Here is a slideshow that outlines, step by step, the process of the creation of my group's The Great Gatsby short film. It outlines my experience as a PA (personal assistant) as well as the contributions of my fellow group members. Additionally, it includes some behind the scenes (BTS) footage from the day we actually recorded our final product at RJR props. Please click through the slideshow on the right to learn more.
For this project we were asked to create a radio ad for a certain fast food chain. We had to plan the project, write the script, voice record the parts, etc. The purpose of this project was to learn how to use writing in a real world setting by writing a script for a radio ad. As an AP student, this was a chance to practice using the rhetorical situation as a writer/creator.
People started using Abstraction in their art around the same time impressionism started becoming popular. It is a style of art where people do not represent objects in their accurate form but rather using geometric/abstract shapes, colors, and forms. This is how a popular artists like Picasso used it. Native American artists used abstract art to express their own spiritual/intuitive expression of their artistic traditions. This was usually illustrated using geometric shapes and symbols. I think abstract art could be related to math because of the different geometric shapes involved. Data can be used in abstract art to show the distribution of something. For example, it can show the amount of women and men in a certain areas by making a certain percentage of the artwork pink and a certain percentage blue based of the data. I think I like to work in a more personally expressive way.
Borax is a type of salt. It is a powdery, white substance made of Sodium, Hydrogen, Boron, and oxygen. We used hot water for this because it allowed the water to contain more Borax. This process is called supersaturation. When the water cools, there will ultimately be too much Borax to be contained by the cool water. In the end, some borax will fall out of the mixture to balance the solution and crystals will form. My 3D sculpture is dynamic because it demonstrates form by creating the illusion of a fluid, swirling motion.
This year I have learned many lessons which correlate to my other classes. For example, I have learned how to experiment with different variables until I get my desired outcome. In art this looks like using different colors, shapes, or mediums to get the final piece of artwork. However, in science, this may look like conducting an experiment with different independent variables to answer a question or solve a problem. In math this might look like using different values to solve for x in an equation. So on and so forth. This year, we have developed an in depth understanding of the Principles of Design through projects like ChemVas Typography, It's Elementary, and Electron Mandalas. You can experiment with different possibilities in your art by incorporating different principles of design, different elements of art, etc. You can show this processs via taking photos. Finally, in this course we have learned about various famous artworks like the "Comedian", a display of a ripened banana duct-taped to the wall in Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art.
In my opinion, art is an expression of creativity. It's a concept that can stir up emotions, start conversations, and even change lives. From famous pieces like the Mona Lisa to a banana taped on the wall, art comes in many different shapes and sizes. I believe that true art is a piece with passion and purpose behind it. Something that may question normality and spread a message. It can show up not only in art galleries and museums but even in the classroom. Every subject incorporates art in some shape or form. For example, in 9th grade, we had a project in geometry where we had to create a stained glass piece. We used the principles of design and the elements of art to create a geometric piece of art, and that's just one example. Infusing creativity into your lessons is a great way to incorporate art into your subject matter. In conclusion, art is everywhere! Art is everything! As long as there is passion and meaning behind it.
AI could benefit art by acting as a source of inspiration for others. It could generate new creative possibilities that most might not even think of. This could relate to other subjects like AP Computer Science. For example, we had an assignment called pair-programming where we had to create a piece of art with a partner using code. This is a great example of how computing and art can relate to one another. This could eventually evolve into the use of AI into classes like art.
While the Mandala is most commonly used for meditation, an additional use would be to teach people religous training. They use the different lines, colors, shapes, etc to symbolize what people should learn through their spiritual and religous studies. It's most commonly used as a source of meditation to help enlighten both the mind and the body. It also connects you to the spirits/gods. It is most commonly associated with the buddhist religion. They were used as new civilizations began to develop and new religons and religous practices began to form. I see the principles variety, repetition, and unity. You could use the different patterns and shapes to create the shape of an atom. For example, you could use various circles to represent electron energy levels (shells).
