Category: General
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!
The Mickelbergs Court Case
INTRODUCTION
In HASS we have been learning about the principles of justice and how it is upheld in the Australian legal system. We also got assigned to pick a case. I studied the Mickelbergs court case and analysed how the principals of justice effect my case. We also had to do a research table where we had to explain each principle of justice then we had to discuss whether it was supported or compromised in our case. Then we started constructing an essay about our case and the principles of justice and how they supported or compromised the case. We had to construct 3 paragraphs about our case.
What is the Mickelberg Case?
On the 22 of June 1983, the Perth Mint was robbed. 49 bars of Gold were stolen. Now before this case Brian, Raymond and Peter Mickelberg had already been accused of defrauding millionaire Alan Bond by giving him a phony gold nugget. So, when the Perth Mint was robbed the Mickelbergs were the police’s prime suspects. Then the 3 went to trial and were found guilty because apparently the police found cheques that the bothers stole and fooled the Perth mint into accepting these cheques in exchange for gold. In 1983 the 3 were sentenced to jail for 20, 16 and 12 years. Then in 1989 Brain Mickelberg died in a helicopter accident at the age of 39yr. Raymond and Peter then made 8 appeals and 5 attempts to have their convictions overturned – 3 appeals to the Court of Criminal Appeal, at which Mr Lewandowski and Mr Hancock testified, and an appeal to the High Court. Also, in 1989 55kg of gold pellets were found outside the channel 7 gates with a note saying the Mickelbergs were innocent. Then In 2004 finally the police confessed that the evidence was fabricated by the police, and that the police physically abused the Mickelbergs into confessing a crime they didn’t commit. This was due to the act of police corruption. In 2004 their appeal was upheld and their convictions were quashed, and they were set free. The Perth mint swindle case is still unsolved till this very day. And now the Mickelbergs are still trying to sue the government for money they lost whilst in jail.
What Are The Principles of Justice?
The principles of justice are several key principles or beliefs, that are designed to help protect the rights of all Australian Citizens. There are a number of principles that are designed for people to be treated equality, protected and that our Australian legal system is fair and unbiased. Our Australian Legal system is based on key principles which helps our legal system to be fair for everyone. The key principles of justice are; All individuals are equal before the law, Individuals have the right to a fair hearing, The Judiciary (the court system) is independent and impartial, Individuals have the right to a reasonable appeal, Individuals have the right to remain silent when questioned, the presumption of innocence when walking into the court unless proven guilty and there must be high Quality evidence. This means that in court people must be treated equally regardless of their culture, income level etc. the court must hear arguments from both sides of an issue. When presented in the court there must be relevant and reliable evidence and the victim must be treated as if they are innocent until proven guilty. And nobody not even the government is above the law. These principles are important because without them we wouldn’t have a proper Australian legal system.
Right to Appeal
The Mickelbergs had the right to appeal, and they did 7 times until the police confessed that the evidence was fabricated. So, an example like this is important because without the principles of justice declaring that they had a right to appeal the Mickelbergs would’ve had to go back to jail for another 10 years. These principles demonstrates that without them people would have an unfair experience with the court and that people wouldn’t be able to solve their problems whether it’s a civil matter or just a local problem. Through an investigation of the Mickelbergs case, it was shown that without the principles of justice the Mickelbergs would have gone back to jail for a crime they didn’t do.
Relevant and Reliable Evidence
In the Mickelbergs case the principles of justice that were compromised related to the presentation in court of reliable evidence. High quality evidence means, people from both sides can only present relevant and reliable evidence to the court. So, the court case is based on appropriate and accurate information. Evidence also can’t be secondhand and inaccurate, otherwise it is untrustworthy to the court. For example, Past criminal record of the person did/didn’t do the crime is usually not to be raised as evidence because it could potentially bias that court case. In the Mickelbergs case the trustworthy evidence was compromised as the policed gave the court fabricated evidence which ended up putting the wrong people in jail. The evidence the Police gave was the fake cheques that the brothers apparently stole from the Perth building society then fooled the Perth mint into accepting those cheques into gold bullion. They proved this in court by showing that one of the brothers (Raymond) left fingerprints on the cheques which they fabricated because the head of police back then was corrupt. One of Raymond Mickelbergs hobbies was making hand models and statues and he also made one of his own hand models. This was how the police got the fabricated fingerprints. The court ended up believing this evidence and sending all three brothers to jail. Even though the high-quality evidence was fabricated by the police. The police also ended up physically abusing one of the brothers into admitting that he stole from the Perth mint. This coercion ended up leading to a forced confession. After that the three brothers were sent to jail. The police and the court should have listened to both sides of the argument, and they should have examined more closely, the fabricated evidence, and the policed should have admitted earlier about the evidence. Overall, the principle High quality evidence was compromised due to the fact the police fabricated the evidence and they forced and beat Raymond Mickelberg while questioning him and making him confess.
