Drivers Ed!

Callum and I’s poster.

Q1.) What were the most significant things you learnt while completing this task?

During this task, I learned many things such as the actual facts and statistics about drunk driving accidents. I knew that drunk driving was a large problem across the world and in Australia but I didn’t realize how many people were affected by it, died from it and what other problems were caused by drunk driving. I also learned that many drunk driving accidents occurred in the young adult age group which is where I am heading. I also know the alcohol limits so if i ever drink and drive, I don’t go over the limit and put myself at any risk.

Q2.) What one piece of advice would you pass on to young drivers above all else? Why?

Just don’t drink and drive ever. I know the risks and everyone else knows the risks such as serious injury or death so it isn’t worth it. especially if you are going out drinking with friends you put them at risk too so if you are planning to drink, don’t drive to your destination or back and call a taxi instead or have another alternative. This advice is the most important thing when driving.

Q3.) 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?

I (me, Charley, Stark), swear to not drive when I have had more than 2 standard drinks of alcohol. I will commit to this pledge because I have done the research and know the risks of drunk driving. I will stick to this by trusting myself and trusting my friends to do the right thing. I will also prepare an uber or not to drive if I am planning to go out and drink.

Spaghetti Tower Science Task

The Spaghetti tower task in Science was a very fun and challenging experience. The objective was to build an earthquake proof building out of blue tac and dry spaghetti which would be put on a board attached to elastic bands that would wobble. this means that when we shake it, it can’t fall and we will be successful if our structure withstands the earthquake without breaking. There was also a criteria that we had to follow when preparing and building our structure for it to be valid: A minimum height of 60cm, a maximum width of 30 x 30 cm and a maximum cost of $60, given that 10cm of spaghetti was $1 and 1 gram of Blu Tack was $1. After you know what the task is you can brainstorm to generate knew ideas, research possible solutions, design a solution, create a prototype, test and evaluate the prototype and improve it.

Earthquake resistant building
Spaghetti; our main resource
Drawing plan

In my group was Josh, Abdullah, Ryan and myself and we all contributed something great. Josh and I were great at organising money, building, writing on stile, researching and a lot more. We were like the project and equipment managers of the group. Abdullah came up with some really good ideas with the design and reflection parts but on the other hand wasn’t so gentle with building and it partly the reason some of our spaghetti broke. Ryan was really good with the technical side of the project, he drew a lot of the designs; and was also great support for anything when anyone needed help. And finally we all worked together to build our structure, Which was by the way shaped like a hexagonal pyramid and worked pretty well besides its flaws. All of the skills that each member brought along helped out a lot because we couldn’t have done it with one person short.

The engineering process of this task was pretty successful the first time round. After we had collected all the resources, the building was fairly quick. The plan was to have a hexagonal smaller base with spaghetti on each point climbing up to 60cm tall and coming to a point like a pyramid. Some of my group members worked on the base while the rest of us worked on sticking the 3 pieces of spaghetti together for the height. When we had finished building, it came together quote nicely despite the base being a bit smaller because we broke a fraction off by accident and it was leaning over because one of the sides had also snapped and was a bit smaller. This was our only flaw. When we started to test this prototype, I was expecting it to fall over but it was pretty flexible and was able to withstand the shaking. After a long time of hard shaking, we wanted to see it fall so we could have an idea on what we could improve and the smaller side of spaghetti snapped off because everything was leaning on it so it must have been the pressure it was under. We figured that this was what we could improve so in our second prototype, we made sure we didn’t beak anything and on top of that added reinforcements to the base.

Our built spaghetti structure
structure in action on ‘earthquake maker’. The bent part is shown

The earthquake intensity on our first prototype

For our final design, we fixed our problem of unevenness because all the sides were the same length this time. it was looking very promising for the buildup because it was all even and still looked flexible and promising to withstand the earthquake but when it came to the testing phase it didn’t go according to plan. Somehow, this second test was much worse than the first test. we used much less force than the first and it collapsed. it might have been because there wasn’t enough blue tach holding it down or maybe the even edges made it too stiff and not able to wobble as much. either way, the changes and improvements we made to our design had much less resistance. If we could make this a third time, I would completely change the design To something more triangular because this design didn’t go according to plan.

