Workshop 1:Themes & Ideas - English

Rich vs Poor - some people have more - Capitol
 - money                - Privileges / respect
 - food -variety      - resources
 - proper housing   - technology
 - medicines           - clothing / make-up
 - transport             - childhoods

Hope & Rebellion - 

hope is the belief that something will get better
- Rebellion - to fight against something, protest, surprise, usually against government
Symbols of Hope - Katniss, Melodic Motive, Mockingjay, 3 finger salute

Struggle for Power - 

Currently, the Capitol has power - President Snow
- Katniss becomes a rival for power - people look up to her for guidance, becomes a threat because Snow sees her as one.
'Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous!
Fear - the people are afraid of rebelling because the last time they tried they failed and they were punished with the Hunger Games.
Little hope - becoming a victor
Dangerous hope - that the districts deserve to be treated better.

Power of Propaganda - 
information especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or view.
Messages being told - It's not worth rebelling - The Capitol is the strongest.

Peace keeper -

Propaganda - people to keep peace & help you

Reality - soldiers, violent, keep people in line.

Victor - 

Propaganda - glorious, someone who wins, wealthy, respected

Reality - Violent, to win 

Fallen -

Propaganda - people who die in the games, takes away from the reality of the situation

Reality - teenagers who have been killed/murdered, violent

Tribute -

Propaganda -brave young people, an honour

Reality - sacrifice, punishment to the 'districts'

Rich vs Poor - people in the Capitol vs people in the Districts

                      - Compare opening shoot in District 12 vs Peta looking out the window of the Capitol

- District 12 - Poor - houses are run down, wooden

                               - food - very little, see old man picking at bone*

                               - clothing - 1 pair of good clothing, worn out, old, colours are faded, grey/black, easier

                                                to not show coal dust

Capitol - houses -large, concrete, metals, accents of gold/silver

             - food -variety of choices, don't have the same things, more from enough- excess

             - clothing -fancy, suits, extravagant, fashion, extreme, excess

Hope & Rebellion - Convo President Snow & Senica Craine

                              - Convo between Hamich & Senica

                              - Gives them something to root for, young love!

Struggle for Power - Katniss & Peta eat the berries.

                               - Death of Rue = riot in District 11

Power of Propaganda - Subtle 

                                   - Hunger Games film strip

Fossils & Vestigial Structures - Science

Today this post is going more in-depth about Evolution and the evidence shown behind it, this is another given task which we had to work on independently. We were given a video explaining how Evolution was shown through fossils & body structures and how that made many hypotheses or/and theories about all the life forms that live within our planet which led to many discoveries we have so far uncovered. Below shows the provided video we had to learn from a little to answer a few questions which will be listed below. If you have not looked at my previous post, Natural Selection I'd recommend having a look at that first as there is a video included in that post that explains the myths and misconceptions about evolutions.

Evidence for Evolution

Reflection: The theory of evolution states that individuals within a species should provide of variation and those individuals which characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to survive & reproduce.

What is a transitional fossil?

It is the fossilized remains of a lifeform that showing features from 2 distinct groups, it is a term called 'Misisng Link'. Transitional forms, organisms or fossils show the intermediate or midway states between an ancestral form and that of its descendant(offspring) can be referred to as a transitional fossils. It can indicate the types of animals and plants that existed in the past which is done by comparing fossilized body structures and fossilized tracks of movement, later on which they can peice together and tell how animals & plants have changed, developed and evolved overtime. 

By comparing fossils from different species, we can look for similarities in structure to try and work out which species are related to others. This visualizes how some species have evolved from others & gives us an understanding of how the evolutionary process works for example how many theories and evidence suggest we humans have evolved from apes.

Name 3 interesting discoveries we have made from fossil records?

