Sign your comments with your URL group name

Your group's name must be signed within your comments or I will not count your comments for a grade.  You must follow directions because I don't have time to cross reference your blogger account name, or your individual names name with your URL.  I need URL group names ONLY.  You MUST follow these directions.

You need to time your rocket launches accurately

I believe that at least one person in every group has a cell phone and most have a stopwatch application.  Use them to time your rocket launches!

17 second launch has been chronicled.

I am thinking maybe we will have only two more launch days since we already have groups who have mastered the project.  Today I witnessed an epic 17 second launch.  It doesn't get much better than that :)

Flip Video Cameras

Here is the new flip video camera.  The power button is on the side of the camera and the usb port flips out on the opposite side.  Just press the red button to record!  When your flipvideo camera icon appears on the desktop, open the files and look under DCIM.  The video files are right in there.

New Blog Post Rubric

Every evening after a class this week your group will be doing a new blog post.  A NEW blog post rubric that states the criteria on which your blog posts are graded has been updated on Blackboard under Homework and Lab Unit Packets in the Unit 22 Water Rockets Folder. Use this rubric to submit the best post possible!  The rubric also includes criteria for your comment(s).  Be sure to sign your group's name in your comments.  This was a problem last time.  I will only be checking for comments for groups within your class period for grading purposes.  Rest assured I WILL be grading for comments THIS Week.

Another section of the rubric is your citations.  You must cite multimedia and information sources that assisted you in designing and building your rocket and blog.  The URL and date at which the information was retrieved is the minimal standard.  If there is an author, title, or date of publication then that should also be included.  Take the following hypothetical example for citing a source.

Freitas, Rockland.  (2009, Nov.)  The Effects of Multimedia Blogs.  Retrieved March 15, 2011, from  http://mrfreitasprojblog1.blogspot.com

Unfortunate

Period 5 left a mess in the back of the room today and not all of the launch gear was put back properly either.  Auwe.  -1 point all around.  See blackboard point multiplier document for what this means for your grade.

Video Post from Photo booth

So here is an uploaded video taken from photo booth, so this is definitely a possible option.

A U tube video posting

So it is pretty easy to put a U Tube video in your posts.  I still want you kids to problem solve.  So even though you can't get into U Tube on campus until April (2011)  I'd still like to see videos for full credit.  It looks like it is easy to load up a video straight from your desktop too, which I will show as well.

FIRST DUE DATE! March 15th, ummm not what I said the first time...

By midnight this Tuesday, March 15th every group should have an updated blog documenting their first launch of their 2 Liter Bottle.  If you have started making modifications to your rocket, you do your self a service to post documentation of that progress with this submission as well.  Yes I changed the date due to the tsunami situation.

The Pictures and Movies can be added right in the new posts :)

So when you make a new post, adding picture and video content is pretty easy.  For example there is a movie clapper button you can simply click on to access any U Tube videos you post.  This might look and work better than the video bar found under gadgets in the Design options.  The movie clapper button is on the top of the little window where you type in your post, and next to it is the button for adding a picture. I'm going to repost the video I have in the video bar down below. The image above was obtained from http://media.photobucket.com/image/movie%20clapper/melsands1313/movie-clapper.png?o=4 and was on that site as of April 2, 2011.  I want you all to get in the habit of citing websites or other media for images you use on your blog or for information that assisted you with designing your rocket project.  The url and a date are a minimal standard for citing your information sources.

Getting Started With Your Bottle Rocket Blogs

Steps to get your Blog started.

1)    Create a gmail account if you don’t already have one.

2)    Visit www.blogger.com  and sign in under your gmail account

3)    Choose a display name for your water rocket group and choose other options listed and click continue.  

4)    You can edit your team/group profile now by taking and uploading a picture and entering some information about your group.

5)    Go to your Dashboard.  To post your blog, click on the “Create Your Blog Now” tab.

6)    Choose your blog name and URL.  I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOUR URL IS SO I CAN PUT IT IN MY RECORDS. OTHERWISE I CAN"T ASSESS YOUR BLOG AND THE ONLY GRADE I AM ABLE TO GIVE YOU IS A ZERO.  Also, please remember anyone on the internet can view your blog so be careful how you represent yourself from here on out. 

7)    Check out the design tab to see what you can add to your blog with pictures, videos, links, attachments etc.  Your blogs can be edited. I will be editing this blog of mine for improvement as well.  :)


There is a video bar above linking you to some rocket videos for fun. There is another video bar at the bottom which links up to a uTube account and video I posted some years back. If you uTube, this is a way to get your water rocket videos accessed from your blog page.  I went to the design tab and add gadgets to add the picture and videos.

     Your group is responsible to post a blog update by midnight each day of class.  This is the foundation of your grade for this project.  There will be 4 blog assignments worth 20 points.  Due dates TBA.  In addition there will be one final assessment worth 20 points based on how well your final rocket performs.

Blog Assignment Expectations:

All blog posts should be a minimum of 100 words (no maximum) and will document and detail observations, planning, creation and reasoning as well as your experience in planning, designing and building your water bottle rocket over the project period. Some topics could include:                

• Observations (what happened during the entire launch procedure)
• Data on time in the air (keep a running total on all launches and what was on the rocket)           
• The amount of water measured in ml or Liters in the bottle for the launch
• The pressure in PSI of the air in the bottle used for the launch
• Discussion of physics concepts involved with the launch such as Newton's Laws and center of gravity.
• The materials used on your bottle rocket
• Design ideas and their function
• What are the resources of information for you design ideas
• What worked
• Next Steps in designs based on your launch data
• Troubleshooting
• Additional launches

You should also add multimedia content like pictures, videos, and links to the site to your blog to help to document your experience for full credit.

It is also required that you visit other group blogs and begin conversation and comments in order to support our water bottle learning community. Failure to comment on other blogs will result in a lowering of your grade.  The rubrics and assessment expectations can be found on Blackboard under Unit 22 Water Rockets.  I provided a link to Blackboard to the right on this page.