AP Literature: Gingerbread House

For this project, we were tasked with creating a structure, like a gingerbread house, displaying an important structure from a book. My partner and I decided to use Macbeth as our inspiration. Together, we built Dunsinane Castle, with scenes from the play included in the house, like a dollhouse. We built the scene with the feast and Banquo’s ghost out of pretzels and sourpatch kids. We included the outside environment by building Birnam Wood out of sourpatch kids and sprigs from a Christmas tree.

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AP Research Reflection Post: Part 1

Reflect on one challenge you encountered in developing your topic or research question. What is one thing you would change about picking a topic/collecting data? How would the strategy you discussed help improve your project?

When I first started AP Research, I had no idea what my topic should be or what would make a good topic. Originally, I wanted to do a scientific experiment or do a project related to the Pink Tax and was stuck in limbo on which topic would make a better research project. The biggest challenge for me was deciding how to make the project “good” and I focused too much on the score aspect of the class rather than the actual research process. I am unsure of how ended up deciding on a topic but I did eventually land on the Pink Tax. While this topic was interesting, I found that it was difficult to acquire some sources since it was a topic that was not often studied.

Throughout the course of the class, I often compared myself to others and theirs projects and I found that was the biggest barrier to me being confident in my topic and completing a solid project. I wondered if I had picked a topic that was rigorous and required effort or if my project was “too easy”. With so many people telling me that surveys don’t score well, I felt dejected. Others in my class were completing experiments and conducting full-scale interviews, and to me it felt as though my project was inferior. But after completing the year, I’ve come to realize that comparing my project to others did not nothing to help me. I focused more on the score I would get rather than actually writing my paper.

Looking back on the year, if I were to give myself one piece of advice , it’d be to stop focusing so much on what other people are doing and to focus on what you want to do, and how you want to structure your project. It’ll be much more worthwhile if you are confident in your abilities while writing this paper, whether it be in actual topic selection or your chosen method. I’m glad I never switched my topic as I think I had interesting results. If I had listened to my thoughts in the middle of the year and switched, I think I would’ve felt even more dejected.

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Screen Time Effects on Adolescent Brain Evolution

In this project we learned how the brain evolves and develops. We then learned about the negative and positive effects of screen time. After we gathered our information, we decided whether the AAP should raise the recommended daily screen time from 2 hours to 4 hours. We decided that they should keep the recommended screen time to 2 hours. We created a trifold to show our findings on the negative effects of screen time and why they should keep the recommended time to 2 hours. I learned that the prefrontal cortex is the control system for the brain. I also learned that video games have some positive effects such as increasing self-esteem, problem solving skills, and developing visual acuity. Even though there are some positive effects, video games also have many negative effects such as obesity, lack of social interaction, and a language delays in kids under 3.

Works Cited

Desler, Margaret. “Guest Opinion: Step Away From the Screen.” Contra Costa Times n.d.: 15-16. Web. This article is about going screen-free for a weekend or a few days to spend more time with your family. Margaret Desler is a pediatrician at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Richmond, California who works on combating pediatric obesity.

Giedd, Jay N. “The Digital Revolution and Adolescent Brain Evolution.” Journal of Adolescent Health 51.2 (2012): 101-05. Web. This article is about how technology is effecting the evolution of the adolescent brain. Jay N Giedd is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a leading researcher on child and teen brain maturation and development.

The Online Educa Debate. By Aric Sigman. Perf. Aric Sigman. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 12. The article is about the effects and impacts technology has had on social interaction. Dr. Sigman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Master of Science in the Neurophysiological Basis of Behaviour, and a Ph.D.

Richtel, Matt. “Attached to Technology and Paying the Price.” n.d.: 17-25. Web. The article is about being too attached to technology and missing important events in life. Matt Richtel is an author and journalist for The New York Times.

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Hey! Yes you! Is your backpack too heavy? Then try a Rollie Pack!

Do you have a super heavy backpack and do you ever get tired of lugging it around? For a school project, we had to create an invention that help or entertain others. Our invention was backpack to help with posture and to solve that problem of super heavy backpacks. call it The Rollie Pack. The Rollie Pack is a backpack with wheels that extend down to the ground to help support the weight from your backpack.

