Excel Project

For my excel project, I made a budget spreadsheet for my invention's advertisement. Then I made a pi chart showing the weight of all the costs of each advertising medium. I didn't seem to have any trouble with this project, but I can see with other topics, how this can be challenging.

Today we explored commoncraft.com. I really like the "in plain english" videos. This could be a really helpful site to this class when doing our projects.

After many changes, I've finally decided on an essential question and have begun my task.

                From the beginning of mankind, humans have been creating. Mesopotamians brought us the wheel. Edison brought us electricity. With the 20^th century came the computer. All of these have revolutionized society. Your company has given you a job to invent something that could revolutionize the 21^st century. 

Task:

-          EXCEL: You have a budget of $500,000 to advertise. Find out how much money it will cost you to create a commercial, run a newspaper or magazine ad, or air a radio advertisement. Create a pie chart showing the weight of all different costs. You must stay within your budget!

-          PUBLISHER: Create a newsletter or magazine ad introducing your new invention. Talk about its new features that will revolutionize our entire society. Make the consumer feel like they need your product in order to move forward in the 21^st century.

-           POWERPOINT: In powerpoint, you must present your ideas in an organized and persuasive fashion to your company. Include budget information, visuals, and details that go along with your invention.

-          MOVIEMAKER: Make a commercial for your product using moviemaker. The commercial should be no longer than 30 seconds in length, while grasping the attention of the audience. Share with them the most important features of your product while maintaining a sleek  impression.

After all my attempts and continuous confusion, I feel like I finally have a topic I can work with easily. I'm excited to get started on my first project!

I've been having a lot of trouble deciding on an Essential Question. After looking up a few examples by subject, I think I've decided on one that I can use for all the different projects. The question is, "In your opinion, which invention from any time period made the biggest contribution to society and why?" I'm thinking of using a different invention for each project.

Wordle

This is my wordle

Essential Question

After researching chimpanzees and sign language, I felt a little restricted as to what I could ask and do for all my projects. So I developed a question that is a little more broad, but still embodies the general topic of animals and human actions. My essential question is...

Animals such as chimpanzees and dolphins have been proven to share an extremely significant amount of their DNA with humans (over 95%). This similarity between species causes us to think about our relationship and interactions with these animals. Think about the characteristics of these animals and the characteristics of humans. In what ways are these animals "human" and in what ways are humans "animal"?

I'm sure I will be editing it along the way, but this is my starting point.

Essential Question

Our essential questions are due next week. I thought a lot about my question, and I knew I wanted to do something about animals. After a lot of thought, I decided to talk about something I've always found extremely interesting, chimpanzees and their use of communication through sign language. I have not yet decided how to exactly put my topic into a question though. I'll post my question when I figure it out!

I just made my blog for Technology for Educators!