No way! Did someone say heated bike wheels?

For the last unit of Design and Engineering, we decided to focus on the power of wheels and pulleys. We took a deeper look into how wheels can change the way transportation works around the world, and how wheels can lead to future designs and models. We looked into bikes and the parts that make up a bike. To get a closer look we visited Working Bikes on the southwest side of Chicago. We were able to disassemble some bikes that would later be sent to Jordan! This goes to show how important bikes are not only in cities in the states, but around the world. We also visited Earth Riders which was a small bike shop on the north side of Chicago where we got to try out some e-bikes and see how those worked. For our AP, we were asked to look into a persona of someone who had to ride their bikes to school and get a better idea of their commute. My partner and I got Karen who lives in Banff, Canada. From there we were able to assemble a bike for them and include parts of the bike that could be used to their benefit. Read more of my blogpost to learn about the ending result of our bike design and model!

Persona:

Karen
Age: 14
Distance from school: 3 miles
Situation: Banff is a beautiful place but Karen has to bike along large winding roads to get to school, meaning they have to watch out for cars and trucks speeding by. Additionally, it gets very cold and snowy or icy during the winter months, leading to a dangerous ride, especially when carrying their school books. Luckily they can keep their bike inside, but space is very limited in their garage.

Need

As you can see from our persona description, Karen's route isn't the fastest or the most efficient. We as designer's want to make sure that our designs are not only efficient, but work to make Karen's ride safer. For that reason, when we started the sketching process, we made sure to embolden those struggles they face on a daily basis. Banff's climate is pretty snowy and icy, so we can only imagine Karen going through those windy roads. Also, storing the bike is a huge thing for a biker, especially a child. We wanted our design to include a compact way for Karen to store their bike almost anywhere, and not just in their garage!

Benefit

We thought about ways that can prevent Karen's bike from slipping on the icy roads, and so we thought, how about heated wheels? Essentially, these wheels would be heated as Karen bikes around transferring kinetic energy to chemical energy to heat up the path ahead of them. As Karen cycles through, the ice or snow would melt, preventing Karen's bike from slipping and possibly harming them. My partner and I grew up in Chicago, a city where it could get pretty cold, icy, and snowy. We also know that not only are the streets bad, but they are also crowded with buses, trucks, cars, etc. We don't want a fourteen year old child to ever get harmed on their way to school, especially when they are riding a bike. We decided to protect Karen, if they ever do experience a bike crash, by including a "trailer" design for their upper body. The trailer would be covering them from the snow and protect them with airbags included on the sides are rear of the bike incase of an accident. Now many people do say that airbags are dangerous and could possibly harm the person rather than protecting them, but we'd rather have airbags and possibly end up saving someone's life than harming it. Lastly, we have made the bike collapsable by including clips on the bike where Karen can easily snap them and put the parts of the bike inside of the trailer frame not only for compactness, but for convenience as well!

Reason to believe

Throughout this unit we truly were able to get a better understanding of not only the anatomy of bikes, but why benefits are so beneficial. We are aware that around the world, not everyone has access to a car. We are also aware that the burning of these fossil fuels are having a bad effect on our environment, and the risk that we are putting our climate through when riding in a car, bus, or truck. We need to make bikes more convenient and in order for that to happen, we need to change the way these bikes are built. We as designers and engineers need make sure that the bikes that people are using are accommodating people's needs. By taking a look at Karen's struggles, we were able to identify the main problems and curate something that can change their future of biking. We need to make that change for each person in this world in order to lead our planet to a better, safer future!

Conclusion

In conclusion, this action project reflected what the possibilities of bikes can lead to. Biking can make a global impact that can put people in need in the position of a better future. By not only designing this bike, but actually constructing it, it got me thinking more about what engineers should do to make bikes more efficient. In order to change the way that people think about public transportation, engineers need to make their bike designs more convenient for everyone. There is a way to change people's mindsets about changing from cars to bikes, but it's all about accommodation!