The design process is a series of steps taken to create a product or invention. The design process we used was to Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product.

First, we found the problem. We found that backpacks are getting too heavy and we wanted to solve that problem. To ideate a solution, we thought about what could we do or add to a normal backpack to make the backpack lighter and easier to use. We decided we could have a backpack with wheels that extend down from the backpack from a standing position adding support and to aide the user in carrying the backpack. When we patented our idea, to do this we searched for patents similar to ours. Since there were not any patents similar to ours, we sent a patent application to the teacher which she approved. Next, we designed our backpack and logo by drawing them on paper. After we designed our idea, we tested our product by asking our classmates if our prototype would be useful to them and what they would add to it. We decided to remove the weight sensor that was original in our design after hearing people didn’t want one. After we tested, we made our product and packaging. We made our product miniature version of the backpack by using a pencil case. We then designed our packaging. We used an old pretzels container and decorated it with our logo and information about the Rollie Pack. Finally, we made a marketing video/ infomercial to try and sell our product.

In conclusion, we used the design process Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product to create our invention and advertise our product. After doing so, we had our product, The Rollie Pack.

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Helping the Citizens of City X

I created a device for a citizen of City X using the design process to solve the problem that they had. City X is a city on a different planet that has nothing but a 3D with them. Milo, the citizen I was helping, had a problem where the sun was too hot and their sunscreen wasn’t working. First, I had to empathize, so I put myself in Milo’s shoes to see what I would do if I were in his situation. Next, I had to define his problem. Milo’s problem was that the sun was too hot and his sunscreen wasn’t working.

Then, I had to brainstorm or ideate to come up with some new inventions that will help Milo to not get burned by the sun. The idea I eventually decided on was a hat with an umbrella on it, that when you press a button a sun-resistant bubble forms around you. After I brainstormed, I had to draw a sketch of 3 different revisions of my idea. On the first sketch, my umbrella was too small and the hat was too big, so on the second sketch I fixed the unevenness. On my third sketch I added the bubble.

Once my sketches were done, I made clay models of the design and then started working on my Tinkercad. While I was working on my Tinkercad, I tested the prototype by asking my friends what I should change. In conclusion, I used the design process to create a new invention for a person of City X who had a problem.

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How My Family Has Impacted Me

In this project I had to research of my family to make a family tree , and since then I have learned many new things about my family . For example, I learned that my grandfather used to be a chemist engineer and that my grandmother was a factory manager. I also learned that my mom has a degree in mechanical engineering but actually worked as a physics teacher and that my dad was an engineer. My family has impacted in many different ways. My mom has always been someone who can listen to me rant about something and will just say and listen, whereas my dad has always been someone to help me on my homework. My grandpa and grandma has been people who do everything they can to make me happy and I really appreciate it. I have learned a lot about my family and it has impacted me in many ways.

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Learning, Career, and Interests

I made a survey for my family asking them about their strengths, interests, passions, and goals and related them to my personal path. In my family my mom, sister, and brother-in-law answered the survey and they all had differing responses. They all answered visual as their learning style. When I asked them what their passions were my sister answered with dancing and shopping, my mom answered with reading and helping others, and my brother-in-law answered with playing soccer. My sister’s interests were family and career, my mom answered with nursing and science, and my brother-in-law is interested in soccer and science. They felt that their greatest strengths were flexibility, perseverance, determination, and being detail-oriented. Their goals were to become successful and to work as a nurse. When I asked them what jobs they would consider a career in. my mom answered with nursing, my sister replied with health administration, and my brother-in-law with civil engineering.

When I took the Vark Questionnaire my results came back showing that I learn best by reading and writing while the family who took my survey learn best visually. While my family answered that reading, soccer, and dancing were some of their interests, my interests are math and playing the clarinet. Both me and my family feel that flexibility is one of our strengths but I also feel that memory, resilience, compassion, and academic are some of my other strengths. I want to be a math teacher when I grow up which differs my family. Engineering involves difficult math which I believe has led me to a path involving mathematics. I also believe that because my mom has to deal with many different people, it will help me get along with others as I am following my path. In conclusion, my family has differing interests, passions, and goals. Many are to similar to mine and many are different.

Click here to visit my google survey.