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Discussion Guidelines: Throw-away Society (20 points)

It is easier to throw away a paper plate than to wash a dish, but what impact does it have on our world and our lives? Each student will:

1. Identify something that we use and dispose of. This could be a bottle of water, a paper plate, disposable diapers, or anything else meant to be used one time. (5 points)
2. Use your SUBJECT line of your original post to identify the object.(5 points)
3. Briefly describe the objects use and some impact of that use, be it positive or negative. (Example: Positive impact - Paper plates do save time in a busy world and do provide jobs.) (5 points)
4. Reply to one or more of your classmates by challenging their positive or negative impact, OR by proposing an alternative solution or another impact. (5 points)

Submit your original and reply posts to the Throw-away Society Discussion Board before the due date listed on the course calendar.

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Final Exam review sheet for Foundations of Technology Classes can be downloaded here:

Final Exam Review Document

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The Designed World: Transportation Technologies

Problem: You are a travel agent planning a travel itinerary doc (Word doc) or rtf (rtf) for a two week round-trip, door-to-door vacation for a family of four to Honolulu, Hawaii. The family has two adults and two children; one aged 15 years and the other aged 10 years. While in Honolulu you will plan an outing somewhere within the islands of the state of Hawaii that includes all four members of the family. Use a travel web site such as Travelocity, Priceline or Orbitz to price the various costs for travel to and from Honolulu, Hawaii. During the vacation, the family must use all four available methods of transportation - Car, Rail, Air, and Sea. When planing your trip you may choose any dates available.

Your task is to create a travel itinerary doc (Word doc) or rtf (rtf) that details the round-trip travel time for the family, one family outing, as well as the estimated cost of the vacation including food, and gas (if a rental car is used), and miscellaneous expenses. You will also be required to calculate the total travel time round trip. This mean the total time spent traveling in all 4 methods of transportation. The actual vacation or activities do not count. Only the time spent in the car, plane, train etc....

For example, you will most likely drive in a car to a train station to possibly take a train. Then you could take the train across the country to San Francisco, CA where you could take a flight to Honolulu. You could rent a car and check into a hotel or rental house where you will stay during your vacation. Next you could charter a boat cruise "get away" around the island. When the family's vacation is over, their travel itinerary will return the family using the same modes of transportation they used to get to Honolulu. To see an example itinerary for this trip, see the example links below at the end below.

Finally, you will provide a summary of the technologies which enable the family to enjoy their vacation using the Vacation Technologies Analysis organizer at the end of the travel itinerary doc. (Word doc) or rtf (rtf).

NOTE:The number of days of the vacation does not count in the round-trip travel time. Only count the actual time going from the family's home address to hotel or rental home in Honolulu and returning from the hotel or rental home to the family's home address. You can use your home address or friend's address as the point of origin.

Background Information: The Hawaiian island of Oahu is one of the most popular family vacation destinations. Oahu is the second largest Hawaiian island and is home to the state's capital, Honolulu. There is a great deal to do on the island from walking tours of the Waikiki beach, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, visiting the Pearl Harbor National Park, and feasting at a traditional Hawaiian luau. Oahu has pristine white sand beaches and breathtaking ocean side hotel accommodations as well as rental homes for families.

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In the comming days we will be discussing prostetics, and the ethical issues related to prostetics and sports. One example that we will discuss in class has been written about in The New York Times.  Your assignment today is to read the article in the times and respond to the following questions online.Post your responses by clicking on the button below that says "comment". The type your name and response to the questions and submitt.  It may be a good idea to copy your work  (ctrl-V) while you work just incase something happens you can paste (ctrl-v) it into ord and print it. 

• New York Times Amputee Article

 

• Interactive Graphic

 1. Why does Oscar have these " Cheetah" legs?

2. How much of an advantage do theses cheetah legs give Oscar?

3.  How much less energy does it take Oscar to run with his cheetah legs as oppose to  natural legs?

4.In your opinion,  if having cheetah legs gives certain advantages, is Oscar considered "disabled" when running?

5. In your opinion, shoudl Oscar be allowed to compete in olympic games with natural athletes who have no prostetic limbs?  Why or why not? Please support your resonse with reason or fact. 

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The ratheon sarcos is a an innovative exoskeleton designed by Raytheon to be used by the soldier of tomorrow. Think about the possibilities of other uses? For more information check out Raytheons Site.

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Wired Magazine often times has great content and in this months publication there is no exception. Their design section goe right along with what we discuss in class when we discussed constraints placed on designs. Since their bottle article parallelled our bottle designs so well I decided to post the article hear. I hope thats ok. I encourage you to check out their other small articles on design on their site http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/17-03/dp_intro.

Make a Lighter, Stronger Plastic Bottle

02.23.09 Design Under Constraint:

• How Limits Boost Creativity
• Build a Streamlined Electric Car
• Pack an SLR Into a Pocket Cam
• Hide Antenna in the Cell Phone
• Make a Better Plastic Bottle
• Design Tiny Album Covers
• Build a Blast-Proof Tower

The constraint: Use less plastic to fashion a container that's greener yet still sturdy. The solution: Introduce the right curves. Plastic saved: 2.1 grams per bottle. Bottled water sales in US: 4.3 billion gallons (2007)

Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Deer Park-all owned by Nestlé. So when the food conglomerate decided to boost its green cred (and save some money) by redesigning its water bottles, what it came up with was the instantly ubiquitous Eco-Shape. Employing thinner plastic, Nestlé created a container that's about 15 percent lighter than its predecessor. But that alone would have left the original cylindrical design weak and crushable. So the company also adopted a corseted silhouette: The arch at the center reinforces the bottle's structure, just as it did for Roman aqueducts 3,000 years ago.

 

 

1 // Plastic
Because it uses less material, the bottle's empty weight has dropped from 14.5 grams to 12.4 grams. This has reduced the polymer resin Nestlé needs by about 65 million pounds annually.

2 // Arch
The shapely waist adds stability. The plastic at the curve is about one-thousandth of an inch thicker than the rest; water pressure pushing against it makes the bottle stronger.

3 // Ridges
Curved horizontal ribs provide strength and a little style. Vertical troughs running from the shoulder to the base provide support the same way that a fold in a piece of paper allows it to stand up on its own.

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The 2009 mid-term / Final exam is available at the links below these directions.  To login to your test you must use your student id number without the year. Your  student id number without the year is the last 6 digits of your full ID number. Use this number as your user name. You have the entire period to work on this exam. When you are finished leave the computer and sit in your seat until the other students are finished with their exam. Please be sure to select the exam that matches your teacher. 

• Mr. Ames Exam
• Mr. Barnes Exam 

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Students today you will complete the unit 3 design test. This test is very similar to the review work we went over in class last Thursday. You will complete this test online by visiting the URL bellow. To login you must enter you student ID number. You will only use the last 6 digits of your student ID not the whole number.

•  http://tpilot.mcps.k12.md.us/tpilot/schools/northwesths/FOT_Unit_3_Test.tp3
  

 

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Wednesday Oct 8th

Today all foundations of technology Classes will be taking the online final exam. This test does not count for anything other than compleation as of now. All students must take this pre-test.  The test is located at this link:

  http://tpilot.mcps.k12.md.us/tpilot/schools/northwesths/fotsenior.tp3

Students should use THEIR NAME AS A LOGIN.

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Friday Oct 10th

 Today these classes will

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