My Declaration for a New Course

In the first unit of Argument at GCE, we learned about how to properly structure our own arguments. To give us historical context as to have this has been done successfully, we analyze the Declaration of Independence and how the colonists made their argument against King George. For our Action Project, we were asked to write our own declaration for a new course at GCE using the concepts that we have learned. For my declaration, I choose to write about an advanced mathematics course.

LS. (2017) Class Discussion

As much as I’ve loved my time at GCE, there are also some things I would change if I could. One of these things is college readiness and the level of math. Because of the way GCE structures and teaches classes, I feel that many students are not as prepared as they could be for the next step in their academic careers.

I believe that education is not a privilege. Every person in the world deserves the right to know how to have the basic skills to function in a sophisticated society. The purpose of school is to prepare for the future. For some people it’s preparing for a deeper level of education and for others it could be starting their careers. Either way we learn things in school that are essential to all potential paths. I propose a class called advanced mathematics. In this course, students will have a personalized program to propel them to the highest level of math before they graduate. However, the goal of the course is not only to help students learn a higher level of math, but to also help them understand why they are learning it and where they could potentially use it later in life. Also, I hope that after taking this course, student will better understand the reason why they are learning math in school.

Personally, I've always loved doing math. Because of this, I think it's easier for me to understand the true value behind it. I've also been in many situations when applying to a school were certain a certain level of math was needed to apply but I hadn't reached it yet.

A good example of how people in the past used math to be successful is how Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan helped NASA do calculations for their space missions. Not only were these three people women, they were also African American. These women used math to liberate them from the idea that women could not do a "man's" job. Also, while not directly related to math, Phyllis Wheatley tried to promote change in other while her poems. In a way, I'm doing something very similar with this course. Something needs to change with how students think of math at GCE and around the world and I hope this course can help to start to do that.

Guiding Question: How can students use math to prepare for their future?

Course Details:

- The course would be one full term towards the end of senior year. However, in order to prepare for the SAT, the school may choose to teach it to juniors during the winter or spring.

- Most deliverables would not be large assignments. Each piece of homework would be small but focused on ensuring each student retained the information taught each day. New concepts would not be introduced in at home deliverables.

- The resources I would need are as follows: math teacher, classroom, writing materials

p1: Math is used in almost every aspect of your day and knowing more about it can save you money and valuable time. Also, even if you do not decide to go to college, knowing math can get you better paying job positions.

p2: A higher understanding of math can help you get into a better school or further your academic endeavors.

p3: The literal learning of math teaches a discipline of memorization and helps students develop conflict resolution/problem solving skills.

c: Math is an extremely valuable skill to learn for futures may or may not contain academic pursuits.

Overall, this syllogism tries to explain that both the principal of learning math and math itself can be valuable in anybody's life. That math can be valuable not only in the way that many people have viewed it, but in new ways that most high school students don't yet understand.

Usually, when people think of an independent study, they think of one person working alone all the time. However, collaborating with others can eventually lead to you being better as an independent learner. This is because after getting taught by someone else or working with another person, you can better apply the new tools and techniques youve learned to your independent studies.

Building a Camera

In the first unit of my STEAM course Light, Sound, and Time, we learned about the many different aspects of light. During our internal investigation, we explored light waves, radiation, and the electromagnetic spectrum. We also learned about similar triangles and graphing skills to help us understand the math concepts behind the waves of light. For our Action Project, we had to make a camera and use it to show our knowledge on the behavior of light and reflection/refraction. To demonstrate our mastery of the math learned in the internal, we applied our knowledge of similar triangles to create a diagram of how our camera captured the light.

LS Camera (2017) LS

In order to capture the light of an image, my camera has a very small pinhole opening in the front as well as a cover to prevent light from entering the camera while I'm not taking a picture. When light enters the pinhole, it gets inverted and projects the image on the other side of the camera. To capture an image, I put a piece of photosensitive paper inside it and let it sit out with the pinhole exposed for 2 minutes However, for some reason, the picture I took did not come out right and just showed darkness. Along with the photo taken with my camera, I also did a photogram. In order to do this, I placed objects on photo paper and while in a dark room, shone light over the objects and paper for 5 sec and then developed the photo.

When constructing my camera, one of the first things I did was paint the entire inside of it black. This is because black absorbs light while white will reflect it. Black will also ensure that the inside of the camera stays as dark as possible and does not ruin the film.

