Week 7 at Manor New Tech marked the start of a new six weeks. During Advisory this week, the school gathered to listen to the speeches of students running for Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Class President. Several speeches advocated for changes and class projects that could improve the culture of our school including: prizes for strong work ethic, a senior trip, and improving peer accountability in order to regain the privilege of eating in the classroom buildings.
In Mrs. Garner’s Art 2 class, students completed their freestanding wire sculptures of their faces. Their pieces were pretty interesting and impressive. Looking at them, you get the feeling that a lot of problem solving went into figuring out how to get the wires to cooperate to make the appropriate shapes and free standing structures. The top left sculpture in the ensemble below was created and depicts the student shown to its right. 
In Mrs. Schimel’s 11th grade Physics class, students jig saw researched different methods of heat transfer, their definitions, how these are represented in schematics, and how these contribute to heating and cooling devices. As part of this process, Mrs. Schimel increased their internet research tool kit by teaching them several simple new strategies:
Strategy 0: If the site is incomprehensible, back out of it and look for a new source
Strategy 1: Use keywords
Strategy 2: Use multiple keywords
Strategy 3: Phrase keywords as a question
Strategy 4: Search specific sites using “site: “ command. For example: site:physicsclassroom.com conduction heat transfer
I asked students if they knew about these techniques. Some said they only knew strategy 1.
In Robotics, the students succeeded in creating a scrap kit bot in a couple weeks. They are now tasked with creating, documenting, implementing, and analyzing procedures for measuring the characteristics of their creation. Some groups have even decided to measure the same quantity. It will be interesting to see if different procedures can yield the same results.
