In science, I learned about the earth and space. In fact, we learned quite a bit about earthquakes. Our team , who knew everything about earthquakes, was assigned to construct an earthquake-resistant structure. A project with a limited amount of blue tacks and spaghetti and need to create a structure that can withstand a simulated earthquake

Project Overview;

This project aims to increase our knowledge of earthquake resistant buildings as earthquakes are a huge and real problem all over the world. Countries at the edge of the Pacific Ocean (Ring of Fire) are most affected by earthquakes. These countries include Chile, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. About 20,000 people die in earthquakes every year. Therefore, it is an important development to provide all our structures with a brief overview of the engineering process to ensure that our structures withstand earthquakes. What changes would you make to the process to improve the group’s performance in the future? Our design was stable, withstanding all three types of earthquakes ( P wave, S wave, Surface wave) and strong enough to stand upside down . The structure withstood all three types of earthquakes due to several design features that were considered:
– Double the spaghetti to make the building stronger and sturdier. “Crossover” design for increased building stableness.
– Structure not too high to prevent the building from overturning

All of these factors meant that the structure was able to withstand seismic vibrations, which meant less impact on the building. Our team designed the structure well, and when it came to building the structure, we all recognized our strengths and skills and used them to assign tasks to each other. It has been so beneficial to use our strengths and skills to work together and be assigned the right job, One thing that changes in this process is the actual design of the structure. We survived all the earthquakes, but our building didn’t meet the height requirements. To change this, start by raising the base. This increases the chances of the tower being taller. Our tower needed more spaghetti, spend less on blue tac and shift to buying more spaghetti. .

In wind waves water offers a variety of water activities, including sailing, stand-up paddle boarding, diving, and synchronized swimming. You will also learn about water efficiency, energy efficiency, waste efficiency, food production sustainable, and learn the concept of Leave No Trace. Since this is an aquatic study, we focused primarily on water efficiency.

Here are my definitions of water efficiency, energy efficiency, waste efficiency and food production:

Water Efficiency: Water efficiency is the practice of reducing water consumption by measuring the amount of water required for a particular purpose.

Energy Efficiency: Energy efficiency is the use of less energy to perform the same task.

Waste Efficiency: Waste efficiency is the use of the right bin system.

Food Production: A system of production using processes that is non-polluting, conserve non-renewable energy and use natural resources.

I do a few things at home to make my water sustainable, but there are other things I can do too. When brushing my teeth stop and make sure it’s not dripping. When I take a shower, it can take 7-15 minutes. I am going to start to shower for just 5 minutes at the cost of less water consumption. I also have a few plants in my house and they need a lot of water to keep them alive, so I figured I could use that water to water my plants when I bathed. That means you don’t need to get any more water from the tap. Doing these things improves my water efficiency.

I also learned about leaving no trace and how to apply it to my daily life. Since this is an aquatic study, we will be entering water a lot, some of which will have coral reefs and fish, so be careful. This is done by applying sunscreen 20 minutes before entering the water so that it can be absorbed into the skin and not fall off in the water. Also do not attack marine life and keep a safe distance. Doing these things will help protect our oceans from the damage we can cause in nature.

In Muir, we learn skills for outdoor ED like snorkeling, orienteering, archery and how to leave no trace. In term 3 we did orienteering at the school and at locations out of school and we did archery once a week then at the end of the term we did a bit of practice for snorkeling in the pool. At the start of term 4, we did snorkeling at Coogee in our doubles and in the single lessons we prepared for our camp. In the middle of term 4, we had our camp at Rottnest.

Orienteering

In term 3 we spent a couple of lessons learning how to use the equipment for orienteering then we did a couple of courses at school before we went out of school to a park and did some courses there. This has taught me to communicate effectively as we need to talk to each other to make sure we are going in the right direction. if I had not been contacted, I might have taken a wrong turn and lost my way. . It took me a while to figure out how to use different devices, but I asked my friends if they knew what they were doing. It was a lot of fun.

Archery

In term 3, I also did 7 lessons on archery, which I had never done archery before, so it was a lot of fun. I had to be aware of what I was doing and make sure I was safe. When we were making the shot, we had to stand back and make sure everyone had a go before we could go out and collect are arrows when we were told or we could of shot someone or they would have been shot.

Snorkeling

In term 4, at Coogee we snorkeled three lessons. I had to organize myself so that I could make the most of my time spent there. This was accomplished by making sure we were on time and had all the required gear. We have wetsuits on the buses as well, so you can be on your way as soon as you get to Coogee. After completing 3 lessons, we spent a night at a camp in Rottnest. On the first day at Little Parakeet Bay we did two snorkeling sections. On the second day, we went to the Basin and snorkeled. The current was pretty strong and had a rip so this snorkel was tiring, but it was very deep and there were big fish. Overall, this camp was one of my favorite camps.

Leave No Trace

You also learned what Leave No Trace is and how you can leave no trace. I learned that even if there is no reef-safe sunscreen, I can apply sunscreen 20 minutes in advance and let it soak in. I also learned that I should not stand on the reef, because I could break or damage the reef. Leave No Trace is an integral part of Outdoor Ed.