Photogram (2017) LS

During our Internal Investigation, we learned about the differences and similarities between reflection and refraction. Refraction describes light passing into a different medium and bending. Reflection is when light bounces off of surface. Based on these definitions, neither apply to my camera. The light in my camera is simply projected through the pinhole and onto the film. Another thing we learned about was whether light was a particle or a wave. According to our findings, light is both a particle and a wave depending on the situation. Since light can pass through another beam of light, it can be a wave. Since light can transfer energy when it hits a metal sheet, it can be a particle. In my camera, light behaves like a wave because of how it passes through the pinhole and onto the photosensitive paper.

Math Diagram (2017) LS

The diagram above describes the relationship between the object I photographed, the pinhole of my camera, and the distance between the pinhole and the paper. My object was 6.25 in tall, the height from ground to the pinhole is 5 in, and the distance from the pinhole to the film is 5.25 in. Using these three measurements and what I learned about similar triangles, I calculated the distance the light traveled from the object to the paper and the angles between the light and various parts of the camera. As shown above, the light rays pass from the right where the object is, to the left where the film is. This not only gives me a better understanding of the path of the light waves, but also applies the math concepts of trigonometry/geometry that we learn in class.

Disaster Movie Review

In my elective term course Ollywood at GCE, we learned about the art of filmmaking. In our studies  we looked at the three major parts of making a movie. Pre-production, production, and post-production. While learning about each part, we watched various films to compare our findings to popular films and visited a variety of places that work in the field of film or have a great deal of experience. My favorite of these Field Experiences was to Morning Star. Even though Morning Star wasn't a film company, they had a large space and dedicated employees to making videos for advertisement. The reason why it was the favorite was because we got to see lots of all the cool and professional equipment they had in their studio. For the Action Project for this course, we were asked pick any movie and create an extensive review on it. In our review, my partner GA and I analyzed Disaster Movie. We specifically picked this movie knowing how bad it was because we thought it would be much more fun to review a movie that we both enjoyed making fun of.

The People We Always Forget

For the third unit of Rhetoric, we learned how the use of language and ideas can unite people. Although this was an extremely short unit, we briefly analyzed different historical periods that follow this main idea. For this Action Project, we had to make an artistic piece that represents something that we feel strongly about. My partner and I decided to make a voice over of the CTA train announcer to make people realize both who is actually on the train, and how the city changes around them. It’s called ‘The Voices Of The Lost”. I produced the audio clip and my partner (AL) did most of the writing.

         

"The Voices Of The Lost", (2016) LS. 

Our main rhetorical appeal in this piece is pathos. Throughout the audio clip, the main focus was getting people to feel like they were on a train and then make them reflect upon the questions being asked. While not as obvious as pathos, ethos plays a large part in the piece as well. If some random person were to come up to people on the train an repeat what the piece is saying, it would not have the same effect. The fact that it comes from the intercom, a place they've always gotten factual information from, makes a larger impact.

When hearing this recording we want the listener to think about all the different people that struggle through life around the city. In the making of this piece, we are trying to unite those that are separated by race. If you look at any demographic map of the city, it is obvious that there is a strong divide between where the majority of the racial groups live in Chicago. Many of these segregated people may even feel that they live in a completely different city as those that have higher incomes. In most cases, people that live up north aren't even aware that segregation still happens in their city at such a high frequency. This is why that instead of attacking the people that simply are unaware, we aim to make them question themselves and not feel attacked. When I first recorded the speaking part, I thought it was too short. However, after recording more, I realized it just turned into what sounded like an infomercial. This is what prompted the shorter and more question filled version.

While this was made primarily with the idea of race in mind, it can also been interpreted as people ignoring the presence of homelessness on the CTA. Often, we don’t care to think that there are homeless people that live on these trains. When we do see them, we complain behind the safety of our computer screens about them sleeping on the seats of the train. One well known homeless person is Freddie the homeless man ("Forgotten"). He sleeps on the Redline all day until the beds at a shelter open up at night. There are 2,055 people that live on the street or public transportation and parks in 2015 (Rianne). 

While not necessarily inciting action, our hope is that after listening to our piece, people reflect upon their own thoughts and actions. We want people to want to get involved on their own accord, not because they got ideas shoved into their head.


Citations:

Coale, Rianne. "As Homeless Numbers Rise in Chicago, CTA Is a Place of Refuge | Transit Diaries." Redeyechicago.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"The Forgotten Passengers." A Red Line Project Special Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Travis' Bike

For the second unit of Design and Engineering at GCE, we learned all about bikes. Throughout our internal investigation, we talked mostly about the math that goes behind different parts of the bike such as the gears and wheels. For our external investigation, we visited a design firm to learn about the design process, had a representative from Divvy come in to talk to us about bikes, and did a workshop with a representative from Dyson. Finally, for our Action Project, my partner and I were given a persona and asked to design a bike based off of their specified needs.

