Cardboard Canoes!

Achievements:
• Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions - State the problem you are designing a solution for. List at least 20 ideas you have regarding your solution.

• Big Brain - The individual student with the most brainstorms listed will earn a bonus achievement.

Sketch Ideas - Draw 3 different sketches for possible designs. Label at least 3 key features for each sketch. Describe the feature's functionality so a viewer understands why the called out feature is important.
• Prototype Ideas - Craft physical prototypes (models) of each of your three sketches. Use a notecard or post it note to call out at least one key feature on each model. Post the images to your blog and describe the key feature that you've pointed out on each.

• Select an Approach - Generate feedback (+, change, ?, !) and make a decision matrix regarding your sketches/prototypes. Specify the approach you've chosen and justify your selection.

We thought that a big boat that was sturdy would be the best.  We shouldve taped better and made the walls sturdier.

• Surface area! - Calculate how much surface area you can cover with your given duct tape. How many sf can you cover with one roll? How many can you cover with all your rolls? What % efficiency do you think you can achieve with your overlap?
63.73 ft^2

• Build It! - Build your watercraft. Your build must meet the standards of construction (100% covered in Duct Tape). Document it with a presentable photo.
• The Early Bird Gets the Achievement - Awarded to the team with the fastest build.

We finished building first.


• Balance Master - Awarded if you can have at least one person stand for 5 seconds in the boat (you must conduct this away from the edge of the pool so that non one falls over and hits their head)

Matt stod up for about seven seconds, and then fell out.


• Videographer - Take video of the challenge and post to your blog.

We had a video, but it would not go from email to the blog.
• Feedback - Generate ten items of feedback for your effort (from the design/build process and/or the actual product). Make sure you include at least one item of feedaback in each of our four feedback areas (+, change, ?, !)

1. All gave ideas
2. All built it together.
3. Brought in duct tape.
4. Wish the boat was longer/wider.
5. Want to change balance.
6. Better durability.
7. Tape the walls better.
8. Distributed the weight a little better.
9. Held it together better.
10. Tried a more extreme design.

• How Low Did You Go? - How low in the water did your canoe sit (roughly)? Was it suprising how little your boat went down in the water? What is the unit weight of water in pounds? How much did your pilot weigh (roughly)? Use math to help explain the depth that your boat sat in the water.

It went under water.... After about 2 minutes. Before that I'd say about 7 inches.

• Redesign - If we were to do another Carboard Canoe race next semester, what would you build? Draw from everything you experienced in your class and propose the most competative solution. Include a sketch with key features and dimensions labeled.

I would make a caneo type thing with a round bottom.  I feel like if it were sturdy enough it would work.

• (Make Your Own Achievement) - Make an achievement of your own design that you can award yourself for something awesome your team did. (Example "Transformer" - although our canoe sunk, our team was able to convert it into a surfboard style design and continue competeting!)

Our boat could handle over 10 cannonballs and being forced under water. And we could still use it.


~Just a note, we have a video, but I couldnt figure out how to get it from my e-mail to this.  It is on Teddy's blog.  Also, the pictures below are proof of our achievments, however i couldn't get them in the right place so they are just down there. 

The first one is for the build it achievment.

The second one is for the sketch it achievment.

3rd one is prototype ideas.

Mousetrap racecars

Achievments we earned:
Braniac!- Pics
Visualize it- Pictures above
Build It- Pictures above
Price of Glory-- $38
Competitor- Although we were somewhat disqualified because of the laucher design. We did compete... would have won too. It was a solid design if the constraints had allowed it.
Feedback- Wish it could have qualified. I think if we could have solved the issue of it bringing the mousetrap it would have worked more effectively.
Re-Work- I would have tried to figure out a way to connect the mousetrap to the cart to allow it to travel with the cart. Allowing it to qualify.
GameChanger- Make it so that the mousetrap doesn't have to travel with the car.
Invent It- Launcher- Launch the cart a distance of 5 tiles.
Leave it cleaner than you found it- I helped Justin reorganize the building pieces.
Design/Build- Sean and I went through multiple designs. None worked very well that qualified. The one that did work, didn't qualify.