For this assignment, our teacher Dr. Kurt asked us to use three lines and three shapes to simulate movement in a total of 3 pieces. We are required to use the same three shapes and three lines and rearrange them to complete the assignment. Here is my final product on the right. I decided to base them all around animals.
Today we were asked to play the Boolean game. A boolean is a value that can be either true or false. In this game, they give us parameters about which box we should click. For example if it said 2 & green, you would click the green box containing the number 2 in the middle. If it said green or 3, you would click all the green boxes and all the boxes that contain a 3. This helped me learn about not only the application of a boolean, but also how to use and, or, and not to detemermine what applies.
For this assignment we were asked to create a skit demonstrating our understanding of how to create a function, how to call a function, how to pass mulitple parameters, and how to take in values for the parameter. Additionally we were asked to write a reflection about how we did on our initial test and how we could have prepared better. I did very well on my test. I got a 110%. I could have studied more of the content, however, I believe a had a firm grasp on the content.
AP Computer Science Principles
I can create a python function.
I can call and define a python function to solve a problem.
I can define and create a function with multiple inputs.
I can create programs that define and call functions with return values and store the results for late use.
I can understand the items and characteristics of a list
I can use for loops to go through the items in a list.
Reflection Answers (Must be detailed and at least one paragraph long per response):
Describe how the Neolithic revolution led to injustices within religions, social classes, and between genders. Please provide examples for each analysis.
The Neolithic Revolution, also known as the Agricultural Revolution, was a time of rapid growth and prosperity for humankind. Rather than living nomadically and constantly hunting and gathering, humans began developing agricultural practices to grow their own food. While this development did have many positive effects like new writing systems, new religions, new law codes, new governments, and new technological advancements, it had negative effects like social stratification, gender inequality, social hierarchy, and injustices within religion as well. For example, Since these communities no longer had to hunt and gather their food, they began having more sedentary lifestyles. Rather than everyone having the same resources and doing the same thing as before, people began taking on different jobs and having different beliefs. As this idea continued to expand, people were sorted into classes. More lower-class jobs included artisans, farmers, and slaves while more upper-class jobs included priests, rulers, and warriors. Of course, those in higher classes were treated better. Then, as more patriarchal societies formed, gender roles arose. These societies lived in a way where men had important roles in society (in the government, fighting as warriors, etc.) while women would stay home and care for the children. Some of these ideals have carried on to our society today. Finally, different societies had different religious practices. Certain belief systems used religion to justify mistreating those in a lower class. For example, in Hinduism. Hinduism used the caste system, a social hierarchy preventing those in lower class/caste from moving up in power, as an excuse to treat the lower castes as lesser than.
Describe early neolithic technology and inventions. Please provide examples for each analysis.
With the start of the Neolithic revolution, thousands of new technological advancements and innovations were born. One of the most important innovations was fire, or at least the use of fire to cook food. During the Paleolithic revolution, people's brains were very underdeveloped. This is because they were not absorbing the nutrients from the food they were consuming. It was only after they began cooking food with the fire that their bodies could absorb the nutrients. Another example of a neolithic technology would be different tools like the plow. With the rise of farming, people had to develop tools to help them with their work. Another example would be pottery and textiles. With the development of farming, people had more downtime to create new things. Pottery was used to make things to store food. Finally, one of the most popular inventions was the wheel. Initially, it actually served as a potter’s wheel but evolved into a source of transportation for heavy materials.
Describe the rise of Interregional trade routes and how that led to the spread of religions. Give examples.
