I have chosen to focus on how to make kaleidoscopes for my Math PBL Project. For my ELA connection, I have chosen to complete a journal. I will document my journal under the ELA Component portion of my website. I will write journal entries detailing the important parts of my PBL project. My journal entries will be posted below.
October 2014
I've researched the history of kaleidoscopes and figured out the inventor of the kaleidoscope and how kaleidoscopes have changed the world both socially and economically. My website is coming along pretty well. I've added my "Background Research" portion already and have just added my "SS Connection." All that's left is the video and the brochure.
November 2014
I've made my kaleidoscopes and have realized why they use triangles instead of any other shape. Using four mirrors give us a square image, 5 mirrors a pentagonal image, and so on, but triangles seem to be more efficient in giving you a psychedelic image. It was a little hard to make the kaleidoscopes. The instructions and the actions themselves were simple but there was a lot of measuring and a lot of keeping track of which kaleidoscope I was working on. All in all, it has been a very productive project and I've learned a lot.
December 2014
I've made my video and brochure. Now, making the video was a long and complicated process. The program I used was iMovie. The actual filming for the video didn't take very long, all I had to do was record myself pointing at my kaleidoscopes and show the inside of the kaleidoscopes since I knew I would add my voice in later. And writing the script didn't take very long either. It it isn't very long either as shown below.
(PBL SCRIPT)
Hi, I am Maria from Harmony Schools and this is my project on making kaleidoscopes and seeing how the view would change by making different shapes with the rectangular mirrors. I made kaleidoscopes using 3 mirrors, 4 mirrors, 5 mirrors, and 6 mirrors. This is how the view looks like through the triangular kaleidoscope. The view you get through a triangular kaleidoscope is a result of the object bouncing back in the three mirrors. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the colored objects presents the viewer with many colors and patterns. This is typically achieved by setting the mirrors at a 60-degree angle. But if you want to understand more how you get the view through a kaleidoscope you can simply look at this image and it will tell you everything you need to know. Throughout the project, I kept a journal detailing only the important aspects of my experiment. This includes me researching on the history of the kaleidoscope and finding out the conclusion of my project. The kaleidoscope was invented in the early 1800’s by Scottish inventor David Brewster. At the time, Brewster was studying many aspects of physical science including the properties of light. He named his invention “kaleidoscope” after the Greek words for beautiful, shape, and “to look at”. Kaleidoscope literally means “beautiful form watcher”. They were very popular during the Victorian age but they are still widely used today. Thank you for watching Harmony Schools.
But the actual making of my video was, as I said before, complicated. I first had complications when I tried to download what I filmed onto iMovie. That alone took me a few days. Then I had to go and find each individual picture that I was going to use in my video. Downloading those pictures also took awhile since there seemed to be some problems with my computer. Then I had to record my script and make sure it was aligned with the pictures, music, and with what I filmed so that everything was in sync. I also had to make sure it was the required two minutes. It took me almost two weeks, but the final product was worth it.
January 2014
I've expanded my website and added more information. I also created my YouTube channel so I could add my video. Transporting the video from iMovie to my channel also took awhile and I had to get help from my Geometry teacher, Ms.McCullough. But once I had done that, I tweaked my video slightly, made it unlisted (which I later changed to public), and added it to my website.