Presumption of Innocence Until Proven Guilty
Another element that was compromised in the Mickelbergs case, of a principal justice, was the presumption of innocence until proven guilty when walking into the court. The presumption of innocence until proven guilty means that the verdict must be treated as if the person is innocent until proven guilty from the moment, they are charged with a crime to their court hearing or trial. This includes having the right to be free to return home and live within the community unless the judge thinks that the criminal is dangerous to the community. In the Mickelbergs case the presumption of innocence until proven guilty was compromised. This was because when the police fabricated the evidence it was already clear that they believed the Mickelbergs were guilty, so the court acted like they were guilty and then sent them to jail. So, the judge assumed they were guilty because of the fabricated evidence from the police. This was unfair for the brothers and biased in the media, which did have an impact on the case as the media kept saying that the Mickelbergs did it before they even went to court and no other side of the case was looked at. This ended up being unfair to the Mickelberg Brothers as they shouldn’t have gone to jail. But the court did let the Mickelbergs go home while still deciding on the case, but they weren’t at home for long as the decision was very quick. So, the Court should have seen them as innocent when walking into the court until they were proven guilty. As well as they should have looked at both sides of the case. As the brothers kept saying that the police had faked the evidence and they didn’t do the crime. And they ended up being right and only got paid a little compensation for the wrong doings of the court. The court also shouldn’t have been influenced by the media. Overall, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty when walking in the court was compromised because the court already had made their decision before the Mickelbergs had walked into the court and they didn’t hear both sides of the case, as well as the media getting involved in a biased way.
Conclusion
In Conclusion I believe that all three principals of justice that I have presented were evident in my case of the Perth Mint Swindle and most of them were compromised throughout the case. By not following the principals of justice the Mickelbergs brother’s lives were destroyed by corrupt Police and a Court that didn’t do their job properly. This case is still being fought through the courts to this very day and it has been devastating for the Mickelbergs brothers.
In the Photo is Don Hancock who fabricated the evidence
Here is a website to one of the Mickelbergs Videos about the case
Specialised Basketball 2022
This year my elective has been specialised basketball. In Specialised Basketball we have been learning skills and game play as well as making player profiles. We had some professional AFL women come in and talk to us about nutrition and health. They also just talked to the girls about how girls are more at risk with injury’s, and we learnt about injury prevention as well as setting up physicality tests to see if we have improved. We have also been learning offence and defensive concepts.
WEST COAST AFL WOMEN EXPERIENCE REFLECTION
One of the concepts we looked at was Diet, goal setting/elite training and (for just the girls) injury prevention and how your period effects sport. We had women from the West Coast ALFW talk to us. First they discussed Diet. They talked about how you should have a colourful diet meaning you should have all types of food in your diet. We also compared the West Coast AFLW diet to our diet and we learnt what foods to have at a certain time. Next topic we did was goal setting and we made some goals for Specialised basketball as well as our own sport goals. Then just the girls were taught about injury prevention since women have weaker bones and a different stance compared to boys. We learnt this by doing some warm up exercises. We also learnt about how to mange our periods during sport. Overall this experience really helped me to understand how to look after my body more and I also learnt a lot about goal setting.
How do I perceive skill training and /or personal physicality?
In the semester 1 we focused on improving our physicality as well as improving our skills. We did this by making a program to set out how much physical activity we would do each day. As well as including it in our class. We also got assigned these physical tests and we had to record the results. We then did it later on in the term and compared the results. We got to see if we improved or not and if so why? I perceived my skill training in the class by recording my results and by learning new skills. We also made a player profile to show what our strengths and weaknesses were. Overall this helped me to understand skill training and why it is so important as well as personal physicality.
