The Piano

Where was the Piano invented and by who?

The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Italy. Cristofori was unsatisfied by the lack of control that musicians had over the volume level of the 

harpsichord. He is credited for switching out the plucking mechanism with a hammer to create the modern piano in around the year 1700. 

What did the first Piano look like?

The piano looked looks like a Harpsichord. 

When a key is pressed, a plectrum attached to a long strip of wood called a jack plucks the string to make music. This system of strings ans soundboard, and the overall structure of the instrument resemble those that can be found in a piano. 

What is the difference between a Piano and a Keyboard?

The main difference between a piano and a keyboard are:

• A 'piano' is an acoustic instrument with weighted keys whereas a 'keyboard' is an electric instrument (requiring a power source) with unweighted (lighter) keys than a piano. 
• Each instrument has its own unique benefits and features.
• Piano echos

What do I enjoy about (playing) the piano/keyboard?
For me I enjoy playing the keyboard because there are a variety of options meaning I can add backing sound and have a go at playing to the sounds. 

Resilience Documentary

In Wananga, we have been learning about Resilience. 

What is Resilience?

Resilience is "the ability to bounce back" and Adapting to hardships and setbacks in life. 

All students will experience difficult situations at some point in their educational career, both academic
and social. These may include teasing and bullying, conflict with others - friends, competition or
disagreements with peers, homework, test and class presentations, and the transition from one
school to another. Resilience is the capacity to adapt well when faced with adversity or stress. It
helps us students make it through our school years and it's tough times. 

In this Documentary our aim was to get teachers, and students from different year levels opinions.
We started off with some basic questions such as what was their favorite subject. 

Throughout making this documentary I learnt new things about others, such as other students
may like to work independently whereas others like to work in groups. 

Expansion and Contraction

What is expansion, What causes it to happen?

Expansion is what happens when something becomes bigger or more extensive.
Applying heat to something causes it to expand or increase in size.

What is contraction, what causes it to happen?

Contraction is the process of making something smaller or decrease in size.
Cooling particles down causes contraction. 

Imploding Can experiment:

• Hypothesis
• I think that the can will decrease because it is going to be heated then cooled down. 

• Aim
• To observe contractions in gases

• Equipment
• Aluminium Can, scissor tongs, Bunsen Burner, heatproof mat, tripod, gauze mat, an open container of water

• Method
• Set up a Bunsen Burner underneath a tripod and gauze mat.
• Pour approximately 50-60 ml of water into the can. It should not be no more than ¼ full.
• Heat the can of water until steam is seen escaping from the top. 
• Carefully grip the can with the scissors tongs. Ensure you have a firm hold of the can before lifting it off the gauze mat. 
• Quickly, but very carefully, invert the can as you plunge it into a container of water. 

• Results

While the Can was on the Bunsen Burner, it was heating up and it was getting hotter, once the can was getting hotter we could start seeing steam and the can started boiling. Then we had to transfer the can into the container with cold water and the can straight away decreased in size.

• Discussion
From the results we got from the experiment, the can decreased in size for our results. This was because when the can was being heated it was boiling up and you could see steam coming out of the can, and we know that when you want something to increase it's size we heat it, but our aim for this experiment was to see what will happen to the can if we putted it into a container with cold water after being heated up, and therefore the size of the can decreased because it got cooled down by cold water.

Conduction Stop-Motion - Science

For the past few weeks in Science, we have been learning about States of matter, Particle Theory
and Forms of Heat Transfer. This week in Science we had to create a stop-motion that shows
our understanding of Convection or Conduction.  

Convection and Conduction are both types of Heat transfer - where energy is passed from Hot
to Cold. When an object is heated up, the particles in it start moving faster as they gain energy.
These particles also try to spread out as the gaps between particles gets bigger. 

What is Conduction?

Conduction - energy transferred through contact

When an object is heated up, the particles in it start moving faster as they gain energy. These
particles also try to spread out as the gaps between particles gets bigger. If an object is heated
from one end, the particles can transfer heat along. This is CONDUCTION. 

In the Slow-motion it is showing an experiment based on conduction. For this experiment you will need a metal spoon, a number of pins, and a matchbox for heat. Then you will need to stick a few pins on the spoon. Then light the match to get heat, place the flame/heat/fire at the end of the spoon and observe. Then you will see that the pins will start dropping one by one. Therefore the heat will travel up the spoon and it will make it impossible to touch the spoon. 

Inclusiveness

This week in Wananga we have been learning about Inclusiveness. 

What does Inclusiveness mean?

According to Oxford Dictionary inclusiveness means; the practice or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of minority groups. 

To me, Inclusiveness means including other people in class discussion, teams,
group work etc.

Although some other people in the class aren't comfortable with speaking up and
talking in front of others and we should respect that. On the other hand inclusiveness
means that we should include everyone in things we do, doesn't matter if they have no
experience or whatever but we should include them, that is a good way of building
relationships with others, and teamwork. 

What kind of things make people different from each other?

I would say a lot of things. Personalities, religions, emotions, talents, habits, heights, ages, genders, etc.

What sort of judgements do people make on others? Why do we make these judgements?
What impact can judgements have on other people?

Judgements, whether they come from you or someone else are designed to control, disempower
and stop you. Judgements could be based on their appearance, lifestyle, gender or behaviour. 

In most cases, we tend to judge others in order to feel better about ourselves, because we are l
acking self-acceptance and self-love. If we could all learn to love ourselves, we would make our world
a much more compassionate and much less judgmental. Sometimes people tend to judge others
because they want that person to feel low and bad, and make them feel big and proud in front of their
friends. 

