Hour of Code

The las assignment we have done in Technology subject has been Coding. It has been an extra activity before Christmas and also we've done this activity because two weeks ago was the Hour of Code.

The hour of code is a global movement that has arrived to millions of students in more than 180 countries in the world. Any person, in any place in the world, can organize a Hour of code.

Programming is definitely important. Lots of universities; thousands of professors; students and practitioners teaching, learning and practicing the coding are enough people to verify that coding is really important.

The main reasons for this are: 

• To interact with machines and computers
• To harness the power of computing in all human endeavour
• To automate tasks
• To create intelligent machines, robots, etc.

In my opinion, coding is now ad days really important. First, because without this technique, we wouldn't be able to  "communicate" with machines, robots and other electronic devices. Secondly, because now an important part of the tasks in factories and in jobs that require precision, are done by machines. Without coding, we wouldn't be able to programme the machines to do these tasks automatically. And finally, because we wouldn't be able to make new machines that could be more efficient, cheaper and more precise.

I made my Hour of code. It was an amazing experience because I had never programmed a machine to do things, and I did it for the first time. For my surprise, it was very easy and simple, and the robot did exactly what it was asked for. There were different levels, and each level was more difficult. The las level asked you to do your own game. It was very interesting. I think it was important for me because it was a pretty good introduction to the world of coding and programming.


 Here there's my link to the game I've created: https://studio.code.org/c/159088116

Water filter projects

During these last weeks, in Technology subject we've been building some water filters in order to try to solve one of the main ecological problem now addays: the water scarcity.
I've learned many things from my project and from my classmates' presentations.
97% of the total water in our planet is in the sea, so it's salty. A 2% of the water is located in glaciers, so we can't drink it. And only a 1% remaining is fresh water, and a lot of this 1% is polluted,. There are many countries that have large quantities of polluted water, like Zimbawe, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Qatar, Singapour, Cyprus... Polluted water can also cause illesses like Typhod fever and Polyomielitis.

To build this water filter we've used very simple materials. As filters we have used stones, cotton, gauzes and sand, in order to not allow dirt pass through. We've used a plastic bottle of 1,5 l as a container, and the stopper of the bottle as a funnel to carry fresh water to the container below.

                           

Stones Sand Bottle



During the process we had some problems:

-We needed to take out all the sand because it went down the bottle and mixed with stones. We put a gauze between them in order to separate them and solve this problem.


While making this project I've learned many thing and I think I've improved my knowledge about water scarcity.

TIC tools I've used

Since the course has started, I've used many programmes to do the different tasks I had to do. I've used Google Drive, Glogster, Powtoon, Padlet, Blogger and the school Moodle.

In my opinion, Drive is the most useful tool I have used since the beginning of the year because you can share your documents with other people, do the work from different computers at the same time and upload documents or videos that weight a lot. But you can do many other things apart from these. You can also do presentations and spreadsheets, and you can do them at the same time in different computers and share them with people too. I love it.

Glogster is very useful when you want to do a presentation but you don't want to use Power Point or similar programmes. You can create many different posters that are very useful presentations. You can also include links and videos. I think is a useful tool too.

Powtoon is a very unusual tool. You can create videos to do presentations. In this program you have lots of interactive items to use, and the videos you do are always awesome. You can include images and there are many different templates that you can choose. You can also include animated figures. I've enjoyed it a lot.

Padlet is another tool I've used. It is similar to Glogster but in the same padlet many people can add their things. You can also include images and links. I haven't used it too much yet, but I think it's an interesting program.

Blogger is the most recent tool I've used. It is very versatile because you can include images and videos, but you can also include many different gadgets. I like it because anyone can see the blog. You can also choose the templates you want for you blog, and change them even if you have started with your blog. I think is a very useful tool too.

Finally, I've used the school's Moodle. It is pretty useful tool not only for Technology subjects, also for all the subjects. The teachers upload the tasks we have to do or useful documents for studying. We can see the information wherever we are and we can also send them documents or links. You have also a diary that tells you what do you have to hand in, or the tasks you will have in the following days. I think it's very practic and interessant.

  

What have I learnt from my mate's presentations?

I've learnt a lot about many different topics. I've learnt about global warming; about global darkening; about industrial smog and acid rain; about the ozone layer and its problems; about ecological gardening, permaculture and water pollution and about wildfires and deforestation.

Global warming is the increasing of the planet's temperature. The poles are melting and rainfall patterns are shifting.

Global darkening is darkening of the atmosphere that covers the sun. It is mainly caused by aerosols, burning of fossil fuels an the burning of the engines in planes.

Industrial smog and aicd rain are caused mainly from the smoke that the factories and industries in big cities expel. The industrial smog covers the streets of the big s¡cities, and it doesn't go up, and the acid rain is the mixing of pollutant mollecules with the water in clouds.

The ozone layer is a layer found in the stratosphere that protects the planet from the UV radiations. The destroying of this layer is mainly caused by CFC's.

Ecological gardening, permaculture and water pollution are ways to do agriculture without pollutiong at all, and to do it with thing you already have at your disposal. I've also learned that the pesticides pollute the water nad that are bad for uor health.

Wildfires and deforestation are caused mainly by human activity. Many big companies cut a lot of hectares to make furniture and other products. Wildfires also are a big threat for big forests, because the destroy them. In this topic I've also learned about the "Gaviota project" and the blue economy.

You can see more detailed information in this webpage: http://es.padlet.com/MariaAnt/fah5y50962ty

Deforestation

Acid rain

Global darkening

Permaculture

What I've learnt from my presentation

In my presentation I've learnt how important is to preserve our planet clean and to take care of it, because if we destroy our planet, we destroy ourselves.

I've learnt that this year, that the sea rubbish is mainly coming from the north of Africa. The waste that ends in the sea after travelling through rivers or torrents, is transported by the wind and ocean currents to our beaches here in Mallorca.
The marine fauna and flora is also very affected. The plankton, a tiny organism that lives in the sea eats plastic. This animal is the prey of the bigger fishes like the whale or the tuna. Then, humans eta tuna, and they are also polluted by plastic. Fish also can be contaminated by mercury, a bad metal that causes illnesses.

I've also learnt many possible solutions. First, is to give support to the organisations that try to protect the sea, like Greenpeace or Sea Shepherd. Another solution is to apply the rule of the three R (reduce, reuse, and recycle), and to try to reuse the plastic containers as many times as possible. Also simple alternatives, like bringing your ow bag when you go to the supermarket would reduce the amount of plastic.

I enjoyed a lot with this topic!

Glogster: http://tpiris6.edu.glogster.com/situation-1/

Powtoon: https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/dsYEDwdgGEC/powtoon-situation-1/#/

Presentation

Powtoon: https://www.powtoon.com/presentoons/fnsAE9K9AxP/

Hello, my name is Toni. I'm a student in IES Llorenç Garcías i Font and I'm in 3 ESO. I live in Artà and I have one sister. In the link above you will find a Powtoon that will present me with more detail.

This blog is about the things I've earned and I will learn during this course in Technology subject. TIC tools I've used, what I've learnt from my mate's presentations, what I've learnt from my presentation... and lots of more things!