minecraft

Train

2.1.6 CAD Drawings

TED Challenge

1) What is the TED organization about?
TED is about providing videos that are infofmative, educational, and sometimes funny.
2) What is the purpose of their website and how does the functionality of their site support that?
Their site is made so all of their videos are in one place, making their purpose, which is to provide educational videos, easier to find then on other sites.
3) As Engineers and Problem Solvers, which topic areas (the choices from the "Show talks related to:" section on the sidebar) are of most interest to us? Justify your answer.
I think that the ingenious one would interest us most because thats basically what we are trying to accomplish.  We are trying to make something that is ingenious.  Also, the informative one because we are always learning.
4) Based on your previous answer, what are 3 talks (videos) on the site that appear like they would be of most interest to you as an Engineer/Problem Solver? Justify your choices.
Three videos that would be of most interest to an engineer/problem solver would be the Thrilling potential of sixthsense technology, a robot that flies like a bird, and are mushrooms the new plastic.
Here are the links to these three videos:
http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html
5) Each student will watch a unique video (clear your choice with me... first come, first served!). Watch the video. Embed the video in your blog post and create a bulletized outline of the key issues presented in the talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/garth_lenz_images_of_beauty_and_devastation.html

• Oil although useful destroys environments
• It's causing serious damage

6) How could you get involved in the field/technology/issue you chose to hear about? What experience/skills/training/education would you need to learn to get involved with this field?
 One could stop using as many oil products to help stop the dependency on it.

Egg Drop

Thats a picture of our design.  The egg was wrapped in tin foil and the top was also covered in tin foil.  We attached a plastic bag to the top with a string.  Even though our egg didn't crack, we didnt get any of the achievments.

CAD Thingys

CAD Sketches

I didnt really get them all done.

The Glider Challenge

1.  The activity was the make a plane using the materials and directions given.  I worked with Jack and Justin and some challenges that we faced was the 5 times that the plane broke.

2. 
3. 

4.  We tested it by throwing it, and we had to modify it because it broke several times when we were testing it.

5.  We won the farthest one but nothing else.

6.  We brainstormed, modeled, and prototyped. 

Moneyball Reflection

1) What was the “Moneyball”approach that Billy Beane and Peter Brandt applied to the Oakland Athletics 2002 season? Was it an “art” or a “science”? What single statistic did they boil their value consideration down to? (In class research/discussion)
Billy Beane and Peter Brand's approach to the 2002 season was to asssemble a team that would win games and championships on a small budget.  It was a science, and the one stat that they valued the most was OBP.
2) What is the equation used to calculate OBP? (In class research/discussion)
The equation for OBP is (Hits + Walks + Hit by Pitch) / (At Bats + Walks + Hit by Pitch + Sacrifice Flies).
3) What is design? (In class research/discussion)
Design is a plan designed to improve something.
4) Describe 3 situations where movie characters (intentionally or not) applied a step from the PLTW 12 Step Design Process. Explain both the (a) situation as well as (b) how the step is relevant:
1 -When Billy and his scouts were discussing which players they liked and didnt like, brainstorm step.2 - They identified their constraints when Billy talked to his owner about their budget.3 - Billy refined his design when he traded Jeremy Giambi and Carlos Pena away.
5) What is “Leadership”? List the three aspects of leadership that we come up with in class. (In class research/discussion)

1 - The ability to lead
2 - When your peers respect you
3 - Making smart decisions


6) Describe 3 circumstances from the story where a character exercised effective leadership:
1 - Billy went against the scouts judgement and signed players like Giambi, Justice, and Bradford.

2 -  Fired the head scout who was very opposed to Billy's methods.

3 - Traded for Rincon when they needed a left handed reliever



7) According to the movie, what was the A’s record at the start of their winning streak? 68: 51

8) What does this ratio simplify to (roughly)? 1.33: 1

9) How long was the A’s record setting winning streak? 20games won.

10) Given the A’s win/loss ratio at the start of the streak (listed two questions above), what are the odds of winning 20 games in a row? Run the numbers. (In class research/discussion)
They had .000013chance to win 20 games in a row.

11) Based on your calculation, do you think the A’s got lucky or was there something to the Moneyball approach?
You cant predict 20 game winning streaks, no matter how good your statistics are.

12) Did Billy Beane strictly apply the “science” of Moneyball to his management approach? Was there an “art” to his efforts as well? Describe a circumstance where he broke from the Moneyball approach to make a positive change for the team.
There wasnt really an art to his methods, and one instance where he broke away from the moneyball method was when he traded away jeremy giambi and traded for ricardo rincon.



Bonus Question (look into this if you’ve finished ahead of the class):
Money Ball was originally a book. What author wrote the book? What other books has this author written? Is there a theme to his writing?
The author of moneyball is Micheal Lewis.  He has written some other books like The Blind Side.

CAD Sketches

I didn't really get them all done, you can thank Preston for that because he turned off my computer while I was working.