Homework for the
EOT
On October
30, we
will have our first meeting with the folks from the Children's
Museum about the energy audit.
For October
23,
please conduct an energy audit of your house using the FIRST
sample energy audit how-to guide.
For October
9, you
have an assignment to help you be more at ease with the Version
Tracking software, Subversion. Please make sure your sub-vi
programs have been uploaded to the assembla page. Then check
someone else's sub-vi, improve it, and import it back into
Subversion. Please read the Rhode Island Monthly article on alternative energy
in Rhode Island. And be prepared to
continue mapping out your strategy for the POWER PUZZLE robot
game.
For our
September 11
meeting, please read the
POWER PUZZLE challenge documents. And review the Robot Game rules videos. Be prepared to discuss strategic combinations
to maximize points! Please bring your core
robots.
YOUR
RESEARCH PAPERS ARE DUE on AUGUST 24, 2007, no later than 5
PM.
You may
email
them to me (in .doc format ONLY) or drop them by the house.
OUR NEXT
(and first official!) POWER PUZZLE TEAM MEETING is Tuesday,
September 4, from 3 PM - 9 PM at the Johnson's house.
Please bring $5 per EOT to chip in for pizzas and drinks.
On
9/4/07, we will spend part of our first meeting
continuing on the Team Management Agreement. Andrew has an idea to
share with the team relating to setting the team apart, ala the
teams at World Fest is costumes and hats. Harry, Calder and Kyle
will introduce the team to SUBVERSION, the version control system
the team will be using to keep track of changes in the code. The
rest of the time will be spent tinkering with robots and practicing
using SUBVERSION. You are STRONGLY encouraged to build, and bring
along, a simple, small, NXT robot. If you'd like to borrow a kit or
need some extra parts, email
me.
RESEARCH PAPER PROJECT UPDATE
The complete timeline for this assignment, a .doc file, is
here:
AltEnergyProposal
August 21: We swapped papers again today and read the
opening and closing paragraphs out loud to elicit peer feedback.
Most of the paragaphs provided basic information; a good first
step; none of them grabbed us and made us want to read more. The
latter is what an outstanding opening paragraph does well. All of
the papers would benefit from the following:
•read
it out loud to catch awkward sentence structure, illogical
transitions, and bad grammar.
•polish the paper to include solid sentences, logical and
interesting transitions, incorrect spelling and proper
grammar.
•include phrases such as, "According to an article in the
August 17, 2007 edition of the WALL STREET JOURNAL", or "Bob Jones
of the American Solar Society thinks that", so that it's clear
where your information is coming from.
•ruthlessly cut out "empty calorie" words such as "also",
"this" and "but".
Coach Mary Johnson read through all of the papers, did some
editing, made some notes, and sent the papers home so the final
report can be finished by 5 PM on Friday, August 24. Use the
examples and editing provided to craft your ENTIRE paper. In the
final version, proper spelling, punctuation and grammar are
required. Examples of how to format your paper can be found by
clicking on the links that follow. Final papers need to
include:
•A title page
•5-7 pages of black, 12 point, Times text; 1 inch margins;
double spaced, with indented paragraphs. (Do NOT skip an extra 2
lines between paragraphs.) These pages should be numbered, and include your
introductory paragraph, followed by the information you've
collected in logical paragraphs each having a topic sentence. The
paper should end with a closing paragraph.
•The paper should be written in THIRD person, with text that is formal (no slang, edit out
use of "and so on" or "etc.")
•The final page (this does not count toward the 5-7 pages) is
the bibliography or works
cited page.
The EOT also met with Dr. Stein to begin developing a Teamwork
Management Agreement, a list of team created standards, rewards and
consequences. This project is in its early stage and will be
continued at our next meeting. The team also used the robots they'd
built over the summer to work on some of the missions of the
new POWER PUZZLE
mat, even though we don't
know for sure what the rules are yet.
August 14: Today the EOT
swapped papers and read through their partner's notes for clarity
and information gaps. As Calder put it, "when you know about a
subject, it's easy to deduce rather than writing it down." After a
review of their notes, they organized their notes into a logical
flow and discovered their 5-7 page papers are about 75% finished
already.
For next week, each EOT should add an introductory paragraph,
concluding paragraph and transitions to create a paper that flows
smoothly from point to point; they are encouraged to include
pictures, charts and drawings, within reason. (Please, no photos
that take up 3/4 of a page of paper--resize them to be roughly a
2x2.)
