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Road Safety RAC Arena Excursion Reflection
Last Couple of weeks the year 10 cohort of All saints college went on an all day excursion to the RAC arena to listen about road safety. We got to hear from different victims about the impact of road crashes, we watch a acted out car crash and the story behind how much it effects you and the people around you. It really put me into perspective of how dangerous cars can be when your not concentrating or putting yourself in risk.
What were the biggest things you learned while at the RAC be street smart excursion?
Some of the biggest things I learn was how dangerous cars can be and how quickly It can all go wrong. When listening to the victims of the car crashes you can see how they will never be the same again. The images and facts where shocking to find out how many kids at a young age end up effected by road trauma. It showed us that it wasn’t worth drink driving or being silly in a car because once it happens you can never go back. They also showed us how badly people can get injured by car accidents with the images. There were couple of victims with terrible long term injuries that will effect them for the rest of there lives. The RAC excursion was a real eye opener into reality showing us how many people are suffering because of road trauma and loss.
What one piece of advice would you pass onto young drivers above all else? why?
One piece of advice I would pass onto young drivers is think about the safety of yourself and your peer before jumping into a car its not worth it and once it happens you can never go back. I would give that piece of advice because it makes the young drivers think before they act which could save them and their peers lives. Because once it happens it will be the biggest regret in your life because the consequences are on you which is the hardest thing to accept when getting into a car.
Write down a Pledge that you will commit to when you start driving. Why did you pick these things to commit to? How will you stick to these commitments?
- To not drink drive this is one of the main driver for car crashes over the world it effects people mentally and physically which put them into a state where they cant drive and makes them prone to crashing and possibly killing them and their peers in the crash. I would stick to this commitment by either waiting for my parents to pick me up or a uber if I was drunk or keeping a eye on what and how much I drink with my friends and not let peer pressure kick in.
- To never distracted the driver as a passenger this can be a huge risk for you and the driver and once it happens the consequences are on you. Let them drive and concentrate and then show them after the trip when they aren’t in the car which makes you a good passenger and a safe person. I would stick to this commitment through not distracting the driver and let them take me to the destination and then show them afterwards.
- To always check who I am getting into the car with and make sure I trust them, once you get into the car it becomes your responsibility if they crash then you get effect too make sure they haven’t been drinking and aren’t on drugs make sure you can trust them to be a responsible driver from their background to protect yourself and others then if they are drunk offer to get a uber or a different alternative to save you and your friends. I would keep this commitment by checking who is driving and if I trust them or not if I don’t trust them then I would kindly turn the offer down and find a different way.
SCIENCE PASTA PROJECT – Engineering Project
In Year 9 Term 4, we have been studying earthquakes and the types of waves they produce, our final project for this year was to construct a building that would withstand a earthquake. We were put into groups of 4 or 5 people and were told to construct a building made out of pasta and blutack which would have to survive different types of earthquakes that the teachers would simulate by using a earthquake shaker. The teachers told us that our budget would be only hypothetically $60 and that a stick of spaghetti and blutack would cost $1 each.
The Criteria of the project :
- is quick and easy to assemble
- has a minimum height of 60 cm
- has a maximum base of 30 cm x 30 cm
- has a flat platform on the top level of at least 5 cm x 5 cm (this will be supplied to you)
- remains standing after an earthquake, as simulated by shaking a table for 10 seconds. This will include the motion of both primary (p) and secondary (s) waves
- is constructed from the materials supplied by your teacher
- costs less than $60 to build, given the material costs listed below
My Group Roles:
- Project manager: makes sure that everyone understands the challenge and keeps the team on track – Dylan
- Assistant manager: Helps the project manager with any problems they have or and if the project manager needs help : Andy
- Equipment manager: makes sure that the materials needed for the task are available and that everyone cleans up after each session- Eva
- Speaker: seeks help from the teacher, other class members or outside experts- Xiang
- Reporter: makes sure that the final presentation is ready by the deadline- Alicia
What I learned from this project:
This project gave me an understanding of how dangerous earthquakes can be. It also gave me real world experience of building a building in a earthquake zone/area. It also gives you an understanding of how much effort you have to put into creating/making one building because you have to think of different factors during the process. This group project helped me with my communication and collaboration skills because I needed to communicate with my group a lot especially during the design and create process. This project also helped me to express my ideas and I had to get out of my comfort zone, we also had a look at the design process.