• Around ten thousand(10,000) years ago, fossils of single celled organisms such as cyanobacteria from Australia have been found in rocks that are more than 3.5 billion years old.
• In 1998, scientist found a 317 million year old fossilized fish with a hand-like fin which suggested that it went through an evolution from being a sea dwelling creature to a land creature.
• Our lost common ancestor lived about 5-7 million years ago, during those times over 20 hominid species have been discovered.

What is a Vestigial Structure?

A vestigial structure or vestigial organ refers to an organ or a part of the body feature in a species which has lost the functional role or/and that has no longer have a purpose of use due to going through a evolutionary process, it is where the vestigial structure/organ had played a functional role which performed some important role at a point in the past, where at a time when it was useful for our ancestors for them to survive and adapt. Example: There are evidence and theories gathered that we humans once had a tail, our coccyx or tailbone were once our tails. The tail slowly shrunked, but the tailbones helped our ancestors with balance and mobility until we learned how to walk upright. Afterwards along the year the tailbone or coccyx served no purpose in human anymore and lost the functional role. 

Natural Selection - Science

We are currently in lockdown, during this time we learnt a few more things about Natural Selection from home. The task was to answer some questions that were given to us on the teacher's website, including a video and a diagram to help us learn more about Natural Selection and other areas around that. 

Our first activity was to read through this diagram and give us a simple example of what Natural Selection is, afterwards the task was to make our own scenario just like the one shown in the diagram. I have not drawn the diagram but I have written my scenario down to explain how it works in my own words.

Let's take a Caterpillar for example:

So we have multiple caterpillars on a single tree or a specified environment, the amounts of caterpillars on that single tree or within the environment have different variations and traits individually amongst them all, some have a green colour to them and some have a brown colour to them just like how it shows in the diagram above. 

The environment can't be overpopulated with caterpillars otherwise it would limit the resources for other animals and insects living in the area. 2 variations of a caterpillar came out (green & brown), one variation is more likely to survive than the other depending on which habitat or/and the environment they are in. Meaning that one variation can adapt well with the environment and the others are at a disadvantage meaning less likely to survive making it hard for them to reproduce their own variation also meaning it can't pass down its genetics to its relatives. (Brown caterpillars are eaten by its predators more often resulting to making or reproducing less brown caterpillars, while on the other hand, the green caterpillars are eaten less which makes it easier for them to reproduce and pass down its genetics making more green caterpillars)

This video explains more in-depth about Natural Selection and got given 2 more questions which will be answered below the video...

Myths of Evolution

Why wouldn't the giraffes grow longer necks just because the trees were tall?

Individual organisms don't evolve but random genetic mutations cause some giraffes to be born with longer necks, giving them the better chance at survival than the giraffes with shorter necks. This all sums up to saying how well-suited they are to their environment, meaning how well the creature (the giraffe in this case) adapts within its habitat.

What needs to happen in order for a gene to become more common?

Keep in mind that Natural Selection happens at the genetic level if the same gene that exists in one organism will also exist in its relatives which were mentioned before, this happens when it is passed down when reproducing. Random genetic mutations affecting the creatures organisms who carry it develop & behave differently from others with non-identical traits, resulting to make copies of the mutated gene being passed down(reproducing).

Language of Film | English

Body Language: A way of giving signals a nonverbal way to communicate, can be shown to the

opposing by posture, facial expressions & hand gestures

Costumes: A style of dressing up, used to describe its characteristics, meaning able to tell how old the character is and its various personalities

Hairstyles: Another way of describing and telling the audience the personalities or how old he/she/it can be

Make-Up: Used to match/give the actor similar characteristics as the character being played as

Back Lighting: A lighting technique where light is placed behind or angled from behind an object, scene, person to give out dept and different effects. Commonly used in theatres & photography

Props: An object used for a performance or play, using such objects make the scene look more realistic whether its the item held by the character or used by them

Settings: Use of different types of sceneries, to show the audience the different surroundings and, definitely seen in movies to tell a story or/and the storyline

Dialogue: A conversation between two or more people, verbal communication or discussion to another, used to change the way we watch and observe the movie/film or a play

