Tag: Civil Engineering

25. Engineering Insights: A Personal Reflection

WALT  : Create a blog around a reflection of engineering 

Namaste Everyone, 

This week we created some engineering boards to sum up the different activities we got to do throughout all of our engineering activities. You may be thinking “Why did you have to create a board for engineering”. Well the main reason was because we would be having this senior school competition around engineering and our engineering teacher ( Whaea Ruth ) would go around and see everyone’s work and see will judge the best one and then which ever one’s are the best she will give their team a prize. 

Here are also some other parts from my blog which are going to be a part of my reflection. 

For this week’s engineering we learnt about electrical engineering. Firstly we got instructed  to play a game and this game had a connection to what we were learning about. We had  to play a ball game and we had to pass it along without touching the ball with our fingers and palm touching the ball. We also couldn’t kick the ball because it would go everywhere and someone could get injured.

We got into teams of around 10 – 13 people in one group. Then we created a circle. Then we got given a ball then one person would one by one pass it to the people beside them. The aim of the game was when passing the ball the ball was represented  as the light or something that relies on electricity to make them run. The people represented the connection to make the ‘thing’ work and it was fun because we got to cooperate as a team.

This week we learnt about Environmental Engineering.  We had been assigned in the last engineering class to bring a empty bottle that has about 1.5 litres. Why? Because we were assigned to make water filters out of the empty water bottle. Here is a bit about what we needed to do to create this water filter.

We had to create a filter out of the a bottle the first step was to cut the bottle in half then we had to add the { Coffee cloth }. Once we did that we had to decide on what should we put in first and we decided to put the { cotton balls } inside first then we add come pebbles into the water once that was done we add { Activated Charcoal } after that we the sand into the water bottle once we did that we added the water into the bottom half of the bottle. Then we watch clear water out of the bottle. 

Did you know that 1.8 billion people have no access to water or dirty and mucky water. This is very bad for the health of kids and family’s and people. They risk their lives trying to survive just off, of dirty water. That’s why it is important that you keep the environment clean so other people around the world are able to experience the sensation of clean and refreshing water.

I also want to give a huge thank you to the people that were able to attend our senior senior school assembly for engineering because they were able to take their time off work and celebrate kids that they only got to know in a few months. So I would like to give a huge thank you to them.

Thank you for reading my blog about my engineering reflection I hope you enjoyed it and remember if you have any suggestions there will be a comment button for you, make sure to spread the gospel.

Nga Mihi – Sala

25. Civil Engineering: Shaping Skylines and Communities

Malo E Lelei

The task of designing a bridge in our books excited our class, but I was unsure about how to begin. What I quickly realised was that working as a team was the key to making a good design.

At first, we all had different ideas. Some of us started by drawing different shapes for the bridge, while others focused on the measurements, making sure the bridge could hold weight without falling. We also talked a lot about what materials would be best to use. By sharing our ideas and listening to each other, we combined our strengths and made a much better design than if we had worked alone.

Designing the bridge was more challenging than I expected. We had to think about how the bridge would carry cars or people safely and stay strong during bad weather.

This project taught me an important lesson: civil engineering isn’t just about maths or drawing—it’s about working well with others. Engineers often work in teams because many different skills and ideas are needed to build safe and useful structures. Designing our bridge together showed me how communication and cooperation make a big difference, turning simple drawings into a design that could actually work in the real world.

25. Recap: The Essentials of Civil Engineering

Kia Ora Everyone,

Last week we got a choice whether we could do different activities such as a Straw Tower, Cardboard Bridge, Seawall, Jenga Tower,  Davinci Bridge, Water Filter, Matariki Kit, Circuits and Dominoes.

For our first activity we needed to pick an activity that us and our group would be working on. And we decided as a group that we would want to work on the Davinci Bridge. If you don’t know what the Davinci Bridge is then this is what it is.

