most tedious jobs, because I had to make sure I had the same rectangle cut out of every single one of the 400+ pages in this book. The next tedious job I had to accomplish was gluing together all of the pages. In my head it seemed a lot more simple to do than it actually was. I remember distinctly a handful of days over our winter break where I sat down and glued pages together for hours at a time. It took even longer because for a while, I was dead set on having all the pages being perfectly lined up, like a real book. Some of them are a little out of line or bent up, but I still managed to achieve a mostly lined-up set of pages in the final product. I spent time sketching, outlining, and coloring the robot and the crystals in the project. I spent time trying to figure out how to begin to attach the ziploc bag to the project, to establish the fact that the robot is trapped. This project took a lot of time both in and outside of class, which was a very big challenge for me. In the end, though, all the work paid off. You can see my process with this altered book by clicking on this link.

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Title: Balance

Media: clay, glaze

Size: 5in x 5in x 5in (length x width x height)

Reflection: “In what ways have you improved as a writer/artist/scientist/etc.? What brought about those improvements?”

In doing this project, I feel like I have improved as an artist. In my lifetime, I never worked much with clay aside from small-scale art projects in elementary school. I was never the best at working with clay, either. Most of my clay projects from elementary school turned out lopsided and generally sloppy. So, starting this project I was a little scared, because I’m well aware that I’m not very talented when it comes to working with clay. I didn’t want to get a bad grade just because I couldn’t make something that looked nice. So, I worked as hard as I could. I put my heart into this project, and I worked on it to the very best of my ability. In the end, this was the result. It actually looks pretty nice, even if it is a little rough around the edges. It’s not perfect, but it was the best I could do. Considering it actually looks like a lantern and functions as one, I consider it a huge success. I even managed to earn a good grade on the assignment. Considering all of this, I am very proud of what I accomplished.

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Final Reflection Prompts and Responses:

Prompt One: “What was your biggest accomplishment in the course? How did this artifact and other course elements help you reach it? Be specific.”

My biggest accomplishment in this course was definitely the candle votive, or the clay lantern. I haven’t worked with clay very much in my lifetime, and even still, I have never been especially talented at working with clay. This project was a very big project, and we spent the better part of a month’s worth of classes working on it. The sculpture isn’t perfect. It’s messy and it definitely could have been better if we had had more time to work on it. But, I put everything I had into this project, and even though it’s not the best, I’m still proud of the result. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I could do. This project was a big accomplishment for me because it isn’t something I’m especially familiar with, and despite being messy, the result is still very good. The project earned a 48/50, which I was kind of surprised by at the time. Looking back on it, though, I definitely earned that grade. I worked hard, and I made something that was worthy of an A. In doing this project, I learned a lot about clay that I never really knew before, and I learned how to work with it properly. With all the things I learned, I was able to create the final product. That’s why the clay lantern was my biggest accomplishment in this class, because it’s a grade I really feel like I earned.

Prompt Two: “Discuss your best work for the course and explain why it’s your best. Be specific.”

My best work from the course was probably the altered book sculpture. This project looks much better than I ever expected it to. I had a plan for how it would look from the beginning, but I never would have guessed that it’d turn out the way it did. I spent a lot of time in class and at home working on the book. I spent much of the time in class cutting out the pages from the book, which took a lot more time than I expected it to. If I’m remembering correctly, it took me about three 85-minute class periods to finish cutting out the rectangles in 400+ pages. To be fair, though, I had to ensure that all the rectangles were the same size and lined up properly. Even still, you have to be very precise when cutting the pages so that it doesn’t look sloppy. Like I mentioned before, I did a lot of work on this project in-class, but I also brought it home over winter break to make sure I could add some finishing touches, and the project would be the best it could be. I spent time drawing out the robot that’s glued between some of the pages, I spent time outlining and coloring the robot, I spent time drawing all the crystals that can be seen in the project, and I spent time outlining and coloring those, too. I spent time getting the tissue paper to look nice and flat, and also to get the tissue paper to fit the book. I spent time drawing and outlining crystals on tissue paper for the ones on the “ground” of the scene. I spent a lot of time gluing all 400+ pages together. I can’t remember how many glue sticks I went through, but it was around ten glue sticks and a lot of my time. Gluing the pages together was a tedious process, because it looks messy if everything isn’t lined up properly. Even then, the sheer volume of the pages made it a lot of work. The point is, I spent very much time making this project look good, and it shows. That’s why the altered book is my best work from the course.

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