The earthquake intensity on our final design

English assessment – Camp teamwork skills

My group trekking through the gorges

Year 9 Kalbarri camp was a fantastic experience full of happiness and teamwork. This camp, we explored and swam in the gorges, went on long hikes to get to different camp sites, did other activities like abseiling and rock climbing and slept in tents. But out of all these exhausting activities, the one that made me show my teamwork abilities the most was the group cooking. We slept for five nights which meant we had to cook five meals. On the first day we had to collect the food from a truck to hold in the containers to carry with us for each night. Everyone used a bit of teamwork there because we all worked together and collaborated to get all the foods as well as the right amount.

Me and my friends looking at the sea on a cliff

Then it came to the actual cooking part. Each cooking group had three people in it, each with a specific role. The MasterChef: This person would do most of the cooking and add all the ingredients into the dish. They would make sure everything was going smooth and nothing was burning. The chopper: This person would chop everything up to cook like vegetables, meat, and more. The Garbo: this person would collect all the food, go around and get spices and oil and, of course, put unwanted things in the bin. In my group I had Jorji as the MasterChef, Bella as the chopper and myself as the garbo man. We all worked really well as a team and never lashed out or told off one another, we just gelled together and managed to make every meal taste great, despite the few mistakes we made. I thought I was a great team member and helped out a lot with collecting and putting stuff away, and we all did our part in washing up too. Sometimes I would even take over cooking if someone needed a break.

Mine and my group’s teamwork skills were very good because we all helped each other out and even if I worked with other people, the teamwork would still be there and I would always help out.

Outdoor cooking with my new Wok - YouTube
cooking was something similar to this but over a gas cooker and in groups
Me and My group behind a small waterfall in the Kalbarri Gorges

Woodwork Reflection

In this semester of woodwork, it was a very fun and challenging experience from which I have learned a lot from. We made an LED light trophy using most machines to measure, cut, screw, polish, connect, construct, solder and buff the wood and acrylic plastic we chose for our project; the wood we cut hollow in the middle, white acrylic on the bottom as a base plate and one on top of the wood with an opening for a clear acrylic block to fit through with a laser printed photo of our choice on it for decoration. All these components gave a really nice look to it. Using all of these machines gave me really good experience and knowledge on how to use them in the future and getting this experience and doing this activity makes me want to choose woodwork again because it is fun.

During my time working on this project, I learnt and grew on a few important capabilities such as problem solving and creativity. This project let me embrace my creative side and let me choose how I wanted to design it, what colours I would use, what image I would use, the choice of wood and the size of my project. Mr Haddow gave us the opportunity to design our own version of this LED trophy, so I used creativity to choose what I wanted and to make sure everything went aesthetically well. As well as creativity, I had to use problem-solving in a few parts of this project too. When I laser printed the hole in the top plate of my project it was too small for the clear acrylic to fit through, so I had to problem solve and fine it down to get a perfect size. So, when there was a problem that I encountered, I would simply fix it with my problem-solving skills and smart thinking.

The Mysterious Case of Lloyd Rayney

In this project, we learnt about the principles of justice that uphold Australia’s legal system, such as the presumption of innocence, an impartial judiciary, and the right to legal representation. I studied the case of Lloyd Rayney and analysed how these principles were both upheld and violated in this case. After writing an essay on the topic, we were required to incorporate feedback and edit the essay so that it was fit for online publication. This essay is the end result of that editing process. It demonstrates my ability to take feedback and refine a piece of written work to produce a professional result.

Lloyd Rayney's 'tendency to lie' sees him banned from practising law

Lloyd Rayney is a 44-year-old man in Perth, accused of murdering his wife Corryn Rayney in 2007. Over a span of 10 years, there have been questions, inquiries and many mysteries over this case and what actually happened on the day of the murder. Although, in the end, Mr Rayney plead not guilty, In the case of Lloyd Rayney, the principles of justice of equality before the law, right to a fair hearing, the independent judiciary and the right to a reasonable appeal, were mostly upheld yet sometimes compromised. This is proven by the evidence that is shown in his trial, the build-up to it and the aftermath of the case.

Lloyd Rayney struck off as a lawyer more than a decade after wife Corryn  Rayney's unsolved murder - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

When being trialled, Mr Rayney was treated pretty fairly according to the principles of justice. He was not discriminated against because of his race, gender, mental capacity, income level etc, and treated how anyone else would be treated which is why he was equal before the law. Lloyd Rayney also had the right to a fair hearing because he was sentenced to a judge-only trial from a retired judge from the Northern Territory named Brian Martin, who knew nothing about this case. This way, the jury would stop being influenced by the media and stop hearing the gossip about him so it is a fair trial for Mr Rayney. This means that the judiciary was also impartial for making this decision themselves for the benefit of Lloyd and to also keep the trial fair. In 2010, Lloyd Rayney actually was charged with murder but was able to appeal the case because the defence barristers said that the case lacked crucial evidence for him to be proven guilty. Luckily Mr Rayney is a lawyer so he knows how the legal system works, meaning he knew how and why he could appeal this case. This means that Lloyd Rayney had the right to a reasonable appeal and therefore proving that the justice was upheld during his trial.

Lloyd Rayney flanked by his daughters leaving court after being granted bail over murder charges

Although this case was upheld by the principles of justice in many ways, it was also compromised in a few ways too. Even though there was hardly any evidence suggesting it was Lloyd Rayney, the government still named him the prime and only suspect of the case. A piece of paper with Lloyd Rayney’s name of it was found in a bush near Corryn’s car and a few hundred metres away from her body and that the supreme court heard allegations that Mr Rayney claimed he knew how to commit murder without being detected was some of the only evidence of the case. This evidence wasn’t beyond a reasonable doubt because the evidence was not crucial, not important, not clear evidence showing that it was him, and they did not consider all different options. that evidence could have been a coincidence or someone tried to frame him and just because Mr Rayney claims he knew how to commit murder without being detected, doesn’t mean he murdered his wife. This irrelevant evidence resulted in Mr Rayney being found guilty of murder in 2010, but later, Lloyd and his defence team did appeal the case because it was unfair. These reasons are why the principles of justice were also compromised in the case of Lloyd Rayney

Lloyd Rayney struck off as a lawyer more than a decade after wife Corryn  Rayney's unsolved murder - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

There were quite a few mistakes made during the trial which could be easily improved to support the principles of justice in the mysterious case of Lloyd Rayney. The Legal system could have accused other people or asked people that knew Lloyd and asked people who lived near where Corryn’s body was found to possible get more evidence because it was so unfair for Lloyd Rayney. The government could have done a better job to keep the justice fair by not allowing the media to spread so much true and false information about the case out to the public because it influenced everyone in Perth including the Legal team and the jury to think it was Lloyd which also affected the fairness of the Principles of justice. This is another reason why the principles of justice were compromised but they can be improved to uphold justice.

Rayney pursues second defamation case | The Wimmera Mail-Times | Horsham,  VIC

In conclusion, the principles of justice of equality before the law, right to a fair hearing, the independent judiciary and the right to a reasonable appeal, were mostly upheld yet sometimes compromised in the Lloyd Rayney case, shown during his trial. Although his case could have been more fair if the judiciary and government followed the principles better.

Lloyd Rayney defamation case: Corryn had intimate relationship with friend,  court hears - ABC News

Health online safety unit

In connected learning, this unit has taught me how to be respectful online and to think before you say. if you aren’t, you can hurt someone which also brings me to the topic of treating others how you want to be treated.

before this unit, i used Instagram and you tube mainly, but I still do. Only this time, the unit has taught me that you don’t always have to get involved with what you see, like comments. I no longer comment on anything because i don’t want to get caught up in anything ridiculous like an argument. after reading this unit, it has also taught me to block, report and delete if you see anything dodgy, because it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I learnt a lot in this Health unit, but a few key things are to be empathetic, respectful and responsible. One of the esafe videos showed someone taking a normal nice photo, and people online bombarding her with mean and racist comments. You can use empathy in this situation be putting yourself in her shoes and thinking about what it will be like for her. This is also being respectful by thinking about her. Being respectful in this situation can be responding respectfully to the comments or even the photo, and at very least, not saying anything mean about the photo. Finally, responsibility means to use critical thinking when comment and posting things online and being able to be safe and respectful online, like making your account private.