Ambient Sound: Background noise used such as birds chirping, traffic noise, rain and etc, to show what is happening around the character and the type of setting he/she is at, also lets the viewer know a given location of the space or area of where the scene takes place

Music: To change the mood of the observer/viewer/audience or/and to illustrate the continuous scene & storyline

Silence: To grow suspense or to elevate the tension or change of emotions within the scenery, change of atmosphere or seriousness

Symbols: Often appears within or throughout the film which represents something such as an object, person, animal, specified colour. Used to help give or describe a given concept that usually does not get spoken verbally

Special FX: Used to make the scene or the movie itself more realistic from anyone's point of view and allows to do such things that can't be done within this period or if it's fictional

Cross-cutting: A editing technique used to switch back and forth between scenes, used if multiple actions are happening in different settings or locations from one another

Flashback: Used to take back to what has occurred in the past, can expose the characters more, to take the reader/audience back into the characters life and show the past events the character experienced

High Key Lighting: Reduces the lighting rate in the scene meaning less diversity between the dark and bright tones, makes the scene easier to see and the shadows visible

Threnody: An sentimental poem or song that is used to mourn for someone who has passed on, simple meaning, a song or poem of grief for the dead

What am I learning? Currently learning the different languages used in films and having a full understanding of what the languages mean

How does this work show my learning? Proof of my completed work is shown on my post and published onto my blog for others to view and see-through

What am I wondering as a result of this learning? I have no thoughts or questions on the topic

DNA Extraction | Science

Aim: To extract DNA from kiwifruit

Equipment: Water, Beakers, Sand, Spatula, Ethanol, Kiwifruit, Sandwich bag, Bunsen Burner, Heat mat, GauzeMat, Tripod, Test Tube, Dishwash Liquid, Glass Rod, Cloth

Method:

1. Squish kiwifruit with sand + water and pour through cloth to collect juice in beaker.
2. Use beaker to warm water, pour juice into test tube with 2 drops Dishwash, rest in warm water.
3. Add Ethanol, watch the DNA separate and collect with spatula.

Results: 

New Zealand Entrepreneurs Research | Business Studies

For our last 2 classes for Business Studies for term 2 which were on Thursday & Friday, we have been looking around different Entrepreneurs and how they are unique and different from us. We researched who they were, what made them popular, how did they get widely known, what barriers they overcame and what made them so different from us. We were given the task to research 2 New Zealand Entrepreneurs, I have written all my gathered information in a document, I chose to do Sam Morgan, founder of TradeMe & Phillip Mills, founder of Les Mills & PureAdvantage. Here is my work.

Sam Morgan

Born in 1975 at the age of 46, Wellington Sam Morgan, also known as the founder of Trade Me, now New Zealand's largest online auction site, which he later on in 2006 sold to Fairfax, an Australian media company for over $700 million. How he came around the idea of making such a site was when he was 23. In 1999 he was in a zone where was frustrated and had difficulties buying a heater for his chilly flat. He realised that websites online didn’t work for the kiwis, at this point of time where he realised he could offer New Zealand a better website. 

During the research he came up with the idea of online auctions for New Zealand, trademe is now a successful auction, property, cars, & jobs website. Stating the fact that Sam Morgan is unique in his way, he had the ability to take action, some people spend the majority of their time talking about it and not solving the situation. While on the other hand Sam Morgan went ahead and took the problem in his hands and fixed it, Morgan’s net worth presently sits around $290 million. (Morgan)

Bibliography

Celebrity Wiki. “Sam Morgan Entrepreneur.” Biography, Celebagewiki, no information found No info 2020, https://www.celebsagewiki.com/sam-morgan-entrepreneur. Accessed 2020.

