ACADEMICS

October 2014 | Prowler

Upcoming Groups
Power
Build

Game On

EVENTS

Marking Period 2 IPR

CHEMISTRY CLASSES REPLACE

FLIPPED CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
WITH GAMIFICATION EXPERIENCE

Reports will be distributed

on October 30.

Academic UIL Trip On

November 1, students may

attend a training at UT.

Testing
DATES

STAAR Testing State

tests will be administered

December 1-4.

ACT October 25 and

December 13 at Stony Point

High School.

SAT November 8 and

December 6 at Stony Point

High School.

College
VISITS

University of Houston
at Victoria October 31 in
the library.

Special
Edition...

2014 edition

15th Anniversary
This year marks the 15th
year of The Tigers Tale
literary magazine and the
publication reception and
awards event, Stars of the
Savannah. Each annual
edition features original
student poetry, short stories,
academic papers, artwork
and photography. Students
may submit their original
creations through email.
thetigerstale.sphs@gmail.com

ROBOTICS
CLUB STARTS
SIX WEEKS OF
CONSTRUCTION
WITH KICK OFF
MEETING

ORGANIZATIONS MEETING

Monday

by staff reporter
Delilah Rivera

by staff reporter
Alyssa Davis

With only six weeks to

prepare for a competition
that happens November 1,
the time crunch can be a
little scary for the Robotics
Club, but they are up for
the challenge.
The club started its
work on September 20
with a mandatory Kick Off
meeting. At the meeting
competitors discussed
supplies for the robot and
information for the course.
The first meeting of
the club is used to explain
what happens and what
is expected in robotics,
sophomore Izel Aceves, a
fourth year Robotics Club
member said.
Since the initial
gathering, club members
have been working on the
robot in room B265 every
day after school.
Before competition day,
students must complete
several tasks.
First, the club keeps a
notebook that documents
what happens at every club
meeting. The notebook
includes design sketches
and the groups thought
process as they work their
way, step by step, through
the robotic design.
For the last two
years, Aceves has been
responsible for the
notebook.
The judges want to see
everything that happens
in robotics, from failed

CLUB
LOCATION
TIME
UIL Current Events C224
8:15
Key Club
B106
B Days 4:15
Gamerz Unite D109
4:15

1
by Alyssa Davis

4
2
by Robotics Club

3
by Robotics Club

by Robotics Club

6
5
by Alyssa Davis

by Alyssa Davis

1. Members of the robotics team gather around sketches of their robot at their third
meeting. 2-4. As a starting point, members of the club pre-draw their dream robot.
Sketches use arrows to show movement patterns. 5. During a club meeting, Todd Head
gives senior Kriti Swami and freshman Nicholas Morris a lesson on how to use the
power tools safely. 6. During the first robotics club meeting, Swami explains the course to
sophomore Mathew Wessman and freshman Nicholas Morris.

designs to bad sketches,

Aceves said. Our
notebook won first place
last year, and it got us to
the next round.
Along with recording
the process, during club
time, the group builds the
robot using power tools
in teacher Todd Heads
classroom.
This year the students
must have their robots
build a wind turbine in
order to try to earn point.
Our robot has to move
more things and try to
build at least one turbine.
Creating a working
robot and bringing it to
Capitals Best competition
is the end goal.

Calendar
Tuesday

CLUB
LOCATION
IBSO
B223
Environmental C201
Junior Historians B107

TIME
8:30
4:15
4:15

Seeing it all come

together is cool, Aceves
said. When you go to
competition and see what
other people have created
it is really cool too.
Along with the
competition, Aceves says
club members gain other
things from being a part of
the group.
We all come together
as a family, Aceves said.
Through the month of
October, Aceves says her
favorite part of being in
the club is seeing more
kids show up to the
meetings.
Im very excited for
this year with more people
and different ideas.

Wednesday

CLUB
LOCATION
TIME
FFA
Ag room
2nd Wed 4:15
NHS Lecture Hall 2nd Wed 8:15/4:15
Photo Club
A209
2nd Wed 4:15
Drama Club
F125
8:30
En Croix
G144
FBLA
D106
8:30
Senior Class Officers B201
8:00
Kappa Psi
Concession Stand 4:15

Fast
FACT

Fact 1
Teams are scored
on seven other
things beside the
working robot.
Fact 2
In order to
compete, the
robot must be 2
feet by 2 feet.
Fact 3 The team
must have at
least one driver
and three
spotters.
Fact 4
Each member
must know how
to drive the
robot in case the
original driver
cant.

Wielding pencils as
weapons, viewing friends
as enemies, students in
chemistry know that
playing the game and
gaining experience points
is crucial to surviving the
semester. Through minion
and boss battles, the heart
and soul of the chemistry
classroom has become
competitive and technical
with gaming strategies.
Starting this year,
chemistry teachers have
replaced the flipped
classroom with a process
called gamification. Like
PC games, students now
earn XP which counts for
their grade. They earn this
XP through homework,
worksheets and labs. After
completing base work,
the students compete in
minion battles, quizzes,
and boss battles, final tests.
Its like runescape [a
fantasy multi player online
role-playing game], junior
Juwan Webster said. Its
basically just school in
game terms now.
Chemistry teachers,
Daniel Veve and Christin
Angirasa came up with the
gamification idea.
I read an article about it
in February of last year and
talked to Mrs. Angirasa
about it quite a bit, Veve
said. We decided to go
forward with it since we
did the flipped classroom
last year, so we figured wed
take it to the next level.
Gamification does not
change the entire way
chemistry is taught. The
scoring is still the same as
getting regular grades, but
the content is presented in

a more interesting way for

the students.
The class period starts
in a normal way. Theres
a little lecture or review
in the beginning, then
the teacher will dismiss
students to partake in their
quests and battles.
There are labs in
the back where we do
experiments. Every lab
or work you do has XP,
sophomore Itzel Olalde
Murillo said. Even for
the homework, we have
to watch videos and take
notes to get XP.
Teachers developed the
process in hopes of helping
motivate students and get
them more involved in the
school work in order to
achieve higher scores.
Its to give students
more choices than they
usually have, Veve said.
They dont have to do
every single lab that we
have set out, but they
have to do enough to get
enough XP for whatever
grade they want.
Participating in
gamification isnt required
for all Chemistry classes,
but teachers who opted to
use it say the new academic
competition is working in
their classrooms. Students
have been keeping up with
their assignments and have
been earning a significant
amount of XP, overall
helping their grades.
A lot of kids are doing
more work and choosing
higher level activities
than they normally
would because they want
the points or they want
to compete with their
friends, Veve said.

The Anime Club has people who I actually fit in with,

rather in class where I fit in with no none.

- Sophomore Chandora Dickson

Thursday

CLUB
LOCATION
TIME
GSA
C155 every other Thur 4:15
Crossroads
Lecture Hall
4:15
ITS
F125
1st Thur 4:30
Kappa Psi
Concession Stand 4:15
Solar Car
B264
4:15

Friday

CLUB
LOCATION
TIME
HOSA Lecture Hall every other Fri 8:30