Pinhole Camera

In the unit Light I learned about what light rays are and how light functions.The most challenging part of this unit I believe was to build the pinhole camera. When building it I ran into a couple issues where I could not get the camera light proof and if a pinhole camera is not light proof it won’t work. The reason for this is because the light will come through the edges and cause the paper to react taking a picture of something else not what you wanted to. I would say that I am most proud of how my camera turned out.

Camera,JC,2015

Photo of Classroom, JC, 2015

A pinhole camera is the most basic kind of camera that only uses light and paper to make a picture. The light comes through a small hole made in the camera and hits the paper. Since light=energy and the paper is light sensitive because of a special blend of chemicals, which just need energy to react. When the light hits the chemicals it heats them up causing them to react. This reaction when developed shows the image you were trying to capture upside down since there is no lens to change the direction of the light or anything slowing down the light. This means that there is no refraction either.

In the diagram on the left is my camera and on the right is the salt shaker that I am taking a picture of. To find the distance needed to capture the entire salt shaker I used similar triangles.How I did this way found the height of the pinhole and the diameter of the camera and used Pythagoras theorem  to find the hypotenuse. Then I used found the angle by using tangent. After measuring the height of the salt shaker it was just using what we know about similar triangles to find the rest of the sides. The height of the pinhole is 3.3125 inches. The distance from the pinhole to the paper is 3.25 inches, and the height of the salt shaker is 15.25 inches.

Diagram, JC, 2015

Survival in the 21st Century

    In the first unit of argument we learned about the founding of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. We then analyzed the structures of arguments and looked at the Declaration of Independence. From there we were expected to write a declaration for an independant study that would give students a right that they deserve. At first I wanted to do something with  3-D printing and design but when filling out the template for the third time I decided to change to this topic. After going through the template so many times it was much easier to write a declaration because I knew the structure so well.

    I, a fellow citizen, am declaring that students need to be taught how to survive. Not only does learning how to survive teach basic knowledge to be self sufficient it also teaches students principles that will help them succeed in life and become the best people they can be. School’s purpose it to guide kids through their development and create upstanding citizens. Recently schools have been straying from that purpose. Instead of preparing the students for the real world they are preparing them for a test.  A test that does nothing more than show the ability to recite information.  I have a right to able to be the best person I can be. This is the purpose of school to fulfill this right. This course fulfills this right.

    Survival in the 21st Century is not only going to teach the basics in survival but also the principles to become the best person you can.  This course will be led by the question “How will I survive?”And will be on and off for a school year because of logistics. The units of this course are First Aid, Improvisation, and Wilderness survival.

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First Aid will develop the skills to use a first aid kit, teach students to offer a helping hand, and teach students the skill of preparing. This unit’s external investigation will be to go to a hospital and volunteer for a day as a nurse. Students would see people who have devoted their lives and had many years of training just to help people and it will motivate them to be more of a contribution to society later in life. The action project will be to design a first aid kit for a certain place in your life i.e. your car, your house, your school, etc… This will teach more about first aid because students will need to research the different supplies. It will also teach students the ability to prepare because students will be preparing for different accidents. This will also be useful if they ever see an accident or someone in help they will be able to help.

The next unit is Improvisation, which will teach students how to think on their feet and to be more resourceful. The field experience for this unit would be to interview a state ranger  about improvising in the wilderness (building shelters, creating tools, and getting food). This would teach students how to be more resourceful because they will start thinking more about their environment and its different uses. For the action project the students are given a box of random objects and supplies and told using those items and ones found in nature create a machine or tool that would be useful in surviving within 5 hours. This would further the learning of resourcefulness and also teach quick thinking because they have to design and create a tool in such a small period of time with limited resources.

The last unit is Wilderness Survival. This unit will teach students how to survive and to respect their surroundings. The field experience will be to go to REI and with an imaginary budget find the 5 most useful items in the store to survive. This will require students to research and predict what hardships could happen in the wilderness. This will teach the students how to survive because they will have researched what is important in survival. The action project will be to go to Alaska for a week and survive on your own (this will be safely handled in a national park and the students will have a distress signal with them in case of an emergency). This will teach students to respect their surroundings because they will see the power of nature. Being out in the wilderness will also bring together all of the concepts from previous units.

Schools have strayed from their true purpose, to develop students into successful contributors to society. It is a student's right to be given the opportunity to become the best citizen they can be. So I am declaring that schools right their course and teach Survival in the 21st Century so that students are able to develop into upstanding citizens.

p:I have the right to be the best citizen I can be.

p: Schools purpose is to make us be the best citizens possible.

p: Survival in the 21st Century teaches skills that help you become a better citizen.

C: Schools should teach  Survival in the 21st Century so that they can help us become the best citizens possible.