Charity Fair | It Only Takes A Word To Change A Nation

Women Employed Tri-fold by Mackenzie Macdonald

Charities are everywhere, they help with all different things and try to make their community, state, nation, and even the world, a better place. Charities are non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting things or fixing a problem or injustice. Charity Fair is an AdVENTURE event that allows students to research an issue, study and choose a charity, make and sell a product, look at carbon footprints and make an ignite. These products are sold at a student exhibition night, to parents and people, and all of the money goes to the winning charity. The winning charity is decided through the Ignite presentation process. Students will study a charity and make an Ignite presentation to convince people why their charity deserves to win the money. They will present in their classes and their classmates will vote on who has the best charity. Then the winning charity of each class will head off in front of the student council who will, in the end, decide which charity(s) will get the money. But there is more to this project than just charities. Our carbon footprints as humans are huge, we make a gigantic impact on the earth and everything that is on it. Also, there is a lot of business, selling products is a lot harder than it seems, you can't just make a product and put up a booth, there is a lot of advertising and mathematics that goes into making and selling products. You have to figure out how much you are going to sell it for so that you make a reasonable amount of money, but people will still buy it. You also have to figure out just how you are going to make it and how you are going to advertise it and make it so that people want to buy your product. This year, my group and I, choose to make bath bombs for our product. It was a lot of work and took time, but in the end, it was worth it. Our charity, Women Employed, works to get women fair work spaces, equal pay and get young women through college, empowering women and making a difference in their community. We got second in our class with our Ignite Presentation, and grown a lot since we first started.

Backward-Looking

I have definitely gotten better at doing this work over the years. I have improved upon my presentation skills and learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. I have also worked on my time management, which was one of my big goals from years past. I have gotten better and making quality products and working efficiently. It has been a very fun and instructive time here at AdVENTURE STEM and I have had a really good time growing and learning. I think I have definitely grown a lot and can see all of my progress, overall, it was a very successful time at charity fair.  

Inward-Looking

This year, my standards were to make my presentation look really good and get int the class top three, sell out of our products by the end of Charity Fair exhibition night, and to make sure that my work looked good and professional. Finally, I wanted to try my best and have fun this year. I believe that I have not only achieved, but exceeded this years standards. I not only sold out, but sold out less than half-way through the night, I made it into second place for our class and I was able to make my work look great and had an excellent time and enjoyed myself.

Outward-Looking

When people, especially adults, look at my work, I want them to realize just how much of an effort I have put into it and how much I have grown. I started as a fifth grader clutching my script and shaking presenting in front of my own class, now as an eighth grader, I am confident in my abilities and don't even look at my note card. In fifth grade, my products were messy and cute, not neat and professional. I think that I have put a lot of effort into my work and grown, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. I want people to see how going through this program has made me a better person and a better worker, and that you can do anything you set your mind to.

Forward-Looking

If I had a chance to do something like charity fair again, I would like to learn from my mistakes. I would make a product that more people would want or need. I would make sure that my presentation was as perfect as it could be and that I changed it to be better every time that I got feedback or a compliment so that my Ignite could be really great. I think I would also like to spend more time working and improving on something, then going through it, getting an A, and then moving on. Everything has room to be improved upon and I think that that is something that I overlooked this year while I was working on my project. I will always have room for improvement and I think that making those improvements is something that I need to spend ore time doing,

Speed and Velocity | Interpreting distance vs. time graphs

Difference Between Speed and Velocity by Addison Wesley

I am sure you have all heard of speed like the car is going 30 mph or the person is running 5 m/s. But have you heard of velocity? Velocity is the slope of the line at different points on a direction vs. time graph. The velocity is otherwise known as rise over run, where the rise is the y-axis and the run is the x-axis. Speed and velocity are similar but still different. Speed is a scalar quantity because it measures time over distance, but not direction, whereas Velocity, a vector quantity, measures direction as well as speed. Velocity is the line on a direction vs. time graph. A direction vs. time graph will always have the direction or position factor on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. To interpret these graphs all you need to do is to figure out which direction the object is moving relative to the reference point, and how fast the object is moving. First, find your reference point, or this example we'll call it (0,0) Then look at the line, is it sloping up or down from your reference point? This means that it is moving away from your reference point. If it is a line parallel to the x-axis this means that the object has stopped moving at whatever position that they are from your reference point, and not moved for that period of time. Once you know this, you can interpret what the object is doing and how it is moving. But you still have to figure out the speed that your object is moving at. This would be the slope of the line or rise over run, but you just won't be adding the direction. The slope of your line can be calculated using this simple equation: (final y position - starting y position)/(final x position - starting x position). Then, to find the units, look at the bottom of the graph on the x-axis to find the unit of time and then look to the y-axis to find the unit of movement. There you have it, you can now interpret these graphs, you can add in the direction of movement to find the velocity.