My Experience with Biomedicine

My independent study was based on my experience with different career options that involved biomedicine. This was a very bumpy road for me, as any one else would be when searching for different career options. Although I am only a sophomore in high school, I think that when looking into the medical industry it is important to think about different paths to take in terms of schooling. Something that I found quite challenging during this term was figuring out how much schooling would be necessary for me depending on the career path that I take. I went from exploring biochemistry to clinical science to microbiology, and finally ended up with a subject I am really into at the moment. I met with different people, and even got a volunteer opportunity by the end of the term that I love. One of my career aspirations is connecting my medical background with helping refugees and/or migrants in need who are not able to get the sufficient resources they need to stay healthy. I work for SCN, Syrian Community Network, as a tutor and help students learn and develop social/emotional learning skills. Starting off small is an important way to build up where you want to be in the future! Read my presentation to learn more about my experience throughout this term!

To conclude, this independent study was quite the experience. This independent study class is new to GCE, and I think that it worked efficiently. This is a good way for students to connect to something they want to do in currently or in the future. Because I spent a term thinking and looking for different options to take, I definitely will not stop here! I would love to continue on researching and thinking about the steps I could take now while still at GCE to get one step closer to my career aspirations! 

I guess you could say this AP is pretty smelly

For this last AP we dove deeper into decomposition. During this unit we went on multiple FEs. My favorite was, The Plant. We were able to explore throughout the building, and we were able to see the process of aquaponics which was very interesting to see. Another FE guest came in, Sharayu, who gave a presentation on Vermi-composting. Vermi-composting is very impactful on the environment, and you will see why throughout my presentation.  We learned about different fungi, and the beneficial effects that they have on the environment. Without decomposers we wouldn't have closed loop systems. Closed loop systems are used in multiple environmental friendly business that think of Earth's resources as a system that could be reused. They believe that waste can be recycled and transformed into something else for their company that benefits everyone. Less waste leads to more possibilities.

For my final AP, I was looking into how long it takes a disposable diaper to decompose. The information I got back was quite surprising. Working with the idea of a closed loop system, I decided to create an efficient diaper that would work with the closed loop system.  Continue reading to learn more about the effect disposable diapers have on the environment, and how we could change that.



To conclude, I believe that it's important to think about the overall life of things. We as a society should be thinking about where our trash goes after we have thrown it out. Our landfills are getting way to cluttered, and we tend to think that composting is a hassle. Composting, especially vermicomposting, is an efficient way to throw away biodegradable materials and the leftover soil can be used as nutrients for your garden. There are many ways to close the loop on products we use in our everday lives, start doing it!

Are Humans Interfering the Population of Fennec Foxes?

Welcome to my third and last presentation of Population. Today we will take a further look into the population of these Fennec Foxes in comparison to the country, Algeria. Along with that, I will be listing a couple of fun facts about the Fennec Fox and their symbiotic relationship that they have with humans. We learned how to find the arithmetic or geometric sequences, and you will see how I ended up using that in my AP in order to find the population of the Fennec Fox. Overall, I thought this was a good term. I was able to learn things from a biological standpoint, and even think about future career options.
Geometric or Arithmetic?

When we look into a geometric sequence, this means that the sequence can be multiplied or divided by one specific number in order for the flow of the sequence to stay consistent. While arithmetic sequences can be added or subtracted by one number to make the sequence flow. In this case, since I was not able to find the population for the Fennec Fox. I had to create a geometric sequence in order to get my data for the following nine years. The equation that I used each year was 100(1.3)^n. The 100 is there because of the overall percentage of the foxes. When I was looking into the population of the Fennec Fox I wasn't able to find anything for the overall population, but I was able to find how many are in one liter when born. There are usually three Fennec Foxes in one liter when born according to eol.org. If there are three in one liter, and there are two parents; we divide that number and get 1.5. I decided to lower that number to 1.3 in order to get that separation in Algeria's population to the Fennec Fox population. This is a geometric sequence because I am multiplying by 1.3 each year and the exponent of the equation is changing each time.
Here was my process:

NB % Age process (2018)

Here is a presentation I made about the Fennec Fox along with their symbiotic relationship, or biological interaction they have with humans, my graph explaining my geometric sequence and more!

              

In conclusion, this term allowed me to dive deeper into biology, and the things around me. I was able to become more aware of the relationships humans have with different species that we are surrounded by day to day. I was able to think about what is in store for my future, and future career options that I have. Biomedical Engineering is something that I have been looking into these past 7 weeks, almost the whole term.