The first draft of the paper is due Tuesday, August 21.
Please bring a printed copy to the meeting. If you'd like
me to take a look at your paper earlier, email it to me and
I'll return it with comments. At that meeting, we'll again swap
papers and share ideas on how to make each paper stronger and more
interesting.
TIPS FOR WRITING A GOOD FIRST
DRAFT
•It's often easier to write the
paper, then go back and write the introductory and closing
paragraphs.
•The introductory paragraph tells the reader what the paper is
about, but needs to be interesting so he will keep reading.
•The closing paragraph summarizes the main points of the
paper.
•The body of your paper (much of which is written and
organized already, thanks to your notes) needs to be broken into
logical paragraphs. Each paragraph: is about one topic; has a topic
sentence; contains supporting details documented in your notes and
attributed to a source; written in complete sentences. Focus more
on content than spelling and grammar, we will clean those up in the
editing process.
•Include photos, diagrams, drawings, but keep them relatively
small--about 2x2 is usually a good size.
•include a title page and a works cited page; plugging the
information from your sources in to the citation
machine makes the works cited page much easier. (Please use MLA
style.)
August 7:
Today we reviewed the notes everyone had collected; the notes the
EOT collected were, by and large, appropriate. Everyone had
summarized rather than copied text, which was good. We had a range
from 2 pages on 3 sources, to 5 pages from one source; time
management is a skill that develops over time . . .
As a group, we went through each sub-topic and the EOT shared what
info they had collected along that vein. A COPY of the
notes should be sorted by sub topic. Please use this form, and
follow the directions about saving a COPY of your work while
keeping your original notes unsullied. After organizing the
notes you have, collect more information as necessary until you
have at least 1 page of 12 pt., double spaced, Times font notes for
each sub-topic. THIS WORKING OUTLINE IS DUE AUGUST 14. Our session
is from 1-3 PM, at the Johnson's house.
Sub-topic organizer in MS Word File: EOThomework8_14_07
Sub-topic organizer in TXT file: EOThomework8_14_07
July
24: choose topics; brainstorm
subtopics; discuss note-taking procedure; how to find and document
sources; review rubric for notes. You have 2 weeks to collect
notes from 5+ sources on your topic. You must collect information, using the standards
outlined in the documents
here, from AT LEAST five
sources, including at least one magazine, book, internet source and
interview. (The interview can be conducted via phone, email or in
person.)
You must have notes on ALL of the following subtopics, even if that
requires the use of more than 5 sources. All of the notes you take should be
relevant to the
following subtopics, kept in the manila folder you received on
7/24, and clipped together by source:
•How
does this form of energy work? What kind of equipment is needed to
generate it? Does it need to be transformed into another form of
energy to be usable (for instance, kinetic energy into heat or
electricity)?
•What conditions (environmental, physical, financial, etc.)
does it need to be viable? Do these conditions exist locally? Are
there unresolved technical, political or environmental issues to be
considered?
•What are the political/environmental/financial pros and cons
of this form of energy
•Where is this form of energy
being used currently and what does it power? Is it being used in
New England? In Rhode Island? If so, where? Does it supplement or
replace traditional forms of energy there?
•What is the cutting edge research and technology in this
area? Who are the leading researchers? Are there people in New
England doing research on these topics in the public or private
sector? Who are they?
•Describe a physical, working model the EOT could build to
demonstrate this form of energy, including a budget for the
necessary parts or equipment (solar panels, etc.) If at all
possible, this machine/model should be capable of
generating
information the EOT can analyze. (For
instance, taking the temperature of a compost heap. Or monitoring
the amount of solar energy collected by a solar panel.). Do we have
materials readily available we could use to create this model?
Please limit the model or experiment to something that can be
created for less than $250.
August
7: bring your folder of notes
to our meeting. (8/7/07, 2-4 PM, Stein's). We will swap notes and
evaluate according to this rubric. We will create a working
outline. You have one week to create a formal outline, and to
compile additional notes, if the EOT determined that you need to do
so.
July
24, 2007 Each EOT will
create a proposal (5-7 pages of 12 point, double spaced text) the
team can evaluate as they determine the best focus for their FLL
Power Puzzle project.
TOPICS:
Calder: WIND
Markus: HYDRO/TIDAL
Alex: SOLAR
Andrew: Biomass/Organic PLANT
Harry: Biomass/Organic/MANURE
Shane: Biomass/Non-Organic GARBAGE
Julia: HYDRO/NON-TIDAL