We had to create this bridge individually which meant our group tried to create this bridge on our own. We tried to create it multiple times but failed. We assumed that it was impossible to create until I tried again and it worked so I added a book onto the bridge and it held up which meant I made it the correct way. I documented it but it is on my other device so I am not able to show it to you. But I promise that I was able to create this bridge.

If you want to learn how to create this then I will add a video link for you to try and create.

YouTube Link 

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and I hope you have a amazing rest of your day / week and remember to spread the gospel.

Nga Mihi – Sala

25. Civil Engineering

WALT : Why did we build the bridge. 

Kia Ora Everyone,

This week for engineering we learnt more about civil engineering. We focused on the topic of civil engineering. Last week we focused on structural engineering ( For that blog  check my blog posts and it should be there ).

We did this activity because it shows the different types of way people work and how they do their work and sometimes how difficult it could be.

For our first activity we needed to pour the water from one bucket to the other but the bucket that the water  was  being poured into had a hole in it. So then we had to think of a solution on how to keep the water  from spilling everywhere out of the bucket. Then our instructor ( Whaea Ruth ) told  us  that we needed  to go around the cone that is across from us to  make sure all of our team went together around the cone and whoever’s team had the most water by the end of the activity won and probably get a point.

For our second activity we needed to build a firm border or wall to protect Tuvalu from flooding even more. We had some clay, tape, paper, scissors, straws and ice block sticks. Our team tried to discuss some ways we can build the wall because we all had different ideas and we needed to come up with one so we can build the wall. Our team decided to cut the straws into quarters and then put the clay onto the paper and then make the clay into a squared shape. Then we would add the sticks on the clay and make sure that they had a firm foundation to stand onto. The clay was not that a firm enough foundation for the straws to stand up but then the time was up and we needed to bring our creations onto the mat and then we would discuss who would take it to their class and work on it. Luckily my team was all in the same class. But that was all we did for engineering.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day / week and remember to spread the gospel.

Nga Mihi – Sala  👍

 

25. Bridges And Beyond

Merhaba Everyone, 

Every Wednesday we have engineering, its where real engineers come to our school and teach us more about engineering and some ways that engineers do throughout their day to day life when constructing. This week for engineering we had some other ways of how people work as engineers.

Our instructor for this session was called ( Whaea Ruth ) she was a designer on constructing the bridge she was the one that made the designs. Her job is important because if she made a mistake in the diagram that she created then the bridge would be wonky or not stable.

For our first activity we had to make the tallest tower out of jenga blocks but we needed to get into groups of 3 – 4 people. Then whoever had the tallest tower would have a point and whoever has the most points at the end of the last engineering session the person with the most points would get rewarded with a reward but we don’t know what that reward is.

For our tower we needed to think and then we used the tin that the jenga’s came out of. Then we put the jenga blocks onto the tin and then we started stacking the blocks on just like how we would make the jenga tower but we didn’t use three to stack it we used two so then we would have more blocks to use. After we got told to stop and leave our creations and sadly we did not win the first round.

Then for the second activity we needed to do the same thing as the first activity but underneath the tin or on the floor we needed to have the scrunched tea towel then stack the jenga blocks just like the first activity.

Then for our last activity we needed to design a bridge out of cardboard and tape. But we had a limit of cardboard and it was only 8 pieces of cardboard. Then we started to discuss as a group how we were going to create our bridge.

I enjoyed looking at other peoples bridges and how they had a different understanding of how they can create bridges. I really enjoyed creating our bridge because we all got to cooperate in different ways.

Some things I found difficult was having to participate in creating the bridge because me and my teammates all had various ways on how to make our bridge. But I really enjoyed doing civil engineering. Here are some pictures of what we did.

This is our bridge that we created. There were some poles at the bottom that  created the bridge stable.

And this was our attempt at trying to get the tallest tower with the scrunched tea towel. ( We also won this round ).

Thank you for reading my blog I hope you have a good rest of your day and remember to spread the gospel.

Nga Mihi – Sala  😃