MakeCode for Minecraft Education - Activity 2

Megajump
This tutorial went well. I did all of the instructions, then decided that I didn't want to die every time, so I added more code. It worked.
Flower Trail This tutorial also went well. The bouquets of flowers that I created were beautiful, but soon there were too many. I added a command to spawn sheep, so they could eat the flowers.
Super Powers This tutorial did NOT go well. I was typing far too quickly and made many spelling mistakes. Eventually, I rewrote the whole code, and it worked. Exhaustion was set upon me so great, however, that I could see no improvements to be made.

Makecode for Minecraft Education - Activity 1

I added comments in the slideshow, but I will also talk here. I originally set up a system for wolves and ocelots to fight, but after that... Well, you'll see. I had to restructure a lot of the code many times, and Minecraft Education's code system is odd. An If-Else gate will get stuck on the second 'If', making I-Else gates un-usable. Still, for what my arena can do, I am satisfied.

Minecraft Powerpoints

Exterior:

Interior:

Minecraft Progress Week 4/5

These 2 weeks, I finished the house and the surrounding property. Once again, the most difficult part was finding correctly angled images, but eventually, I found the images I needed. I didn't manage to get an update out last week, so this week's update includes both. This week I will compile my screenshots and create the annotated slideshow.

Minecraft Week 3 Progress

This week, I managed to build reach the top level of the main building. Once again, my biggest challenges have been finding pictures angled in the right part of the building. Cross-referencing different pictures have allowed me to get a good idea of how the house is, but I have often had to make adjustments.

Minecraft Week 2 Progress

This week, I began to add more floors and structure to the building. Again, the most difficult part is finding good images; often if the image views the part of the house I need, its angles are deceptive. This has caused me to have to extend a large portion of what I build. 

Minecraft Week 1 Progress

So far, I have created the water run-off and the beginnings of the building. I like the challenge of structuring the landscape to fit the house, and so far my biggest challenge is to find online pictures that have the angles I need to properly build the house.

PowerPoint Refresher

This is the PowerPoint that I created for a self-refresher:

 
ENJOY

Challenge

For this challenge, you have to build a machine that will successfully catapult the steel ball into the purple box, without touching the red cliff. There are many ways to complete this challenge, for example my in-progress solution, a Rocket-Powered Trebuchet.

Loch Ness Challenge

 I completed this challenge very quickly. It was hard at first, until I got the idea to make it all motors, then by tripling the amount of motors until it had 80, it got across the lake.

This challenge is about making it past the Loch Ness monster, but really, the only monster is this thing. It gets across with a surprisingly high rate of success, and nothing seems to stop it.

It's only real flaw is the amount of raw terror it invokes in me, to the point that I forgot to save my design. It can fight the Loch Ness monster and win, but it will be forever shunned and feared by humanity.

The only thing more terrifying then seeing it still, is seeing what it looks like when it moves. Each peace spins from a range of 15 rpm-80 rpm. This makes the smaller pieces fly around it, making it seem bigger then it actually is. These also help with grip, allowing it to traverse more obstacles and be the apex predator

Landslide Challenge

My day one progress way productive. I created the basis for the final design, and though it left room for improvement, this is the design that would eventually save the town.

 My Day 2 progress did nothing for the town. The added design did nothing, and though with enough trials it could, it doesn't effect anything

Though the design is finished, it isn't 100% effective. 4/5 times it will save the town, but occasionally a rock will slip past and knock someone down.

Save the Earth Challenge

My day one progress was not good. I did not manage to save the earth nor the moon; I needed a complete redesign of my device.

My day 2 progress was the success of saving the moon and planet. i did this by rocketing a sufficiently heavy piece of material to change the course of the moon's path. It took many test, but I successfully got the moon into a stable orbit. Since the computer doesn't support recording, I included a graph of the moon's path. The Earth sits at Roughly (100, 80). 

Algadoo Marble Drop Machine

On day 1, I created the first half of the Marble Machine. The largest challenge was building the elevator for the Marbles.

On day 2, I finished the marble machine and adjusted some of the earlier platforms.

The computers do not allow for video recording, so it can be shown to Mr. Probert at the next opportunity.

Algadoo Bridge Challenge

Day 1:

I went through a few different designs looking for a bridge that would work. I did not find a working bridge, but this is what I have for a template for Thursdays class.