Citations:
Drew, Avery, File:Fennec Fox Vulpes zerda.jpg, 28 January 2010, 13:07:16
Kitty Terwolbeck, File:Artis Fennec fox (11114753056).jpg, 26 November 2013, 15:28
User:Jrockley, File:Distribution of the Fennec Fox.png, 23 January 2007

Will the Fennec Fox Freeze or Thrive?

During this second unit in my Population class for STEAM, we dove into some math that would be useful to figure out the differences in species, subspecies, adaptations, and more. We looked into box and whisker plots, bell curve graphs, standard deviation, permutations and combinations in order to look into the meaning and the evolution of the animals on this Earth. For this AP, we had been asked to either choose a new organism or continue with our same organism that you may have seen in Unit 1 AP, I chose the Fennec Fox.  We were asked to develop a scenario which meant that we would have to change the habitat in which our organism usually lives in. By changing the habitat, this meant our animal would also have to adapt to this new climate. We were told to chose up to 20 representations of our animals, and take a sample of 3 that would end up surviving. We found our data for these samples,  so take a further look into my AP to see what I found.
           
            

Presentations of the three surviving Fennec Foxes:

                   

To conclude, this AP was by far one of my favorites. Being able to dive into the future and think about how an animal can change within five hundred years. Because I now have a connection to the Fennec Fox from my previous project, I can now deep into the hypothetic part of this animal and think about where and how this species could end up.

Citations:
User:Jrockley, File:Distribution of the Fennec Fox.png, 23 January 2007

Kitty Terwolbeck, File:Artis Fennec fox (11114753056).jpg, 26 November 2013, 15:28

Ramirez, Daniel, File:Fennec Fox sleeping (9163012515).jpg, 1 June 2013, 13:17

ERRIHANI,Anass, File:Fennec Fox, 23 December 2012, 16:36:57

(NB, Photo of Fennec Fox, 2018)

NB Hand Drawn Picture of Fennec Fox(2018)

Drew, Avery, File:Fennec Fox Vulpes zerda.jpg, 28 January 2010, 13:07:16

Parkison, Tim, File:Fennec Fox @ Africa Alive, Lowestoft 3 V2.jpg, 23 January 2011, 21:10

Massone, Mario, Vulpes_vulpes_arabica_001.jpg, 3 December 2008, 6 October 2018,

08:28Lonewolf6738, Fennec Fox Zoo Vulpes Zerda Animal Nocturnal, Aug. 14, 2013,

Get out the way GMOs

Throughout my last freshman term at GCE, Food, we were able to dive in deeper in where our food actually comes from. We were asking ourselves, does our food come locally? Why do we transport food? or questions like what are the pros or cons to the use of GMOs? I was more on the Anti side of GMOs being that my mom is a health freak and cares about where everything comes from before purchasing. This is my slideshow of why I am anti-GMOs and what you could do to activate and inform the world about GMOs.

           
                                                            NBE "Anti GMO" June 2018

                       

Sobek Has Launched!

  The name of this term was Rocket science. Throughout this term we were able to learn about the history of space exploration. The class got to go to the Adler Planetarium where we found inspiration for our rockets, what were were exploring through space exploration. We got to visit the Museum of Science and Industry where we explored aerodynamics by looking at the transpiration gallery that the museum had.  We were able to explore the different people and their diverse minds who were able to help throughout these different space missions. We were able to look into interior designers like, Galina Balashova, Katherine Johnson, who was a female African American mathematician in her field, and the list goes on. Throughout this term, we created our own fire rockets, looked into aerodynamics, and at the end we created our own water rockets. At the end, for our final action project we were given a budget of $1,000,000 where we could create our own water rockets. We came into this project with experience because before this we were working with other mini-missions that our teacher created foe us where we explored pitch,yaw,and roll which is important in aerodynamics, we tried out different mathematical equations like a parabolic formula, etc. These are my overall results of the water rocket launch!

                   

In conclusion, I become fascinated by the different fields that made up NASA. NASA has made it more and more possible to explore space and has connected all of us even throughout the hard times. Times of the Cold War we still managed to be together even throughout the space race.