Define
Earthquakes, while they are not a solvable problem, there are ways to mitigate the damage they can cause on infrastructure, buildings and the livelihood of people. A fantastic way to reduce these horrific consequences is the use of earthquake proof buildings. These are engineered and structural sound buildings which employ various mechanisms and structural techniques to resist a shock. These include: Counter weights, moving bases, triangular frames, deep foundations, support beams and pistons which move the building in an opposite direction to the direction of the wave. In a scale-model, we can use some of these concepts even if they are only made from Pasta. Our problem is earthquakes and our solution is creating a building that can withstand them.
Brainstorm:
SOME IDEAS WE THOUGHT ABOUT :
Triangles.
- Our response was to try to avoid adding too much blue tack to one particular area of the construction because doing so will lead it to collapse more quickly due to the added weight. Instead, we should increase the number of support sticks on the angles. Simply so that the structure’s weaker areas would receive additional support and not fall as quickly.
- Sheer walls and cross braces to transfer the movement away from the ground (foundation)
- Horizontal frames to enforce the columns and walls
- Flexible pads, building a platform for the building. Only the platform will move and the building won’t
Research:
Spreading the blue tak equally on each connecting area, just so there structure wont have unequal parts
Some things we made sure was part of our design:
- Triangles are the strongest shapes so we need to include triangles
- Shear walls and cross braces transfer movement away to the foundation
- Horizontal frames distributes forces into the columns and walls
- Strong bases are needed and specifically made so seismic energy can flow through them onto the ground.
Design:
For our initial design we wanted to include triangles as they are the strongest shape. Then try and make cross frames upwards, we would then have to put a 30cm by 30cm base on top. This is shown in the simple design. We then realised that the 30cm by 30cm base was to big and that it was uneven. So we had to change that idea to make it flat and the right measurements. We also put in the measurements to make sure it would work. This is shown in our final design above.
Create, Test and Evaluate:
Create, Test and evaluate is our last step in the design process, this step was were we go to work as a team. We had to test our building on the shake table and our building would have to survive S waves and P waves of high magnitude. Overall our building end up being quite sturdy and did fall of. We as a team were very happy with our results. Here are some videos of the tests below.
Improvements and Reflection
Overall I was pretty happy with the out come of the project and the results. And it gave a good real world experience of earthquakes and how much effects they have on buildings. Next time I would try and use a slightly more efficient design which can be taller, using short (cut) pieces of pasta and cross braces. Another group tried this and it worked well. I also think that our group could of been more organised because we were a bit slower in the brainstorming stage because we weren’t sure of what the base would be. But while we did the test our building was very strong and didn’t seem like it was going to fall which is good. One of my challenges was working in my group because I didn’t know some of the people in my group so I had to use my collaboration skills to get to know my group better. One the collage capabilities I used was problem solving because at the start our building wan’t tall enough and we had to change the whole design so it could reach the requirements. Another collage capability I used was effective communication and leadership. I really enjoyed this project because it was a hands on experience and we got to work with people we didn’t know as well as our friends. Can’t wait to do another project again!
$20 Boss
Mia, Sophie, Dylan and Me were all in a group for $20 dollar boss. Our business was called OceanCo. Our products were tie die socks and painted CDs. Our group goals were to sell lots of our products and make a lot of money the capabilities that my group relied on the most was Dylan’s drawing my advertising and Mia’s and Sophie’s tie die making. My groups successes were that we sold all of our products and that we got a lot of money. One of the downside was it was hard designing our products because we didn’t know what cool design we should do. We solved that by surveying people and asking for their opinions.
Up above are some painted Cd designs that we used and that people liked
My Photography From Coral Bay
