Assignment+1

QUESTION #1Sept, 19, 2009Cohort 1 (Dubai/Taiwan)Teammates: Dustin Rhoades, Virginia Blais, Janelle Mayer, DarbySinclairA. When was this photograph taken?Late 19th century (probably around the 1880’s). We’re guessing this isabout right because the first tricycles that could accommodate womenwere being produced there by over 120 different manufactures aroundthat time (http://www.retropedalcars.com/tricycle_history1.htm). Wechecked this out on another website (http://www.ibike.org/library/history-timeline.htm) as well. This picture is a little different fromwhat I could find on the web, but I’m guessing it’s about rightbecause by 1890 we see the introduction of the bicycle that most of uswould find quite familiar (pedals, chain driven, handlebars… theworks).Also, the tricycle would have been unnecessary by then becausebloomers were invented around 1894 (http://www.ibike.org/library/history-timeline.htm) andhttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/...this meant that women no longer needed a special bike to accommodatetheir skirts.B. What direction is the couple facing?As their faces are illuminated and the trees in the background areilluminated in the same way, it’s safe to assume they are facing intothe sun. Also, the background appears to be the white house. If so,they are probably on Pennsylvania Ave facing East-Southeast. We knowthat because their left should is against the fence… meaning they haveto be facing that direction. Sources: Listed above, as well as direct observation for question #2(control/click on the link below for graph image) http://tiger.tas.edu.tw/ls/1/Virginia_Blais.html QUESTION #3What are the social patterns in your school’s cafeteria? Who sits withwhom?Students tend to self-segregate by a number of features. The primaryone is that students break up into groups based on ethnicity/culture.While many TAS students are Taiwanese by ethnicity, they also holdAmerican passports. Many of them grew up in the United States andthey have arrived back at Taiwan at various stages in their Englishlanguage development. Thus, the students often find a groupconsistent with their experience. The Caucasian students also hangout together, as do the Indian students and, often, the Koreanstudents as well.Amongst all the students, they segregate based on a variety of otherfactors, such as style and interest. For example, the self-proclaimed“gothic kids” will sit together, the fashion-focused students like toeat with each other, and the “gamers” often dine as a group. Studentswill also sit by organizations and clubs, as their interests outsideof school often influence who they will want to eat with. Also, boysand girls will largely segregate by gender, a pattern that mimics whatoccurs in the classroom. It is often quite difficult to get the boysand girls, especially in Upper School, sit and work together.Other than that, you will occasionally see cross-over, or changing ofthe groups, when students need to work on certain homeworkassignments. They may choose to join another group who is working ona particularly challenging math assignment, or a difficult Englishdialectical journal. They are often quite open to helping each otherwith work, sometimes to the detriment of student originality.What activities are going on?There are a number of activities occurring at a given time. In theLower School, students are very focused on eating, sometimes playingwith their food, and, in-between, talking to each other. The dynamicin the Middle and especially in the Upper school is much more aboutsocialization as well as working. Students may discuss a variety oftopics, but most are concerned with academia. The focus on academics cannot be overemphasized. Students live andbreathe schoolwork. At lunch they talk about the homework they havedue, what they worked on the night before, and what tests are comingup. They may also compare grades, a favorite pastime. When they are not discussing grades, they do enjoy gaming, especiallya lot of the boy students. They are not allowed to officially game,but many of them find ways around this and the cafeteria will often befilled with students on their laptops, playing or doing homework,faces buried behind their laptops, even Instant messaging each otherfrom across the table. This seemingly bizarre behavior (as their teachers often note) iswhere they will discuss sports, music, clothing, pop culture, or eventheir classes on the computers instead of talking. Nonetheless, thenoise level is considerable. There is quite a bit of chatting goingon across grade levels, regardless of computers or other factors.Are there interactions between and among groups?There is little to no crossover between grades in terms ofsocialization. There may be some, as some kids look older or youngerthan their actual age, but it appears that there is little crossover.It doesn’t seem like siblings even talk to each other, as the threeschools are fairly separate. There may be interactions betweendifferent classes, especially in Lower School, when the kids washtheir hands together at the sinks. Groups appear to be fairly stable, though there are a few studentswho transition between groups. The very social students may take afew bites of their food, then jump up and go lean over anotherstudent’s shoulder and look at what that student is working on,especially on the computers. The kids are a flurry of multimedia –checking phones, computers, and other electronic devices – while stillinteracting with each other in more conventional ways. The enjoying of good food seems to transcend all groups. QUESTION #4 (control/click on the link below for graph image) http://tiger.tas.edu.tw/ls/1/Virginia_Blais.html QUESTION #5Observations: When the raisins were dropped into a cold glass ofSprite, bubbles immediately appeared on the surface of the raisin andstarted streaming upwards as the raisin sank to the bottom. Thesebubbles furiously rose to the surface, as did the raisin shortly afterits initial sink to the bottom. The raisin then floated for a coupleof minutes while the rate of bubbles around it and on it decreasedover time. The raisin then began to sink, but slowly, bobbing back upa bit from time to time, before settling on the bottom once again.Why? Maybe there was a reaction that occurred between the sugars ofthe raisin and the carbon dioxide that made the carbon dioxideinstantaneously exit in the form of bubbles. The raisin is denserthan liquid, so this would explain why it initially sank. The carbondioxide bubbles may have made the raisin lighter when it attached tothe surface of the raisin in the form of many bubbles. This wouldexplain why the raisin then rose to the surface. There is a fixedamount of carbon dioxide dissolved in liquid soda and eventually thisruns out. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the Sprite decreased,the raisin had less help staying afloat and began to sink. It isquite possible that the liquid penetrated the raisin, making itheavier and therefore able to sink as well. Maybe after several moreminutes, the raisin would be plump with Sprite.Hypothesis: The carbon dioxide in the Sprite attaches to a raisinwhen it sinks to the bottom and give buoyancy to the raisin.Experiment: Drop a raisin in a glass of flat Sprite and recordobservations. Did the raisin rise this time or not?