Reference:

• nzCurriculum-Sam-Morgan

• Hi-tech | Sam-Morgan

• NBR/article-sam-morgan

Phillip Mills

Phillip Mills, born on the 13th of February 1995, age of 66, Auckland he is a former track and field athlete. Also a businessman in New Zealand, he is the founder, former chief executive & executive director of Les Mills national. The Les Mills fitness company has become internationally successful while still proudly owned and operated by New Zealand. He is also a founder of another business called PureAdvantage, which was founded in the year 2011. PureAdvantage is a registered charity led by many business leaders which are supported by a bunch of collective researchers & writers. Also supervised by the board of trustees and community leaders across New Zealand.

In 1979 Phillip took some leadership roles in the Les Mills fitness club which was founded by his parents, he continues to function in the Les Mills gym business within New Zealand. Early in the 1980s Mill then decided to develop an exercise-to-music choreographed set of exercises, meaning dance-related sets of exercises as well. Mills opened his first gym in 1968 and gave its name, Les Mills International which he named after his father, Les Mills.

Some backstory on how music and exercise came together in Phillip Mills business, he spent a year in a music business where he managed his brother-in-law’s rock band. Although he realised it was thrilling but somewhat unhealthy. During his loss of both of his brother-in-law’s who died young due to physical abuse that they put their body through. A year passed and that's when he found his passion for fitness and got back into the gym industry. Overall the business was going pretty decently but he wanted to make the most out of it, he talked about more excitement needing to be involved. He developed some workout music and launched them in an Auckland club and it became quite a successful and popular company now known globally. He owns 85 per cent of Les Mills NZ and 62-63 per cent of Les Mills International, which gives him a net worth of about $70 million. (Mills)

Bibliography

Mills, Phillip. “The Success of Failure.” Les Mills, Les Mills International, - - Unknown, https://www.lesmills.com/instructors/instructor-news/phillip-mills-on-failure/. Accessed No Info Information not found 2021.

 

Reference:

• Phillip Mills-Wiki

• nzherald-phillip-mills

• lesmills/phillip-mills-on-failure/

Land Yacht | Science

Last week and this week on science we have been working on a project on making Land Yachts, this project was related to our current topic in science, Forces & Motions. Our goal was to make the land yacht more aerodynamic and make it able to catch more wind to travel at a much further distance at such a speed. We were all put into groups, afterwards to enable the land yacht to do so travel at a far distance and faster speed we had to add things onto the land yachts.

Aim: Our goal to make the land yacht faster

Equipment:

• Land Yacht Base
• Cardboard
• Sticks(x2)
• Tape
• String
• Plastic Bag
• Leaf Blower

We were already given a base for our land yacht but the extra equipment we were given to use were cardboard, small bamboo sticks, tape, string, plastic bag & leaf blower. Our job, or my task was to make add ons because we needed to make it more aerodynamic and mentioned before to catch more wind to make the land yacht travel at a better radius and length. I decided to add a piece of cardboard on top to make the land yacht push through the wind much easily. To give the ability to the land yacht to capture more wind, we used 2 pieces of bamboo sticks(one short, one long). Then placing both bamboos in a cross looking position I then shortened the plastic bag and attached it above the land yacht. This will enable the yacht to catch more wind, that is what my hypothesis was though.

Afterwards, we did a single test to see how far it travels and how long it took for it to get to where it stopped. Using a formula we have learned about recently we took the distance and time and calculated what our speed was. Our land yacht travelled at 1 metres in 4 seconds, after the calculation our speed was 0.25m/s. Not the results we really hoped for but the experiment was enjoyable and learnt a lot along the way.

Conclusion:

So the conclusion to why our land yacht didn't go as fast is because of how the sail was setted up, it did catch wind but realising during the test was that the sail was not wide enough and if too much wind was caught it would usually turn the sail itself to the side and tilt the yacht over. The sails base wasn't stable enough to stay in one place which caused it to tilt and the plastic sail needed to be much more wider. There wasn't any testing done so we didn't know how it would have performed.  The best speed out our class was 0.656m/s.

My Teams Land Yacht