Day 2:

After a few revisions and re-do's, I managed to successfully create a working bridge. The car makes it across with a 100% success rate, but as video recording does not work on this computer, I will have to show Mr. Probert in person.

Algoldo Day 2 - Lesson Tutorials

Float and Sink:

          For this lesson, I have created 6 objects; glass, ice, gold, stone, steel and rubber. Out of these, I predict that the rubber and ice will float on the surface of the water, the glass will float in the water, and the gold, stone and steel will sink to the bottom.

          Each ball has different properties. in the context of this lesson, the property that matter is the density, the kg/m2.

          Some objects float while others sink because of their density. the objects with density more dense then water will sink, while the objects that are less dense will float.

          When the objects are put in the water, they will transfer it their kinetic energy, thus moving it around, then float or sink to where their density allows.

          I expect the majority of the iceberg to be pushed underwater by its weight, but for the tip to float due  to its density.

          When the iceberg melts or pieces fall off, it will float closer to the surface. This is because its weight will lower, thus putting less pressure on the water and allowing the water to push it up higher. The pieces that break off will be (relatively) light, and will float the the top.

          If you turn the iceberg into water, the iceberg that was slightly above the water level will level out, and the water level will be slightly higher then before.

          The iceberg floats because its density is lower then the density of the water.

          When the icebergs shape is changed, the water pressure around it will keep the ice cut off trapped against the iceberg.

          When the iceberg melts, the water level raised slightly as the ice above the surface flattened out.

Friction and Surfaces:

          I think that there will be a difference on how the object picks up speed because of how much friction each box has.

          When the plane of each slop is increased, the object slides faster and farther; when it is decreased, it slides a shorter distance and slower.

          The speed and distance is different for each plane, because each plane has a different amount of friction.

Algado Day 1 - Tutorials

Tutorial 1:

Tutorial 2:

Tutorial 3:

Lego Mindstorms (plus Swift Playgrounds) Wrap-up

1.          During the unit, I accomplished many things, from innovations on basic designs to
problem solving on questions assigned. During the Swift Playgrounds unit, I problem solved and overcame problems quickly and efficiently. This is shown on the last day of the Swift Playgrounds unit, where I created an algorithm to successfully traverse the terrain.

            During the LEGOmindstorms unit, I built built the Scorpion Unit and successfully ran all of the programs. All of the tests ran as expected. 

            During the Animal Rescue unit, I innovated and tested different designs in order to complete the tests. I had to find a way to attach the legs, then later I innovated in order to improve the process of walking for the turtle.

2.          During the unit, I learned many things about coding and engineering. When we started coding in the Swift Playgrounds unit, I learned how to identify and create algorithms. This proved helpful during the LEGOmindstorms unit, where I had to implement my algorithms onto my machine, where I learned about the importance of hands on work. During the last unit, where we created a turtle, I learned how to implement the knowledge that I had previously learned, in order to create a working robot.

3.          My favorite part about working with LEGOmindstorms was innovating and improving the design of the turtle. This allowed my creative side to flourish, and was a great learning experience. 

4.          The most difficult part in building and coding the turtle was attempting to synchronize the legs. It took me lots of time and effort, but by looking through previous lessons, I was able to synchronize the legs.

5.            In the entire unit, my biggest challenge was working in the parameters that were given to me in each problem. I overcame them by looking at the functions they gave me, then creating a mental map of what I need to code in order the complete the level.

6.          If I could re-do the entire unit, I would create functions for each level. Not only does this make the coding faster, but it cleans the code up and makes it easier for others to read my code. Another thing I would do is put comments in my code. It is a relatively small thing, but it makes looking back at your code infinitely easier, as well as making your code accessible for others.

7.          Given the opportunity, I would love to code more. It has been my favorite unit in IT this year, as well as last year. I do not care much about on what coding program I would learn on, but I would love to learn more code.

8.          Swift Playground teaches you swift, the programming lanugage that Apple wrote. So, when you write code, you are writing in Swift.The function runFast would be written as such:

                    func runFast() {

                          moveForward()

                          moveForward()

                    }

Animal Rescue Final Turtle Design

Swift Playgrounds Animal Rescue Day 3

Code:

Turtle:

Swift Playgrounds Animal Rescue Day 2

Swift Playgrounds Animal Rescue Day 1