For this project we learned about atoms, heat capacity and ways heat is transferred, angles of the sun, and laws of thermodynamics. Our end result was to build a comfortable outdoor classroom for students to enjoy and learn. This outdoor classroom will be built in the near future so keep checking up on it.
Solar Water Heat Lab
This was the first lab we did to kick off our overall project. For this little lab we built a box that could conduct the heat the best to make the water the hottest. Our design was a cardboard box with mirrors, a magnifying glass, tin foil, string, and a copper bowl. We had a copper rod with water funneling in leading to the copper bowl to heat the water. We had the mirrors facing the copper bowl where the sun was reflecting it. We also had our magnifying glass to intensify the sun to heat the water.
Client Needs Survey
In order to make the most desirable classroom for students we had to know what they wanted. We created a client needs survey and put it out to the school to answer back so we could get data. Most all students said they would like to have wifi, be in a quit but central area, and wanted to call it the "outdoor lounge". This was a very important aspect of our project because we wanted to make sure we got the most use out of it that we could.
Sight selection
We started this piece off by going around the school and picking good locations that would best fit a classroom. My group started out by having three sites and out of those we chose one, the "foundation location". This location was in the middle of the art building and the cafeteria. It already had foundation with a wheel chair accessible path and it was in a central but quit place, also it had a good natural shade barrier. The other two locations were by the softball field and a hill behind the art building.
Materials Heat Testing Lab
This portion of the project was to figure out what would be best for materials we could use to build. The best material to use for table would be sturdy but light weight wood so it could be easily lifted but not too easily that someone could just take them.
Wind Turbine Lab
For this lab we build all different types of blades to see which one would be the fastest and create the most energy. Our results were that the metal was the best at high speeds and the folder paper worked well at low speeds. In conclusion it would be the smartest to use metal for all the fans to make energy.
Building Design and Presentation
This was the last step, we had to come up with a materials list, cost of the classroom, blueprints of all our table designs, blueprints of our shade structure, and also make scale models to show the judges and parents.
Concepts
-atoms, molecular structure, states of matter
-heat capacity and ways heat is transferred
-angles of the sun
-laws of thermodynamics
-heat capacity and ways heat is transferred
-angles of the sun
-laws of thermodynamics
Reflection
Overall I think that my group and I did very well on this project. I believe we did really well on time management and making great scale models. We probably could have worked on working together and took a little less time on site selection. I learned how to make a cost list and get data from a survey. I could have been a little more of a a leader. Our project went very well and I had a lot of fun presenting in front of judges