Category Archives: Uncategorized

Street Math: Let’s talk Circles

Written on May 22, 2013 at 12:02 am, by GF

 

For this Project as Action we were given the task of creating a slide show on a particular math concept. I chose calculating circumference and area of a circle, because, although they are relatively simple concepts, they are very easy to forget or mix up!

Enjoy my presentation below!

Soundtopia: Mashup!

Written on May 21, 2013 at 12:02 am, by GF

“U Kno We In Love”

GF

For this project as action, our task was to create a mashup using a utopic and dystopic beat. The two songs I chose were Uknohowwedu by Bahamadia and In Love by 9th Wonder. The song by Bahamadia has a dystopic beat, in my opinion, because it is plain and way too repetitive, while the beat by 9th Wonder beat is actually utopic for me for the exact same reason. I was inspired to use two songs that were classic hip hop style, but I also wanted to put an electronic spin on it, which is what moved me to take the song in that direction in the second half. I also decided that I wanted to throw some new audio in the middle to liven it up a little, so I took a scene from the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The process of creating this song was difficult at times, but I really enjoyed myself.

Check out my song below!

Policy: Chop Wood, Carry Water

Written on May 20, 2013 at 8:34 pm, by GF

For the most recent Project as Action in Policy, our assignment was to choose an organization that advocated for a policy that you believe in. I chose to volunteer for The Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF). CAF financially aids women who can not afford to pay for their own abortions. My contact at CAF is one of my best friends, who started interning for the organization about a year ago.

My volunteer experience profoundly different from what I had expected. My task was working with other women from the organization doing community outreach, and spreading the word about House Bill 2675. This bill pushes for an updated, more comprehensive and informative sex education curriculum in Illinois. We went to the 17th Ward (around 75th and Ashland) to pass out flyers and spread information about this bill because the representative of the ward, Jackie Collins, was still undecided on the bill.

After doing this community outreach with CAF I can say that I will definitely be volunteering again in the future. The reception to our cause was so great, and people were so willing to ask for information like who to call and how they can help.

Bad Girl’s City

Written on May 20, 2013 at 8:06 pm, by LF

For my unit 3 Project as Action, our assignment was to create our very own mash up! We were to use two different songs, the vocals of one and the instrumentals of the other, to create our mix. The purpose of this project was to focus on beat and the impact it has on the way a mashup is made. In the process of completing this project, we had to learn how to use Audacity, a program that helps to mix songs together. We discovered that
The first song I decided to mix was Midnight City my M83and then I chose Bad Girls by M.I.A. as my second song because I thought they would go would together. When picking which song I should have as the background and which I should use the vocals for, I thought about which beat I wanted to be prominent and lead the mashup. In the end, I chose to use the vocals for Bad Girls and Midnight City’s beat and instrumentals. I feel like my final product is utopic for me because I like how it sounds!

Thou Has Got Me Twisted

Written on May 20, 2013 at 8:02 pm, by BKJ

This project is for my Soundtopia class. I am proud of my mash up and all the work I did on it. I learned a lot about mash ups and how to beat map. The purpose of this project was to make an original song out of two totally different songs.

 

The purpose of this project was to create a mashup which is basically two or more songs put together to make a new song. The purpose was to think of two or more songs and mash them up to create our own song.

In order to complete this project we first had to learn what a mashup was and how to create one. we learned that by having a guest that was a DJ come in and teach us. also to make the mashup we had to pick two or more song that can be mashed up together.

The songs i picked were the instrumental from with you by Chris Brown and the acapella from irreplaceable by Beyonce. I picked these songs because they are both soft and I wanted to try soft songs since most mashups are heavy.

In my opinion the end product is very utopic because it is catchy and the songs match up perfectly.

The beat contributes to making the song utopic because the beat is very slow and it sounds romantic.

The process of making the mashup was very long and tedious to work on. The part that was the hardest to me was picking two song that could mash up perfectly and another part that was hard was actually mashing up the songs.

Mashing Up by HM

Written on May 20, 2013 at 7:54 pm, by HM

The most recent Project as Action in my Soundtopia class was to create a mashup, which is a song that is comprised of at least 2 songs that can be combined together in some way to make them sound like one cohesive piece.  The unit we have been studying is beat so creating a mashup went hand in hand with this project in that we had to find two beats that could match each other so the song was able to flow instead of be choppy and awkward.  For me, this project was incredibly challenging and involved an enormous amount of trial and error.  It took me so long to find two songs that I could put together and do my best to make sound like a good, flowing song.  Even though it was a stressful process for me, I’m proud of my final product and hope you agree it flows as much as I do!  Check it out below!

HM

JUICE

May 2013

133 seconds

The purpose of this project was to create a song that incorporated at least two different songs that were able to flow together and make the final product of a mashup.  In order to achieve this purpose, I had to learn a great deal about beat and how two beats can be combined to make one smooth, cohesive song.  We were also fortunate to meet with a DJ named Carlos who was able to create a live mashup and teach us about matching up the sound waves and speeding up and slowing down the tempo to better match up songs if they don’t quite go together as is.

