Week 7 Learning Journal

Part 1: Final Research Video Project Planning

When we first got assigned the project, we began laying out what we should talk about in our videos. I proposed that we could make the professional video first and then simplify it for the short middle school level version. We've gathered information, now we just need to start putting together a video. We spent some time gathering some graphics and putting them into a powerpoint and my partner began to write out what he was going to say throughout the video. Now, we just need to make the slides coordinate with what he wants to say.

Part 2: Ted.com Video Reflections and What I have learned this week.

How are microchips made? By George Zaidan and Sajan Saini

https://www.ted.com/talks/george_zaidan_and_sajan_saini_how_are_microchips_made

Computer chips consist of 100km of ultra thin copper lines stacked across 10 or more layers and can hold up to 50 billion transistors, which are switches that allows current to flow if they receives a voltage. 1 trillion computer chips are created yearly within the 500 fabrication plants that make them. Using the process of photolithography, all the devices on a chip can be made simultaneously. Fabrication plants run around the clock and it takes three months to change a wafer of silicon into 100s of chips. Fabrication plants use a ton of electricity, water, solvents, bases, process gases, acids, and precious metals. 5 gallons of waste is produced per wafer of silicon, which is filtered and ph treated. As computing complexity grows, copper and precious metals are needed to link up chips.

What staying up all night does to your brain by Anna Rothschild

https://www.ted.com/talks/anna_rothschild_what_staying_up_all_night_does_to_your_brain

When you stay up all night, you fight against your body's natural circadian rhythms, which are cyclical changes virtually all living things experience over a 24-hour period such as sleeping and waking, and they are heavily influenced by light. Your Suprachiasmatic nucleus acts as your circadian rhythm's clock and alerts your pineal gland to begin producing melatonin. Your body temperature levels drop to cool down the brain before you sleep. Your brain creates a waste throughout the day called adenosine, which makes you more tired and inattentive the more that builds up. The motor skills of someone who has been awake for 19 hours is similar to that of someone who's been drinking. Sleep helps people understand and digest what they've learned, so without sleep they will likely struggle to do more than regurgitate facts.

Things I learned this Week

This week we finished our final essays. I struggled a lot to finish it due to the fact I got sick, but I am hoping I did well enough to pass the class seeing as I have a 99.2% right now in the class and it would be unfortunate for one assignment to hold me back. We also took some time to peer review our team members cover letters and resumes. Luckily, there is only two of us in our group, so we only had to review each others. Lastly, we took some time to learn about do and don't of making presentations using powerpoint.