S&EP
SP: Analyzing Data

Interpreting graphs is one of many forms of analyzing data. Interpreting graphs can help scientists and mathematicians to figure out important details and analyze data. Graphs are a way that scientists can organize and look at all f their data in a way that they can easily understand. Being able to interpret and read graphs is very useful for when you are looking at your or other scientist's, data.  Being able to do all this is a very important skill that is used a lot in the fields of science and mathematics.

XCC
XCC: Structure and Function

Everything thing has a very unique structure and function that fits its needs. This is especially seen in families. Every family has it's own structure and functions in a different way that is suitable for who they are and what they need. But structures and their functions can change. This can be most widely observed in families around the holidays. around the holidays. Lots of different people celebrate different holidays around winter time, even is families celebrate the same holiday, they most likely celebrate it differently. The structure and function of families can change during the holiday season, spending more time with family could cause the structure of the family to strengthen additionally, hosting people over the holiday season can change the function of the hosting family to get prepared and make sure that everything is ready. Structure and function are a huge part of science and show us how things works, families of every kind are a great example of structure and function and how things work, we can learn a lot from families if only we would look further into it.

Motion | Distance, Displacement, Scalars and Vectors.

Have you ever been on a road trip? Have you ever planned one? Well, if you have or haven't, the basic criteria is to stop at different places and get there in the shortest amount of time. You want to spend the least amount of time as you can traveling on highways and the most time doing fun activities. You also would know road trips cover a lot of distance. But what if you could just cut in a straight line to your destination. That would make for a much shorter traveling time. That is called displacement. Displacement is one of the many vector quantities A vector quantity is a quantity that has both a magnitude and a direction. A displacement is the shortest way to get from point a to point b. A direct, straight line that gets you there in the shortest distance. It has both the distance traveled and the direction in which it is traveling. This is different than distance. Distance is a Scalar quantity. A scalar quantity is a magnitude. It has no direction. It is like if I said, that car is slow, or that mouse is small. Distance and displacement are two common things used to define how far something is traveling and what is the shortest route. But how do you decide if an object is moving anyway? Well, you compare it to a reference point. A reference point is an object that you can use to describe a objects position. Like, that person is 5 feet away from the light post, where the light post is the reference point. Your positions, and whether you are moving or not, depends on your reference point. If your reference point is moving, the distance can be growing or getting smaller, so it is easier to choose a still reference point when wanting to figure out an object's position. So next time you go on a road trip, just remember, there more science in life than you think.

S&EP
SP: Using Mathematics

Distance and Displacement require mathematics. To figure out distance, you need to add up all of the different measurements to get the overall distance that the object has traveled. For displacement, the easiest thing to do is using the Pythagorean theorem. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, a squared plus b squared must equal c squared, where c is the hypotenuse. To figure out displacement, just draw a rectangle where point a is opposite point b. Then draw a line through the middle that connects both lines. Then use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse will equal the displacement of your object. But don't forget to add the direction in which your line is moving, this is because displacement is a vector, so it has both magnitude and direction.

XCC
XCC: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Vector and Scalar quantities are used in all kinds of scales. They can be used to figure out small or large things in motion. They help scientists to figure out many different things from Temperature to acceleration. They can be used in simple things like, "My dog runs fast." or "Its 78 degrees outside today" or in more complex ways like, "The car accelerates by 5 miles per hour every time it turns right, and 6 miles per hour every time it turns left." Vector and Scalar quantities help scientist figure out things on all different types of scales. This shows us just how much science is used in our lives and how it affects and changes us.