The two songs I chose are Ghostwriter by RJD2 and Juice by Chance The Rapper.  The vocals of this mashup are from Juice and I only chose the key parts of the song so that it was more recognizable to people who would be listening.  Although I didn’t use the entire track of Ghostwriter I use it for the beat completely untouched and the entire way through until about two minutes in.  It’s hard for me to decide whether the final product is utopic or dystopic because I love the two songs separately but the process of mashing them up together was stressful and it still feels like they could flow just a little bit better, however I still do like it.  The beat is so fun and just easy to move to which for me makes it much more dystopic.

I created this mashup by beat matching and using Audacity, a file editing software.  I began choosing one song that I found to be either utopic or dystopic, which I chose to do utopic and from there tried to find a song that would be able to flow with it.  This process took me an incredibly long time and I had to start over and choose a new pair of songs that I could hopefully make work together.  Finally, I found the two that are in this one, Juice and Ghostwriter and I’m happy with my final product!

CUPCAKES!!!!!!

Written on May 16, 2013 at 12:49 am, by CD

For our eat course we had to create a lab report. the purpose of this was to learn about different chemical reactions of food. We made cupcakes and we had to substitute an important missing ingredient, baking soda. to find out what ingredient I used you can see the results in my lab report.

 Introduction/Purpose

The purpose of this project is to find an alternitive leavening agent in a cupcake recipe by having a basic and an acidic ingredient. In order to replace baking powder I looked at the pH scale and picked one basic and one acidic ingredient. I picked olive oil as my basic substituted ingredient and it has a pH of 8. for I picked applesauce for my acidic ingredient it has a pH of 3.5

 

 

Objective/Research Question

My guiding question is What happens when you replace baking powder to olive oil and applesauce in a recipe?

 Hypothesis

If I mix apple sauce with oil then they will react and make a leavening agent.

Materials Materials/ Ingredients for one cupcake:

• 1/12 Cup sugar

• 1/24 Cup butter

• 1 Egg

• 1/6 tsp Vanilla extract

• 3/24 Cup all-purpose flour

• 1 3/4 tsp Baking powder

• 1/24 Cup milk

Replacement:

• 1/4 Olive oil

• 1/2 Applesauce

Materials:

• Oven

• Cupcake Pan

• Measuring Spoons

• Mixing Bowl

• Measuring Cup

• Whisk

• Spatula

Procedure

 

1. In medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter

2. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla

3. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well

4. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth

5. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan

6. Add the leavening agent into each cupcake spot(for experimental group only)

 Data

 

 

 

 Graph

 

Calculations/Recipe in Metric

 

 

Conclusion

My cupcake experiment with the leavening agents I predicted was wrong, but it had a great taste. My cupcakes had sunken down from the center instead of rising. I would not make the cupcakes again. If I were to do this over I would change the leavening agents I picked.

 

Water-KG-Unit1

Written on May 15, 2013 at 9:42 pm, by KG

Photo Credit:KG

This project was about understanding the water cycle, and seeing it in action. I wrote a lab report explaining my experiment and everything I did in order to make it work. This whole process was important because when performing an experiment, you need to be able to take it apart piece by piece and explain why you did what you did. The experiment itself was important because it can help people better understand weather patterns the relationship between those weather patterns and water. I am proud of everything I did this unit. I performed an experiment in my own home and then was able to explain why I did each thing that I did. I am also proud of my understanding of the material in this unit. I learned that water can change from gas to solid without going through the liquid phase. I still do not understand how this is possible, but I learned that it happens through deposition.
This unit inspired me to learn more about water. I find it interesting how water gets to us, and then circulates throughout the world. Water is something I am definitely interested in learning more about in the future.

Click here to read my lab report:

KG_WaterCycleLab Report

Thermal Expansion

Written on May 15, 2013 at 3:08 am, by AW

For this action project in Street Math, the goal was to contextualize a math problem in the world of urban planning. I decided to work with thermal expansion, a concept I had studied in my physics class last year. It was interesting to understand its actual effects in the world of engineering in addition to calculations. Click through the powerpoint below to find out more about thermal expansion.

TABA- My trip to India!

Written on May 14, 2013 at 8:35 pm, by HD

For my TABA presentation I had to create some slides to explain my trip to India. I think the funnest thing for me was just looking through all my old trip photos to find which ones to put in my slideshow. It just brought back so many fond memories from one of the most amazing trips ever. The most challenging thing was actually trying to remember everything that happened during my trip. I remember the majority of it but it was almost 2 years ago and a lot of stuff happened while I was there. I guess you could say that was another one of my favorite parts as well though! Below is my slideshow presentation. Please enjoy!