Individual Conference Post for Project 2

During my second conference with Professor Hunt, we discussed my past experience with a fixie bicycle as well as ideas to use for my 2nd Project. At first we were thinking to have my project about another physics related topic, but I wanted to change my topic to make it seem different from project 1. We thought my 2nd project could be on fixie’s, bikes getting stole, or something related bicycling in South San Francisco.

Class 6 Post

During class 6 we learned about meditation and how to reflect and focus in on yourself. This was in association with talking about balance which was incorporated into riding bikes such as biking with the ball of your foot as well as having good balance. The meditation can also go hand in hand with movements such as gesturing, which can be applied into presentations to make a more compelling point. The rest of class was spent making a poster and working on blog posts.

Discussion of Sources for Project 1

For project 1 I used a video titled “How do Bikes Stay Up?”on a YouTube channel called Minute Physics, which contains hundreds of physics related videos that fulfill curiosity. In order to figure out more about the channel’s credibility, I looked into the background information of the channel’s creator, Henry Reich on www.presspubs.com to find out that he had a major in both physics and math as well as a masters in theoretical physics.

Arrangement/Outline for Project 1

The arrangement/ outlining process for Project 1 was both a nerve racking but great learning experience. It was nerve racking because it was the first time recording myself present something and posting it. In order to get through through this, I first started off by creating lines to base my speech off of, then transitioned to using a note card with bullet points, to reciting off the top of my head to make sure I really knew what I was talking about. This whole process was at the same time a great learning experience because it showed me how to outline as well as showed me that practicing/rehearsing really does have a positive impact on the final presentation because it shows you what you can improve on or things you can exclude.

Class 4 Post

During the 4th class, we biked to the San Francisco Bike Coalition HQ in order to meet with the executive director. The HQ seemed very welcoming which I really appreciated. They provided us with snacks and were extremely informative about our questions regarding the coalition. The director was very knowledgeable of all the topics we threw at him, and it was interesting seeing how bikes have such a huge impact on the city. Afterwards, we biked to Golden Gate Park which was a great experience because I was able to see a new environment with a nice cool breeze.

Class 3 Post

During the 3rd week of class, we weighed our bikes and measured the distances traveled by them on the lowest and highest gear in order to understand how gear ratios worked. After that, we all biked to Golden Gate park where the first half of students presented. Before I gave my speech, I felt somewhat confident in myself because I knew that I had made sure that I really knew the topic I was presenting on. I felt as if the more I knew my topic, the more comfortable I would be which was entirely true. When presenting, I tried to stay cool calm and collective, not worrying about imperfections in order to maintain a clear head. After which we biked to the theater between the Academy of Arts and the De Young museum to listen to the other student’s speeches. Listening to the speeches of other students helped me see what I could improve in my own presentations.

Class 2 Post

During the second class, I was put into a group of 3 and had to assess a TED talk concerning the speaker’s credibility. I was paired with Sierra and Olivia and our video talked about building a bike community and the benefits of biking. We each had to go down the credibility matrix which was a good way to learn how to learn how to find the credibility of a speaker. We came to the conclusion that our video was not clear cut, and we presented this in front of the rest of the class in front of the statue in the Panhandle. When presenting, I felt somewhat nervous because I didn’t know too much about what the speaker’s main message was.

Class 1 Post

During the first class of FYS, I felt at ease until we had to speak in front of a stranger. This is when I began to feel very nervous because I had to talk about a topic that I was no expert in, which was “What makes a good/effective presentation/speech. When speaking in front of other students whom I have never seen before, I began to stutter, use filler words, and had very awkward body posture due to the amount of discomfort. However, I felt as if it was a good segue into the purpose of the class which was to become comfortable in a situation like that.

Discussion of Video Rehearsals for Project 1

When I first started recording myself for my rehearsal, I felt very uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable and nervous because I knew I was going to see myself present from a 3rd person point of view. When recording my video, I assisted myself by having lines to read off of in order to get into the swing of speaking in front of a phone. After reviewing the video, I tried to improve my speech by hitting key points without a script (instead, using bullet points). This helped me organize and structure my thoughts. During my 3rd video, I gave my speech without reading off of anything to know if I was  able to retain all the information I retrieved. Doing these videos helped me for the final presentation in front of the class.

Individual Conference Post for Project 1

During my conference with Professor Hunt, we discussed our personal interests, goals, and life experiences. Through this, Professor Hunt was able to guide me in a certain direction to help me come up with something to do my credibility project on. After telling Hunt that I waned to major in physics, he told me about a Youtube video which concerns the physics of a bicycle, explaining why they don’t fall over once they reach a certain speed. I had come across this video in the past and it seemed the the perfect idea, which is why I chose it to do my project.

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