Figurative Language Essay - English

Welcome to another blog-post. For the past few weeks in English class, we have been working on how
to write a lawyer paragraph that would be turned into an essay.  This was my first time learning how to
write a lawyer paragraph. Our topic for our essay was based on Figurative Language in Advertisements.
The first thing we had to do was brainstorm and look at a few ways advertisers used figurative language
in their ads. Figurative language is when you use a word or phrase that does not have its normal
everyday, literal meaning. There are a variety of figurative language including metaphors, similes,
personification, hyperbole etc. When I first thought about it when we were told that our goal was to get a
essay written, it was quite scary, but then learning the techniques of how to write a lawyers paragraph
made it more easy because I had my three paragraphs completed and all I needed to write was my
Introduction  and Conclusion. Below is my essay about what figurative language techniques do
advertisers use and why they use them. 

Essay Question: What Figurative Language techniques do advertisers use and why
do they use them?

Introduction

Have you ever seen an ad that draws your attention to, or it gets stuck in your head?

That's because the most commonly used figures in advertising are simile, metaphor, symbol etc.
Advertisers use figurative language to help the consumer feel that every customer service experience
she has with the company is created just for her. It draws the customer in to the advertising and
attempts to create a personal bond between the company and the consumer that will result in sales.
For the purposes of this essay only three techniques will be discussed. These three techniques are
personification, logo/slogans and onomatopoeia. 

Paragraph 1

Personification is a form of figurative language in which something that is not human is given human
characteristics. In advertisement, when personification is embedded in ads, appears to lead to more
positive emotions, more positive attributions of brand personality, and great brand liking. For example M&M company has used personification in their ads to draw the public's attention into
buying their product.They have used personification in this commercial by giving the red M&M hands,
legs, facial expressions and emotions. It’s legs are able to run or it is trying to run away from the lady
scanning the groceries. It's facial expressions show that it’s horrified or doesn't want to be scanned by
the lady. Therefore it can even talk while it’s running. They have used personification by giving a candy
*M&M’s human legs, arms, etc. The usage of personification in the  M&M's ad has helped the company
transform from nothing to something, meaning when M&M was first released they weren't drawed
too much to the public's eyes, they then realized that to spice things up they will need to use different
techniques in their advertisements and of those techniques was personification. 

Paragraph 2

Logos are symbols made up of texts and images that help us identify brands we like. But they can be so much more! A good logo is the cornerstone of a brand. It helps consumers understand what you do,
who you are and what you value. 

Logos are one type of advertising method that many businesses overlook but can be used to bring
great results time and time again. Because of this, logos play a critical role in serving a connection
point between the company and it’s consumers. 

For example McDonald's logo, McDonald's logo is a red and bright yellow/gold “M”.

The colour of the logo is red and yellow. The reason yellow was used in their  logo is because yellow
is the most luminous of all the colors of the spectrum… It’s the colour of happiness, and optimism,
of enlightenment and creativity, sunshine and spring. Also, red is the colour of extremes. It’s the colour
of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. McDonald's have used these
colors in their logo to make a connection between us consumers, or to persuade us and make us fall
to buy their product or to visit their restaurant.  Logos play a big role in advertising that it can effectively make us recognize their logo. The more a brand’s logo is displayed in an advertisement, the more trust and identity it will build from the public, which in turn will lead to more sales, profits and revenue. 

Paragraph 3

Onomatopoeia is a form of figurative language. 

An onomatopoeia is a word that actually looks like the sound it makes, and we can almost hear those
sounds as we read. Slam, splash, bam, blabble, are all examples of onomatopoeia. 

It is a figurative expressive device that is used widely in modern advertising texts. Advertisers use
it to draw our attention and make us memorize their slogans/ads. Advertising uses onomatopoeia
so that us consumers can remember their product, meaning that if we hear or see their advertising
and the onomatopoeia they are using then that will automatically remind us of their product because
it has drawn our attention and eventually want us to buy their product. 

Onomatopoeia is popular in advertisements, such as the KitKat ad, when the person halves the kitkat
bar in half it makes a specific sound, believe it or not, that sound will be stuck in our head, and when
we hear it without watching the ad we will straight away recognize that is the KitKat ad. 

Another old ad that uses Onomatopoeia is the Alka Seltzer -it makes a "plop, plop, fizz,fizz" noise
when dunked in water. In conclusion, Onomatopoeia plays a big role in advertisements, the whole
point or aim of advertisers adding onomatopoeia into their ads is that we memorize or remember their
slogan/ads and we will recognize and make us buy their products.  

Conclusion

Advertising puts figurative language to good use. Figurative language plays a big role in advertisement
from Personification, Slogans/Logos to Onomatopoeia, overall the usage  of figurative language is to 
grab your attention and persuade you to purchase their products. Yet you may not realize but
Figurative Language is essential for the process of advertisements. 

What was life like in the Middle Ages?

Welcome to another blog-post, this week in Chemicals and Chaos (Social Science) we were looking at what was life like in the Middle Ages. We had to draw what life for the peasants would look like in the middle ages and we also had to write a slam dunk paragraph.

Slam Dunk Paragraph:

What is life in the middle ages like? Sadly, life in the middle ages was not as smooth as nowadays. Life in the middle ages there were the rich such as the king and the poor which were the peasants. The majority of people living during the Middle Ages lived in the country and worked as farmers.  Therefore the rich and poor had different levels of wealth, the rich would live in castles, have the opportunity to shower daily, ate lots of foods, also the kings had all the power to service, and wealth. Peasants during the middle ages did not have a variety of opportunities for food, wealth, clothes and hygiene compared to the king.The peasants were called the lord's 'villeins', which was like a servant.  Most peasants' lives were based in the countryside rather than the city. This was important because many people in the middle ages dont have the opportunity for things that we take for granted. Life in the middle ages it was either you were born rich or poor.

Drawing: