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Spaghetti Earthquake Challenge

Safeera Patel November 21, 2023

Project Overview:

For our final assessment in Science this year, we were placed in groups of 2-3 and asked to design and construct an earthquake-resistant building made out of dried spaghetti and blue tack meaning if we shook it, it wasn’t going to tip or fall. This tower had to meet the following criteria:

minimum height of 60cm
a platform on top to hold 1 or 2 weights
go through a earthquake simulation test for 10 seconds
costs less than $60 to build as 1 piece of spaghetti is $1 and 1 gram of blue tack is $1

This project is very valuable because in today’s society, earthquakes cause a lot of horrible damage and deaths across the world. Doing this project shows how we need to think of ways to earthquake proof buildings in countries where earthquakes are very common to stop the destruction and devastation. These significant earthquakes can cause horrendous damage and can even leave thousands or millions of people homeless as the damage done to buildings may be unfix-able. That’s why engineers and architects today are always trying to find new ways to improve the designs and structural integrity of buildings to maximise the safety of these buildings in case earthquakes do occur, as they are unpredictable.

Our goal for this project was to build a 60cm tall building with structural integrity strong enough to be able to withstand an earthquake, using triangles as our base shape to ensure maximum support.

Engineering Process:

The first part of the engineering process includes defining and research. In our research we found that the most effective ways of earthquake resistant buildings was to cross brace and double layer the spaghetti. With our supplies, cross bracing was the easiest and most cost-effective option. Our building was specifically designed to be very square with a triangle top because this would evenly distribute the weight and damage throughout the building. Cross bracing also distributed energy from the earthquake throughout the whole building. The brace walls had minimal shaking compared to non-cross-braced walls. This shows that the cross-braced walls boosted structural integrity a great deal when compared to a structure with non-cross braced wall.

My Thoughts:

I think our group worked extremely well together and even though we all had our own roles, as some members of the group did more of the research part of this assignment than the building part it still worked as all roles are important for a group to work collaboratively.

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Visual Arts- Piñata

Safeera Patel November 21, 2022

Visual arts is not a elective that involves preforming. At least that is what I thought until semester 2. This semester I chose visual arts expecting for us to do something involving painting and relaxed. That is not what happened.

The task was to create a piñata something which you usually see at a party not an art class. This task was a little shocking to me especially since we had to create not just any piñata but a mythical creature. I had to research some ideas and surprisingly I had found many which I liked. I drew them up and decided to join with my partner who had also had a few of her own. We both found many which we liked but chose one design

After this selection process we decided to choose colour schemes. Our creature was a wolf crossed with a peacock. We both came to the conclusion of having a blue purple and green colour scheme. Those colours just went well together. And matched the aesthetic of our animal It gave a midnight mood overall.

We next had to attach cardboard to our piece this was hard especially with our piece as when we had many curves and small parts. This made us extend the time which we thought we would take on this process however we worked harder and eventually finished it.

The cutting and pasting of our paper. We pasted the first side with colours which matched our theme perfectly. However when It came to the other side we had hit an ice burg there were not enough of the colours which we needed to match the sides. This caused us to problem solve we decided the colours from both sides could be different to represent different atmospheres. This not only made the piece more different it allowed us to problem solve

The final part of the piñata was to paint the remaining sides we first used the only paint available (pink) this not only made the colours clash and created a weird outlook we were very unhappy as our hard work had been destroyed. However, when Ms Elscott bought out a dark purple, we knew we were saved the. Purple complimented all colours and allowed us only to apply one layer because of its darkness.

The final part was presenting the even overall was fun and a god learning experience being confident enough to go out on the stage was hard but the thought of knowing the eyes would be on the piñata was reassuring. The piñata lit the room up and was a great sight. If this were ever to happen again, I think that I would love to create a more known animal and have more time. This not only could make the art look better it also would allow the audience could understand what they are seeing

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Safeera Patel November 11, 2022

Collaboration is a key concept needed for English. It not only allows us to push us to go beyond our comfort zone, but I also push us to make more friends. One project that really pushed me to collaborate was task 2 acting a script out. I used collaboration by being the group leader and monitoring roles and creating time limits. I also made sure my ideas were heard and well thought about. I also helped create goals. This was not only effective and portrayed in task 2 but many other tasks too like task 8. During task 8 I helped many people complete their poems and provided them with feedback and themes for their poems. This not only helped me create a stronger bond in my community, but it also helped me when creating my poems as I had many people I could rely on and people that can help me achieve goals which I have made.

Learner agency is also a key concept needed for school. It not only allows us to take constructive criticism, but it also allows us to adjust our work to the feedback we have been given. One way I used my advice and applied it was during the novel study of Boy in Striped Pj’s during the novel study I wrote practise essay’s and sleeked for help by Mr Gatti these essays helped me as I applied the feedback when I wrote my real essay. I not only utilised the teachers help also took feedback and applied it to my work which strived me to be better and more effective learner. I also read many others essays this is to gave me a better understanding of the topic and gave me ideas on ways to improve my essay. Providing feedback strengthened my learning and my peers too and It really allowed me to apply my knowledge and spread it to others.

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Recycled Jewellery

Safeera Patel June 21, 2022June 21, 2022

In semester 1 I chose to do recycled jewellery as my choice for Innovate Ed. The process was long and had many milestone however it was worth it.

In the beginning we got given lots of old and pre used beads. The task sounded easy but it was not. We got given thousands of beads and had to organise them into their correct colours and places. This took us two whole lessons and was very frustrating but it helped us when it came to the making and creating.

Prototype

The next task was Proto typing this was a really fun and creative task. We had to design different designs that would be potential end designs. We had to create at least three

Next we started creating! We got given string and crimps. Crimps are what stop the beads from sliding off. We used pliers to secure the crimps on the string. Our designs were based on our proto-types we made as many as we could this stage was vital as it set us off to begin our product.

Weeks of Making bracelets had paid off we had made many bracelets with unique designs. At this stage we thought we were going to give all our bracelets to Sick hospitalised kids. These bracelets were going to brighten their mood. In our class we already had two potential hospitals and contacts that we could send them too however we needed to do some research.

This lead us too our fourth task. Everyone had a job to do for preparation of this product. There were packaging groups Message writing groups and research groups. I was part of the message writing group. With our bracelets we wanted to have a special touch too them so we had decided to write messages along side them. We had created messages and poems each written multi-coloured and with love.

Everyone had finished there task everything was ready packaging the research and emails for approval. That is when we realised our mission to send these bracelets to Sick children was unlikely. Covid was spreading not only were we not allowed to be at the hospital but we were not allowed to give pre used items because of the germs they consist. With little time left we had to come up with a solution.

The next week we brainstormed and that is when we got the prefect idea. There was a market being held for the $20 boss group. This market was a chance for us to sell our products. Generally all proceeds to tat market and split and given to each member of that group but we thought different. Remembering the hospital and our original motivation we decided all proceeds would go toward the hospital.

The market was full everyone wanted to go home with something. Not only did we sell bracelets we had phone charms and photo frame. Each was priced not too high but not too low. We all took turns in selling as we were a very large group. Almost all products was sold. We earnt a profit of around $150.

Everything worked out perfectly we knew the money was not enough but the thought is what counted. Wee decide we would join the money with the next jewellery making group and donate that end profit to the Hospital hoping that it makes a difference.

Overall I learnt a lot in this process not only about Team work and motivation but about problem solving. All the problems that we faced were a learning moment we had no time to complain and instead we learnt how to problem solve and face challenges with an open mind.

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visual art- Brutalist Art

Safeera Patel April 7, 2022

Brutalist art Brutalism came to symbolize urban decay and economic hardships that were out in the open for the world to see they were made by only raw concrete. Our task was to create something similar using concrete and Lego.

The process:

First, we had to search for brutalist images however I did miss this due to me being away. Next we made prototypes out of Lego to see what our final piece would look like. This took many trials as when Mrs Elscott tried the project there were many flaws with the Lego such as the concrete to crumble. This then added many rules to what our mould would look like. We had to limit the size of our mould and the number of over hangs. This resulted me to just create a very small simple design with no over hangs.

Then we had to make a box out of board and wood, this was one of the most difficult parts of the project because we had to hot glue the walls and floor with hot glue (which took a long time to dry) and we had to make sure no water leaked out of the box, this meant we had to add more and more hot glue to stop the water from leaking out. Then we poured the pinkysil into the box and waited until it was dry

With the pinkysil we poured half pink and half white pinkysil and mixed it fast so that the silicon does not set before putting into the walls. Once it was mixed, we poured it through the walls and then tapped the side of the walls to make all the air bubbles rise.

We had to wait for a lesson for the silicon to dry so once it did, we cut our walls open and were left with a mould. Then we took the Lego out of the mould and made sure our moulds were good to pour concrete into, again we had to tat the sides so that the air bubbles rise because I they don’t parts of the final design would be chipped. We had poured the concrete into the mould, we had to wait a long time for it to dry. Once it dried, we took it out of the mould and added it to the other sculptures in the class creating a brutal city.

What worked in this project was how I was able to change/ adapt my Lego build to fit the guidelines and have exactly what I wanted. I built several different Lego builds so I could see what style I liked and what I wanted to have my final product look like. In the end I had chosen the simplest design which was a mistake as my art did not look as complex.

What did not work for me in this project was my time management. I spent too long on some things and that really left me behind which made me rush my work and my overall design was not done to the best of my abilities.

Overall, I enjoyed the freedom we got to work on our project because we could do our own thing and work well without having to follow a structure. This project has many steps to complete but ultimately it was a fun project and I really enjoyed it and the final design was very cool.

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Project Utopia- Reflection

Safeera Patel October 27, 2021March 22, 2022

Main Question: How can You create a community where all people thrive?

Innovate Ed Term 3 2021

Collaboration

Communication

Organisation

Innovate Ed was about using The Capabilities Wheel as a guide to create big projects. I didn’t realise how complex some projects can be in Year 7 until Project Utopia. Our project this term was to redesign Fremantle Port since the present port was relocating and the existing space needed redevelopment. We had to create our vision of a utopia, “a perfect society”. This project meant focussing on capabilities like communication, organisation, and collaboration. We used these as building blocks to help create our utopia.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ASC-Capabilities.png — **The Capabilities Wheel**

Collaboration

The teacher allocated us in groups of four students. I did not know what was expected of me and I was unsure of the expectations since I had never worked with these group members before. To be honest, at first I was quite sad since I was not with any of my close friends. I was not looking forward to this project because of this. We were also different people with different ideas, and we had to learn how to collaborate with our ideas efficiently. Our first task as a group was allocating different roles for different people. We allocated roles to each team member based on their strengths. This made us work more effectively and made me feel a bit more confident because we also collaborated. We each knew our expectations and achieved our outcomes quickly. My role in the group was team organiser and brain stormer. This was because I was the most organised and the neatest and most efficient writer. I was excited but also pressured since all the work was dependent on me to organise and make improvements on it.

Brainstorming Ideas On our idea of a “perfect society”

Communication

Apart from good communication between group members, the time when this skill was essential was when important delegates like Fremantle Port representatives and the Port project manager visited us. Our communication skills had to be very effective in front of visitors because we were representing our school. We often had to communicate our plan clearly and elaborate on the history of Fremantle, Aboriginal rights and culture and the use of global goals in our redesign. Our communications skills were tested when we did the daunting task of publicly speaking in front of these delegates. When I had to speak in front of these people, I was worried I would mess up. However, I soon realised that they too were scared to speak to 108 students. Overall, I improved my communication skills and over-came the fear of speaking in front of others.

Fremantle’s former mayor giving us some insight

Organisation

As the team organiser, keeping everyone organised was vital. Without organisation we would not know our expectations for the next group meeting. I had to assign what our goals and tasks would be for the week. This was frustrating at times because sometimes the group and I were not successful in doing our tasks. For example we sometimes ran out of time to complete different tasks. This would set us behind and often we would have to work outside of class time. However, getting this job was helpful to me not just while doing this project but also during my normal school life as it taught me the importance of organisation and completing tasks.

Achievement

Innovate Ed was about using the capabilities wheel as a guide to create big projects. However, after reviewing all my work I realised that the capabilities not only assisted in big projects also made them more successful. Most importantly the capabilities teach you to be a team leader and a team player. After this project I will always remember Fremantle as Utopia my vision of an almost perfect society.

Ideas and Successes

Deciding our are of the port to focus on

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ART- Wood Wall Work

Safeera Patel September 14, 2021March 22, 2022

Ever since Term 3 week 1 I have been in Visual art as my Project X. Mrs Crimson introduced us to a new style of art called Wood Wall Work. It took me many weeks to create this but this is what I made:

The process: How I made this was first we experimented with a lot of wood pieces and took photos of them as inspiration. We also each week created a Wood Work piece using one of the principle of art to inspire the artwork. I think doing that task really helped me get inspiration for my actual work as I had never worked with wood and so having practise really was good. We used principles like Shape, Balance, Colour and many more. We also made a biography on famous artist Louise Nevelson. Artist from the 19th century. She gave us so much inspiration and her story was so interesting.

Organisation: I Think each day I managed my priorities well. However I think I managed my Louise Nevelson project the best. Most people left it till to late but I started mine early. Each day I would do more and more. This way I had more time to do my art in class. I also think that doing this task first helped me get inspiration for my final piece. Louise Nevelson is soo interesting studying her art was a privilege as it helped me create a final wonderful piece.

Principles: I used balance and colour. I used balance because all my art were arranged in a specific way. By that I mean they fit together perfectly and they had a very strange effect on the eye. Colour all my colour’s are summer colours they are bright an are usually colour’s associated with the beach. In the photo you see in the left I used repetition. Repetition is very powerful. as everything is the same it makes people look at your art more since they want to find some difference

Problem solving I had for some reason wanted everything to fit together. It was shard to find pieces that could join easy. I wanted my pieces to be interesting and unique but simple too. My goal at first seemed impossible every week I had a new design. However one week I put my head down and made something nice. It however was not unique so what other to do then spray paint. I loved spray painting. It gave a little personal style and uniqueness to my art.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is art-768x1024.jpg

MY FINAL PIECE ENJOY!!!!

Hope you like my artwork

-Safeera

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