PLAYER PROFILE
Offence Concept
In Specialised Basketball we learnt about being in the Offence position and we did some drills. One of the drills we did was to practice offence as well as practice defence, which was the shell drill. We also learnt some skills to get around the opposition defenders. This helped me to understand how to be better at offence. We also learnt some new drills which I can use in the future to practice my basketball. We also talked about dribbling and triple threat which helped the offence concept as well as looking at footwork.
Defence Concept
Another thing we looked at was the Defence concept. This involved looking at defensive stance and defensive technique. We did this by practising 1v1 drills and the shell drill. This helped us to understand more about the defence concept as well as looking at new ways to improve your defensive technique. We also watched some Shell drills done by adults to see how they did this, so we could learn from watching them. We also analysed these videos and saw how they defended was so we could correct them and learn from them. This helped me to improve my defensive stance.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
Hopefully next year I can do specialised basketball again and join a local basketball club so I can continue to play basketball. Overall I really enjoyed specialised basketball and I learnt a lot from it.
WAIS TALENT IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM
Part 1 (Description)
On the 25/8/2022 at All Saints College, I got an email about a sporting opportunity that was run by WAIS and it was a Talent identification program. This was for kids who wanted to do it. The program was set up to see if you had Olympic potential for certain sports that were less popular. The sports were rowing, kayaking, and cycling. I ended up volunteering for the program as well as lots of other kids. We had to go to the school gym to do the testing. They tested stuff like weight, height, vertical jump, stationary bike sprints and endurance. Afterwards I got an email saying that I got into the program for Track Cycling. Then I had to go to an information night where they talked about track cycling and road cycling. They explained how lots of kids enjoyed the program, and that the program only ran for 5 months and would finish after the WA state championships. Then I went to the velodrome and started my training.
Part 2 (Feeling)
Went I got the email about the program I was really excited because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was also a bit nervous because I really wanted to be selected, but I didn’t know what was involved. I think other people felt nervous and excited as well because when we did the testing everyone was concentrating because I think we all wanted to do well, and we wanted to get into the program. After the testing I was surprised when I got an email saying that I hit a benchmark score and I got into the program. I was really happy and when I told my parents they were really proud as well. I was also very eager to start the program. Then we went to the meeting, and I was excited and nervous. They talked about how this program would end in 5 months’ time, and then they gave us information about when it was going to start and so on. When I first went to track cycling, I was really nervous. The first day there were no girls and just boys, so I felt like I had no friends. Some girls joined later, and I ended up being friends with all of them in the end.
Part 3 (Evaluation and analysis)
When I started track the most positive thing was that I made friends and had good friends with me, and we all had a close connection because we were all in the same boat, and also the group became really close. The most negative bit was probably the self-doubt in my head. I thought that I wasn’t good enough because I had a slow start at the beginning, but I ended up enjoying it. What went well was that I could slowly see that I was improving. And after the progarm I ended up being the gold medalist for Western Australia for the U15 girls scratch race. I was really proud. People who helped me were my coach, parents, friends, competitors, and other people who just supported me along the way. And if I had to do it all over again, I would probably believe in myself more.
Part 4 (Conclusion)
I learnt about myself, that anything is possible. You just have to want it really badly. I also learnt that if I push myself a lot can happen like when I wanted to compete in the State Championships, and I tried my hardest and I ended up getting a good result. What I learnt about that particular situation was that being organized was a major thing because if your bike isn’t ready then you can’t do a proper warm up which can effect the race. It can also be really stressful if you’re disorganized. I learnt a lot about my coach’s and what techniques they use. For example one of my coach’s only likes practicing sprinting techniques. What I could have done differently was that I could have been more organized, and I should have stopped the self-doubt in my head when I started racing because I was always coming in that last group. I got really upset but I just needed to believe in myself a bit more. The skills/knowledge I would need to develop further is that I need to get into the habit of hydrating before a race, so I don’t get dehydrated. I also need to learn how to balance schoolwork and cycling and my other sports. The Advice I would use for 2022 is that I need to be properly prepared for races and I need to get better at studying because the homework only gets harder from here.
