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Earthquake Proof building design evaluation

Aisha DavisLeave a comment

In science we have been learning about Earth and Space. More specifically we have been learning about earthquakes in quite a lot of depth. With our knowledge of earthquakes, we have been tasked to create an Earthquake proof building. A project where we have a limited amount of blue tack and spaghetti and a limited time frame and must create a structure that can withstand a simulated earthquake. This project is meant to broaden our knowledge on earthquake proof architecture as earthquakes are a big and real problem around the world. Countries around the edge of the Pacific Ocean (the ring of fire) experiences the effects of earthquakes the most. Some of these countries include Chile, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Approximately 20,000 people die each year to earthquakes, so ensuring that our structures can withstand even the strongest of earthquakes is an important development that all structures should be equipped with.

Our design was solid and survived all 3 earthquake types and was so sturdy it could be tipped upside down. The structure withstood all 3 earthquake types because of a few design features we included.

  • Doubled the spaghetti to make building stronger and sturdier
  • β€œCrossed over” design to reinforce the sturdiness of the building
  • Not too tall of a structure so the building wouldn’t tip over

All these factors made the structure be able to withstand the vibrations of the earthquake more meaning it would have less of an affect on the building

Our team worked well in designing the structure and when it came to building our structure, we all noted our strengths and capabilities and used those to assign each other jobs. This is one thing I would not change at all as using our strengths and capabilities like that was extremely beneficial in working together and getting assigned the right job. One thing I would change in this process is the actual design of our structure. Although we survived all earthquakes our building did not meet height requirements. To change this, I would make the base bigger to start with, so our tower had more of a potential to be higher. In order to do this, we need more spaghetti. I would spend less of our budget on the blue tack and move it over to buying more spaghetti. This would mean we would have to be a bit more conservative with the usage of blue tack but we were a bit excessive with it anyways.

Our final design on the day

Science Earthquake Project

Aisha DavisLeave a comment

In science we have been learning about Earth and Space. More specifically we have been learning about earthquakes in quite a lot of depth. With our knowledge of earthquakes we have been tasked to create and Earthquake proof building. A project where we have a limited amount of blutack and spaghetti and a limited time frame and have to create a structure that can withstand a simulated earthquake.

Planning

I was away for most of the planning process but my group wasn’t. They did a 50 minute “design print” where they had unlimited materials and to build a test earthquake proof building design,

Project Utopia Reflection

Aisha DavisLeave a comment
The beginning, my first design.
The end, my final design.

Recently we had a showcase for our Project Utopia, our Utopia has been a giant project that we have been working on across terms 2-3. This project was filled with trial and error, learning and flearning and, a lot of fun. We learned about liveability factors, global goals, and the process of making our constitution in Humanities little did we know this would play a big part in our soon to be Utopia project. In Science, we made a sustainable house, when we returned from home learning. This would be vital for our Utopian society because we need to implement these sustainability strategies in our Utopia. In English, we practiced public speaking skills to help us gain confidence on the stage. And finally, in InnovatED we worked on planning our whole Utopia and building our Co Spaces.

 What we could have improved on. Looking back on this project there is a lot our group could work on. For example, we left a lot of our work to the end. Spreading the work out and being more efficient would have caused less stress in the end. In the showcase our group faced a couple of problems, a minor problem was one of our visual aids braking. Another being our video clashed with our booklet making it confusing for the guests. If we had made the booklet have the same order as our video this probably would not have occurred.

Although we had our fair share of problems, we also had many positives. We both spoke confidently and clearly making our showcase experience better. This attracted many people to our station meaning we got asked more questions and met new people. We both found the presentation ran smoothly (other than the video clashing and the booklet braking) we had no technical problems and did not mess up while speaking.

Since this project was so big there is bound to be opinions (dislikes and likes) about our experiences making our Utopia. I really enjoyed the fact that we worked on this project in many subjects. I liked this because we got to learn more about different aspects of creating the perfect Utopia in a shorter amount of time. I did feel like looking at some of the Utopias it got a bit repetitive. Maybe if we could use different programs to make the Utopia (with the teacher’s permission) then the designs would be a lot more original and less repetitive.

Skills and capabilities, I have picked up during Project Utopia. With this much learning came a lot of new skills and capabilities that the year 7s have developed, every group had a different experience in this project so the skills we have picked up differ for all the students. I managed to pick up leadership skills and creativity skills. I had to take a lot of responsibility and leadership in the week upcoming to the showcase my partner didn’t show up, now because this was the upcoming week to the showcase I had to take action and make decisions for the group I also had to prepare the script if my partner didn’t show up for the showcase (which thankfully didn’t happen)  I also gained creativity skills because making a utopian society from the blue is quite difficult. From building the city to thinking about all the ways we could make our Utopia society as livable as it could possibly be, It took a lot of knowledge and creativity.  We were able to display this creativity with Co Spaces.

Overall, this project has been a roller coaster of learning and creating and I hope to use the knowledge I have learned in this project in the future.