August 26, 2016, Entry 1: I created my Gmail account, created a website, named it, and sent the information to my physics teacher.
September 2, 2016, Entry 2: I looked through the project handouts on the PBL website and found one that is about homopolar motors. I looked at the links and then watched the YouTube videos the website had. I then made my mind that the homopolar motor project was the one I wanted. I then did some research and read about homopolar motors to understand how they work. I went on YouTube and looked up videos on how to build a homopolar motor. I wrote down the materials that I needed and I saved my website and finished for the day.
September 16, 2016, Entry 3: I logged onto my PBL website and created a new page. I named the page What is STEM SOS? I then read through the instructions and wrote down a few notes to plan out what it was that I was going to write about. I then looked through my notes and decided which information was important for my PBL and which wasn’t.
September 23, 2016, Entry 4: I logged onto my PBL website and I went to the What is STEM SOS? page. I then answered the questions: "What is STEM Education,' ' Why is STEM Education important?', and 'How can STEM Education Shape the Future?" I typed a paragraph for each question and then I proceeded to add pictures with information about STEM Education. I then added three different links about STEM Education onto the website. After that I added YouTube links about STEM Education on the website. Then I hyperlinked several images to social media pages on STEM Education. I finished by adding STEMSOS Model.
September 30, 2016, Entry 5: I created a new page on my PBL website and titled it My PBL Project. I then added an Introduction, Materials, Procedure, Safety, Pictures, and Action Video subtitles. I then wrote about the purpose of my project on the Introduction tab. On the Materials tab I wrote down all of the materials that I need for my project. For the Procedure tab I wrote down the steps you have to complete in order to build a homopolar motor. In the Safety tab I wrote about the safety measure you had to take while working with this project.
October 7, 2016, Entry 6: I went to my physics teacher's classroom after school around 4pm to work on my project and record a short video of my project in action. My physics teacher handed me the materials that I needed. I then laid out all of materials and took pictures of them. Then I set up my project and took an 8 second long video of the homopolar motor in action. After I finished recording I cleaned up and went home to edit my video. After I was done editing my video, I inserted it onto my website along with the pictures that I took of my materials
October 14, 2016, Entry 7: I read the PBL handout for my project and then went onto my PBL website and answered the questions that were at the end of the handout. I answered the eight questions that were on the handout with the help of some research that I did. The questions I had to answer were mainly about the homopolar motor working with different types of magnets, if the homopolar motor had any applications to real life and if there were any disadvantages to the homopolar motor. The questions also asked if there could be any changes made to the homopolar motor and if there were any factors that could affect its efficiency. I also had to answer if the shape of the coil affected the speed at which the homopolar motor spun and if it would change the force of the magnetic fields coming from the magnets. Other questions asked what I could do to change the direction of the spin of the wire and how the force that causes the wire to spin is created. The last question that I had to answer asked on why the homopolar becomes hot after it is used for long periods of time. I had to answer these questions to help me answer questions that I will be asked when presenting this project.
October 30, 2016, Entry 8: Today I am working on the ELA Component of my PBL website. I am writing a journal where I will state my progress on my PBL project every time I work on a new task. I've had to look back at the PBL website to see what the tasks are. I then look back at the school website and see what tasks we have grades for in the database. I then go back to my PBL website and write the date of that the task was completed and write the entry number. I then describe as best as I can what I did for that specific task or part of the task. I wrote and entry for every PBL task that we've been so far and I have described what we have done and I've looked through the entries to make sure I didn't make any mistakes