Journal 1:
I gathered my materials on this day, for in this day I said I will do the the Ballistic Car. And so my project from this day on will be about the Ballistic Car as well as my journals. Earlier this week I was told to choose a project among the ones listed. Ballistic Car sounded cool. We were told about STEM projects about a week in advance and that we would need to decide on one. I didn't think we would get a list. After school ended, I went home and logged onto Edmodo.com. I found the link to the list and selected my project. This was the beginning of my project.
Journal 2:
I tested out the Ballistic Car today and it seem in good shape, after I proceeded to do my background research and started with the website. I learned that this project is about acceleration, projectile and its motion. During the week the class was told that we had to complete tasks five through seven. Everything was pretty straight forward. After that I did a bit of research on my project. I found a few videos of other kids from my school that have also done the same project. After watching the videos I found that my project wouldn't be that hard to do. I would need to get a metallic ball and throw it into the air and catch it, all without touching it. Sounds simple enough.
Journal 3:
I began creating my tunnel. I have practiced with the ballistic car and I am very confident that this project will come out great. Also, The My PBL Project page was created. Went to look for a ball bearing and some materials i could use to make the car with. Disappointingly, I found that it must be bought. At least the parts can be bought separately. It needs to be bought in order to make sure I do this right. Plus I don't think I could effectively build a ball launching car effectively. I shall buy the materials within the week.
Journal 4:
I tested the car with the tunnel and I found it very interesting and instructive on how gravity affects things. Today is when I also started my About My School page. This project is going very great. I went to the store and they didn't have any of the parts. They said they would have a new shipment on Tuesday and that I should come by then. For now I shall proceed with research. I don't want to miss a single detail when it comes time to do the project. After reviewing the videos the project looks easier and easier. I don't think it will take me long to complete this assignment. I went to the store and they didn't have any of the parts. They said they would have a new shipment on Tuesday and that I should come by then. For now I shall proceed with research. I don't want to miss a single detail when it comes time to do the project. After reviewing the videos the project looks easier and easier. I don't think it will take me long to complete this assignment.
Journal 5:
Today I plan on finishing this website. Take notice these journals are weeks apart so a lot has happened. I took both videos and have edited one of them which is in the page below this one. Tuesday rolled around and we went to the store. We purchased the pieces and headed home. When I arrived at my house I began assembling the car and was really looking forward to messing with it. After launching the ball a few times and recording data accordingly I began to understand the concept of the project. It was kind of cool to see that a horizontal force won't affect an object's vertical force.
Journal 6:
I finished the last video that goes on the Homepage, I think it looks good. Please go and check it out. Also the Ballistic Car and its concepts are explained during the video, I hope you find it instructive. This week I organized all my data. I seemed to have lost one of the trial runs. I will run it again and replace the lost data with the new data. Everything is in place now and I will just wait for this to end.
Journal 7:
I researched the historic context of this PBL and have found it very instructive, my findings have been typed out on the SS Connection page. It talks about early examples of projectiles and how they might have affected the economy of the country. After redoing all the trials and comparing results I found that the data is consistent. It doesn't seem that anything will change even if I were to break the car. I wonder if I can do the same tests for different objects. I will try to launch and catch a bouncy ball.
Journal 8:
On this day I researched the Investigation Question, they were taken from the handout in the PBL page. They were typed out and answered each with an individual answer. I also added pictures of my project and worked on the video in the PBL page. The bouncy ball can be caught but it bounced right out of the barrel after it landed inside. The bouncy ball took a while longer to predict where it would land because it would be thrown higher than the metal ball. I think the reason for this is is because the bouncy ball is rubber and it doesn't weigh as much as the metal one.
Journal 9:
Today I started the Brochure that was supposed to go in the homepage. It was finished and posted on the same day. The Brochure is in the homepage available to download or to look at. Hope you like it. Finally I have finished my project. It was fun while it lasted and I learned a couple new things. Although it was fun I'm happy i don't have to worry about it now. I can worry about other work that is due. All that should concern me about this project is presenting it. I hope I don't have to do another STEM project next year so I can focus on my classes more.
Journal 10:
In this week I supposedly finished the website, but it still had problems so I fixed them with the help of my Physics teacher. I added more questions and worked on the Journals. I got up to 10.