Bike Anatomy. (2016) LS.

Our assigned persona is a student that lives in Uptown and wants to ride the lake path to school. He lives on the third floor of his apartment so he wants a bike that is easier to carry and store in his home. He needs a bike that is light, fast, and can move effectively in the weather throughout the year.

To fulfill these needs, we designed a bike with a variety of features. For the weight and storage issue, we made the decision to use a light yet strong material, use a fixed gear mechanism, and make the bike completely collapsible. This means that the bike can be folded in half down the center to make it easier to carry up stairs and store in a small apartment. In order to make the bike fast, we made the seat higher than the handlebars to force a suicide position and used thinner tires meant for a city street. The suicide position helps him go faster because it makes him more aerodynamic. Finally, for the weather issue we made the tires heavily treaded. This would allow the bike to travel more easily across the lake shore path when it is wet. Most bikes now have either thin slick tires or thick and heavily treaded tires. We wanted to make a hybrid of both for the best of both worlds.

While some people may be hesitant to buy a new product, the reason our user should buy our model is the variety of features. In other words, let the product speak for itself. Since the bike is tailored directly to the needs of city goers, there are few other bikes that can provide what ours can. Since we have no background as bike designers, the only reason to believe that our bike is going to benefit users the most is the multitude of useful features. Also, if we look at the user that we designed this bike for specifically, he has every reason to believe in our design because the bike was built directly around his needs.

Collapsed Bike View. (2016) LS.

To make the model, we measured an existing bike and used a scale of 9 to 1. For my wheel size we used a diameter of 622 mm or about 24.5 in. This puts the circumference of the wheel at about 1954.07 mm or 76.93 in. After calculating the distance from the user's home in Uptown to GCE to be about 6.1 miles, we calculated that the amount of rotations the bike would make in one ride would be about 5023.87 rotations. You can calculate this by dividing the total distance by the circumference of the wheel. Also, the average time it takes the user to get to school is 33 mins if he is traveling at an an average of 10.91 miles per hour or 4.88 meters per second for the duration of the trip. Since the user wants to go very fast and is only going to be riding on a mostly flat surface, the best gear ratio to use would be about 44:16. This means that there is a larger gear in front and a smaller gear in back. This allows the back gear to rotate more with less peddling and lets the user go faster. Also, since the user is presumably light (being around 130-145 as a 16 year old) and has the need to go fast, the gear ratio will be beneficial.

Bike Model. (2016) TH.

During our external investigation, we interviewed people that we knew to be bikers. During my biker interview, my interviewee said something interesting that ended up helping during the design process. He said:“Although I love my fixed gear, thin tire bike, it would be more beneficial to have a bike that can work on a variety of surfaces." This quote was part of the decision to add the thin yet treaded tires to our design.

During a part of our internal investigation, we discussed kinetic and potential energy. Since there aren't many elevated portions of the lake bike path, my user wouldn't often have potential energy. However, whenever he is at the top of a hill he would have the most potential energy. When he is moving the fastest, he would have the most kinetic energy.

Donald Trump: The Rhetorical Challenger

For the second unit of Rhetoric, we investigated what it means for an idea or person to challenge the status quo. Throughout our internal and external investigations, we looked at many examples of current and historical figures and how they stood up to certain ideas or oppressive figures. For our Action Project, we were asked to choose a person that we thought was a rhetorical challenger. For my project, I chose Donald J Trump. While I do not support him in his candidacy for the President, I thought it would be beneficial to put on a new lens to see him in a way I hadn't before.

GCE Summer Hours

Over the summer I took multiple opportunities to gain service hours. First, I spent lot's of time right at GCE. I started a few weeks before the first day of school and came almost everyday from 10 am until 3 pm. Most of the things I did included cleaning or helping teachers/staff whenever I was needed. One of my favorite things I did there was use the Carvy and make a wooden sign. It was the first time I has used a wood carving machine and it was really fun. The second thing I did was at a Chicago Public Library branch. That program was all throughout the summer and I went 2-3 times a week. I was tasked with helping children and their parents enroll in the Summer Learning Challenge. The SLC guides elementary kids through the challenge of reading 500 mins, creating something, and visiting an interesting place like a museum. The biggest thing I took away from this was a better ability to talk to younger kids. I never really had any need to talk to them but it's always a nice skill to have.

CPL Merlo. (2016) Merlo