The Rise of interregional trade routes was caused by the trade of different specialized goods (i.e. silk, copper, etc.) as well as the spread of merchants between different regions. A good example of this would be The Silk Road. The Silk Road was a trade route connecting Asia and Europe. It is named the Silk Road because it is known for the trade of Silk from China. China specialized in Silk and wouldn’t share its secrets with any of the neighboring countries. Telling someone how to produce the silk would be punishable by death. Other examples would be the Trans-Saharan trade routes, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. This led to religion because while trading goods, these merchants would spread their beliefs as well. For example, Buddhism spread along the Silk Roads to places like China and Japan.
Explain the difference between centralized and decentralized governments. Please give examples of each.
Centralized governments are governments where one unit is in charge of all autonomous decisions. A decentralized government is the transfer of power from one higher government to several local/regional governments. A great example of a centralized government would be the Qin Dynasty. The Qin dynasty was the dynasty that reunited China after the Warring period. During his rule, he implemented Confucianism and legalism into the ancient Chinese civilization. In addition, he created a bureaucracy to help carry out his rule throughout Ancient China. He was the person making all the decisions for the entirety of Ancient China, therefore, this was a centralized government. A great example of a decentralized government would be Greece. Originally, Greece was made up of thousands of poleis (city-states). Due to the mountains and rough terrain within Greece, it was difficult for the people to communicate with one another. So, they decided to have a decentralized government. Each sovereign poleis (city-state) had their own ruler, their own government, and their own set of rules. However, Greece still maintained a common language and many shared characteristics.
List and explain six (6) significant terms that you should remember going into Period 1.
I think 6 significant terms I should remember are the Paleolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution, diaspora, cultural/religious diffusion, democracy, and golden age. The Paleolithic revolution is the time predating the Neolithic revolution where nomadic people had to hunt and gather as a source of food. The Neolithic revolution, also known as the agricultural revolution, was the onset of farming and technological advancement in humankind. A diaspora is the spread of people away from their homeland. Diffusion is the spread of something whether it be cultural, religious, etc. Democracy is a system of government where the people have a say in a country's decisions. Finally, the golden age of a place is a time when it is extremely prosperous.
Journal Entries
This morning we started our PBL project by getting into groups and signing our group contracts. Then, we created 5 group norms.
This morning we began gathering information on the Ancient Civilization of our choice, Ancient Egypt, and writing the who, what, where, when of our play. We gathered information encompassing Ancient egypt's economic systems, political structure, social structure, achivements, etc.
This morning we started writing the script for our play. We wrote the first scene where we introduced the characters, the setting, etc. We titled it The Triumph of King Tut. We all believe we got a really good start.
This morning we finished writing the rising action portion of our script. Next class, we plan on finish the script so we can start memorzing lines, casting, recording, etc next week.
This morning we finished writing our script. We assigned characters and told eachother to try to memorize some lines before returning back to class next week.
Shaping our World Summary
In the project–Shaping Our World–we learned about various ancient civilizations. This includes Ancient China, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and more. In addition to that, we also learned about the movie-making process. This includes making a script, recording scenes, editing videos together, and even editing music.
The main idea of the topic was to learn more about the past while creating a fun, modern movie in the process. This project combined multiple subjects like World History, Geometry, and World literature to ultimately produce a final product, the movie.We learned how to make a plot diagram, create a story, make characters, record various videos, arrange costumes, and more.
Ancient Egypt is most known for its mummies, pharaohs and hieroglyphics. Fun fact, King Tut, the most infamous Egyptian pharaoh of all time, was actually appointed as king at the age of 9 years old. During his rule, King Tut overturned the religious reforms of his father, King Akhenaten, and restored Egypt to polytheism. That is actually what we made our movie about. Contrary to what people might think, hieroglyphics are very important even to this day. We use this ancient language to not only learn about the stories of the past, but also as a base for our current alphabet. I wonder what other contributions Ancient Egypt has made to our lives today and how our world would be affected without them.
In conclusion, In the project–Shaping Our World–we learned about various ancient civilizations. This includes Ancient China, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and more. We also learned about the movie-making process, how to make a script, record scenes, and how to work together in a fun way to construct an educational product.