I don’t think that I really need to change my online behavior in the future, because this health unit has already helped me to be respectful and responsible online.

Year 7 Forrest Edge Camp – pamper pole

 

Image result for pamper pole forest edge

On camp, one of the activities was a real challenge for we, and that was the pamper pole. Some people thought it was fun and exciting but i thought it was terrifying especially because i am afraid of heights, and it’s not a normal human thing to do, jumping off a 7 meter high pole knowing you would die if you weren’t supporting by the harnesses. The first time i went on, i climbed up the ladder kind of nervous, but i pulled myself up onto my knees on the tiny wobbly platform. Yes, it was wobbly and unstable. when i was up there i was thinking too far ahead of myself so i but stood on my knees for a long time terrified. but finally i had the courage to stand up on my feet because i knew i would be ok, but my head said i wasn’t still. so there i was, standing on a 50 x 50cm platform, 7 meters high on a wobbly pole about to jump off. i shuffled my feet forward on the platform so my toes were over the edge. my first jump was just kind of a tester so i didn’t go and jump for the dangling ball attached to the rope, i just jumped hoping it would be okay, And it was. I’m not going to lie but it was kind of fun but scary and the same time. because i was one of the first people to go up, i got to have another go unlike some other unlucky people and even though i took a long time. this time i went up faster, not as slow, because i knew it would be alright. when i stood up onto my feet, everybody sitting on the log cheered. so i shuffled forward again and looked at the ball. not downwards because that would have put me right off. then everybody chanted simultaneously: 3, 2, 1, go! and on go, i leaped for the dangling ball and touched it before i was caught by the harness and lowered to the ground. the second time was so much more fun, and i felt so accomplished after the exhilarating experience. i am still glad i did it today and now i realize, it wasn’t that bad after all.

Innovat[ED] T3/W9

This week in Innovat[ed], we completed everything and what we have to do. The bad this is that we were a week late so we will have to do our reflection next term, and get our feedback from Paul and Sarah (the people who run kafunza) next term. But we did get a lot done this week, including recording or video to show Paul and Sarah, editing the video on premier pro and even get this reflection done. when we were recording, we had a few problems with it and it didn’t work for a while, but we persisted and it worked in the end. our recording went pretty smooth as well. i made hardly any mistakes and we had to record the main part only once.

Innovat[ED] T3/W6

This week in Innovat[Ed], we were adjusting to our 2 designs. After we had set up the logs with both designs, with our first one we had put the plastic sheet over the tetrahedral design to block off the rain. While the other group members were working on that, I had to cut a really hard pipe in half for our gutters when the water falls down it which took 20 mins! With our second design, we had weaved plastic bags in and out of the chicken wire to create a bit of a shield over the crops that would be below. This design still left plenty of small holes for the rain to go through, but just the right amount of cover to block the rain from destroying the crops. The reason we used plastic bags was because of how many plastic bags and rubbish there are in Tanzania. Some improvements that can be made are what the plastic bags are hanging from. Instead of chicken wire which is made from metal, we could use thin sticks in the shape of the chicken wire because they might not have mesh or chicken wire in Tanzania. An improvement for the first design is making the gutters go directly towards the crops underneath the design, rather than going into buckets and hand watering. The reason for this is because of at night when it is pouring it down, the buckets will overflow but even if we fix that problem by saying just water the crops more regularly, we can’t because it is a school full of children and they need a goodnight’s sleep. They can’t just be doing night shifts because its not an actual job, these crops are there for them to eat.