Part 5 (action)
This new learning can help me by being more organized and being more proactive and not relying on people for bike repairs and stuff like that. Also, I can get better at bike handling skills in the future. The goals I would like to make for the end of this term and next term is that I want to get better with handling both cycling and schoolwork at the same time because I don’t want to fail schoolwork. I am creating this goal because I think it would help me, and I need the goals or else I won’t succeed with schoolwork and cycling. Then I can’t do what I love the most which is cycling, if I don’t have balance. I think my goals align with my values. I will monitor my goals by getting myself a tutor to support me with schoolwork. I am also going to use my dairy more and I am going put my phone in another room so I don’t get distracted by it. I will see how that goes for a week or 2 and then I will improve the goal and I will keep it on track. The people who would be involved would be my parents, teachers, and my tutor. At the end of the term, I will see how I have improved through my test results at school.
Part 6 (my goal)
Is to get better at finding a balance with my studying so I will be able to manage my schoolwork and my cycling together, so I can keep progressing in the future.
Here are Some photos of me and the WA State Championships
A photo of me racing at the State champs in the 20 lap scratch race in the end I ended up coming first and winning a gold for best Under 15 girl in the state for that race. The girls were mixed with the boys. 
Here is all the kids that were picked for the WAIS talent identification program
Lock Dwelling Up Day Trip
Lock Dwelling Up
On the 3rd of May all the Lock classes went down to Dwelling-up for a day trip. The activities we did were kayaking, bush cooking and the tree top adventures course. In Dwelling-up my goals were to set up the bush fire with out any help and to do one of the hardest levels of tree top climbing course. I ended up completing though’s goals in the end.
Kayaking – Resilient
The first activity I did was the kayaking we only had a hour of kayaking because of the road works which slowed the bus down a bit. The first thing we did was we got all our gear and kayaks and the instructor told us that we had to be push down a flight of stairs. It was scary at first but it was really exciting some people even flipped there kayaks. Once we were all in, we kayaked for a bit and then we played a game in our kayaks were we had a ball and we all had to grab it and try to score a goal in our kayaks. The Capabilities we used the most in kayaking was Resilient because when we found out we had to get pushed down the stairs most of us were scared and nervous so I think we all had to use resilient to go down the flight of stairs, but it was all fun in the end.
Bush Cooking – Effective Communication
The second activity was bush cooking were we had to make are lunch. I was in a group with Anna and Amelia L. Our jobs were divided up; I was setting up the fire, Amelia was the cook and Anna got the equipment. We were cooking Noodles with egg, mushroom and tomato. We all bought for the food and some equipment for the cooking. The first thing we had to do was Anna got the wood and matches and I started the fire, while Amelia was chopping up the food. Once the fire was ready and it was going, we started with putting the egg, mushroom and tomato first because it took longer to cook. Then we put the noodles in the billy and let it all cook. It all ended up well in the end. The capabilities we used was effective communication because I was working in a group and we had to share the roles and without effective communication then we wouldn’t of had a well cooked lunch.
Tree top Adventures – Problem Solving
The last activity was tree top Adventures , this was my favourite activity. There were levels on the course yellow, orange, green, blue, red, black and advanced black and then there was the zip line course. I did green, blue ,red, black and the zip line course it was very fun and the views were amazing. We had 2 hours of this. There was one course I did were we had to jump from rope to rope but I got stuck in on of the ropes because my harness was tangled I had to use problem solving to get my self out of the ropes which was scary because I didn’t want to fall. But I used the Capabilities Problem solving to finnish the course.
7 STEPS OF LEAVE NO TRACE
In Bush cooking we had to leave no trace after finishing our fire. Here are some of the principles we used the most while we were bush cooking :
P1 Plan ahead and be prepared
All the food we brought was from our own homes, once we finished our bushing cooking we all made sure that nothing was left behind. We also had to be prepared with our equipment so we had to bring biodegradable plates and knifes and forks. We had to make sure the camp site look like it did before we used it. After packing everything up we picked up 10 pieces of rubbish.
P3 dispose of any waste
If we had any waste we would have to through it way in the bin or put it in the fire so it gets burnt to ashes. We also picked up any litter so the campsite was clean. Afterwards, we also had to take most of the rubbish home because most of the bins were over full so we took it home. We also had to bring cutlery that was biodegradable.
P6 Respect wildlife and clean up afterwards
We also had to do a proper clean up to make sure nothing was left behind. In my group we had someone watching the food so the wildlife wouldn’t get the food and get sick. We also had to make sure if there was any food in the fire that it was burnt down to ashes so the animals wouldn’t eat the food. We also made sure to pick up any rubbish so the birds wouldn’t eat it.
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