In my group was Luan and Henna. We all worked well together and collaborated with each other. We all contributed ideas and improved the coaster in our own ways. We had many success, like being the first group to get a functioning loop, and being one of the most consistent roller coasters in the class. We also had many failures, like struggling to fix the loop after it broke once. This project used the most grit out of any project that I've ever done at this school, so it was a skill that got improved a lot throughout the project.
I learned a lot in humanities throughout this project. My revolution was called the Bambatha Rebellion, which was a rebellion between the Zulu people (A South African clan) vs. the British Empire. I learned a lot on this topic, and through all of the presentations my group and I made, I also learned a lot about the British Empire and its rule. We also wrote "choose your own adventure" stories (linked below) where you read one story, and it leads you to 2 other stories, and that story leads you too 2 other stories. Our groups story was about 2 boys, James (son of a British Soldier) who moved to Natal, South Africa with his family to colonize it, and M'kai (Son of the chief of the Zulu people). The 2 boys become best friends and go on crazy adventures throughout the rebellion.
I also learned a ton in physics as well. We jumped into a new subject this semester in physics: conservation of energy. It was all about the transference between kinetic, potential, and mechanic energies, along with velocity. We also had to calculate all of these things throughout the roller coaster, using a marble as the Coaster. I learned a lot from this project on the physics side of things, and was able to explain it pretty well at exhibition.
I learned a lot in engineering throughout the project as well, and also got to use new tools that I had never used before. this was my first semester of engineering so it was a good way to start off the class. The main tool for building the Roller Coaster was using a lighter and some sauder to weld the tracks together. At first I wasn't comfortable with the lighter and sauder, but eventually I got used to it and it became easy. I also used the jigsaw, which I had used before but briefly. I am still looking forward to using more tools in the future in engineering class.
Overall, I think that the exhibition turned out really well and it was one of my personal favorites from my time at High Tech (6th - 9th). It was a fun location, sense it was held at Belmont Park, and the people there seemed to be genuinely interested. I had talked to random strangers who didn't have any clue as to why we were there, but after leaving my booth, seemed a lot more interested in the topic and went to go look at other peoples Roller Coasters. I feel that I was an important asset to my group and played a large role in the making of the Roller Coaster. My group mates also helped tremendously with the Coaster, and everyone helped with at least one aspect. In terms of Work Ethic, I would give myself an A or A+ because I was almost always on task and had grit all throughout the project. Id also give myself an A or A+ in collaboration because all of my group members worked well with each other and helped each other out. In Oral communication I would give myself an A because during exhibition I talked to certain people for over 15 min straight on the topic alone because they seemed interested in it, and I genuinely had a lot to say. In written communication, Id say an A because I wrote up our whole brochure about the project and the rebellion, and included links and QR codes to all of our stories. Lastly, in content knowledge id give myself an A or A+ because, like I said, I talked to people for over 15 min at a time because I had a deep understanding of the subject at hand. I did a lot of research and put a lot of time into our class presentations and learned a lot from this project.