Are Athletes Getting Bigger, Stronger, and Faster?

That was the title of a recent TED talk given by David Epstein. It definitely has ties to STEM, athletics, and academics. We're going to watch this video, and then I'd like your reaction to it.

Are Athletes Getting Bigger, Stronger, and Faster?

Questions:

1. What is the most interesting thing you saw/learned in the video? 
2. How can we relate the mindset part to academics?
3. Will World Records continue to be broken, or will we reach our limits soon?
4. Which sport/activity do you think you're "built" for?

The Track Works!

You're all doing swell with the Automation Projects! Yesterday Paige, Brianna, Jessica, and Maria found out how to program a tank to follow the path!

Pulleys Gizmo

One of the mechanisms you built last week was the "Belt and Pulley". Today, you're going to learn more about Pulley Systems through an online simulation or Gizmo. It will be important that you follow the instructions on your exploration guide that is handed out.
First, go to the Explore Learning website. There will be a small, green button in the upper right of the screen that says "Log In". Click on that. Your username is "byronstem", and the password is "8stem". From there, you will search (in the search box in the upper right) for "Pulleys". The second Gizmo on the list will say "Pulleys" and that is the one that you want to Launch the Gizmo. From there, the instructions will guide you. Try to complete Activity A, Activity B, and the Extension Activity. See you next week.

Bicycle Prediction Results

The results for the Pedal Predictions are in. I can't believe how close the actual results were to your hypotheses! The task was to predict (for four different gears) how many pedals it would take for my bike to travel across the school (approximately 468 feet). You had to make this prediction without moving the bike. The top 6 groups did not "miss" by more than one rotation of a pedal for any of the four gears. That's amazing, unless one of you broke into the school, stole my bike, and tested it out for real. I might have to check the cameras. Congratulations, learners. See THE RESULTS for yourselves.

In a comment below, answer this: What was the most important factor in figuring this problem out?

Engineering Flowchart

Robot Research

There are four major steps in this Robot Presentation.

1. Choose a Robot to Research. Here are a couple of links that might help you choose. Robots of the Decade Google 5 Best Robots List of Robots There are more out there. Try to find a robot that you can find a lot of information on. You have a choice, so find one that interests you.
2. Research the Robot. There is a list of 10 things to have in your presentation available to you. Try to find out as much as you can about the robot. Become an expert on it, and keep track of the information as you find it. Here are a couple of resources from PLTW, but you will want to use your best search skills to locate the information.
3. Make a Presentation. I'd like you to use an app on your iPad in which the presentation can be made. Keynote, Prezi, etc. should be good options. Here is an example from something I made on the Cheetah-Bot.
4. Share your Presentation. Next Tuesday we will do a "Gallery Walk" in which the different groups have a chance to present and teach others about the researched robot.

The grading rubric for this project can be found here.

A Thought-Controlled Helicopter

Here is a video of some cool research being conducted an hour's drive north of here.