Thursday's Mayhem Update

Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Medicine and Health
by Marwah 

For Mayhem, I am in the DaVinci group. Since Leonardo Da Vinci was a famous anatomist, I decided to do Renaissance medicine and health instead of just focusing on DaVinci. Despite the fact I will be talking about some influential anatomists and physicians of the time,I am mostly focusing on diseases and Hippocratic medicine. Some of the diseases i will be talking about were the Plague, or the Black Death, Dysentery, Ergotism, Gonorrhea, Influenza and many more. The most interesting thing I found in my research was the topic of Hippocrates and his method of handling medicine. Hippocrates was a famous Greek physician whose works started the idea for modern medicine. Another part of my project is to compare Renaissance medicine to medicine today and show how lucky we are. I am looking forward to learning more about my topic and finding out new information and see what shapes modern day medicine. 


Smallpox and the Plague
by Jalen

During Mayhem I have focused my project on comparative history. I have been comparing the two diseases smallpox versus the plague. I am comparing their differences and similarities. My other main focus is how the diseases spread, what made so deadly, what was the host of this disease. I decided do this topic because I was undecided of doing the plague of slave diseases. I decided to compare the two, and therefore narrowed down my options to doing the most common diseases that slaves got, which was smallpox. I found along the way that both of these topics had a lot of information about these diseases.

Smallpox was one of the main diseases that slaves got when traveling on ships and working on fields. Most slaves carried this disease, and also some kids carried worms. Most commonly kids got the disease. Symptoms include small blisters all over your skin. The plague wiped out 60 percent of Europe’s population. The plague is also known as the Black Death. The disease came on trade ships, with most of the people in ships dead rats infested London. The rats carried the bacteria of the plague, Yersinia Pettis. When the rats died the Yersinia Pettis would infest the human body. What made these two diseases similar? The lack of cleanliness in slave ships and Europe could not keep with the outbreak of these diseases.

The History of Tessellations
by Katie E.

For Mayhem I am working on the history of tessellations. Their was not much history but their are many ways of making tessellations. I found out that I can make a tessellation from the simple shape of a square. I also found out I can make a tessellation from a simple shape such as an x. I have spent a while to find the history and all that came up were websites on old tiles. I finally compared the most useful websites and realized that they only did tessellations inside the squares not on the outside. When the tiles were placed on the floor no one but the tile fitter would know the secrets to the amazing pattern.

Da Vinci’s Water Boats and Scuba Gear
by Joe

I am doing a project about Leonardo da Vinci’s water boats and inventions including his paddle boat his war boat and his scuba gear. I have learned many things so far for example in the paddle boat he made a series of gears that made the boat move. I think it is amazing what he has done for his time. Another one of his amazing inventions was the scuba gear. In the scuba gear he made a way that people could reuse their like on of the oxygen mask in a airplane. He did all these thing hundreds of years before they were actually used. I like this topic because not that many people know about his water inventions and I have learned a lot. I want to study more about Leonardo's inventions further.


Lovely Ladies of London
by Britney and Laila

Laila and I are working on creating and building a 16th century store. We have made lots of progress over the last couple of days. The first two days we planned out who had to do what and our ideas. Then we began to work on the percent markups and percent discounts for a couple of days. Yesterday we finally finished our whole packet, and now we are starting to plan the interior of the store, making advertisements, and ways to promote our store. 

 

The name of our store is “Lovely Ladies of London”. Our store is for women of any size. We sell a variety of items such as Gowns, simple dresses, trains, petticoats, ropas, stomachers, shoes and much more. Our price range is anywhere from 20-90 dollars. Plus we always have amazing sales going on ranging from 20-50% off! Our dresses are High Quality and well-priced. Our loyal workers are sweet and helpful to all our customers, we make sure your experience and Lovely Ladies of London is fun and memorable. Once you come to our store you will go nowhere else for your gowns and accessories. 


Leonardo da Vinci’s Cannons and Machine Guns
by Karl

For my mayhem project I am focusing Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci lived in the Renaissance in Italy, and he was a man of many professions. I will be focusing mainly on how he impacted warfare with his cannons and machine guns. Through my research I have found out that he had many incredible ideas. For example, instead of cannons having one barrel that would have to cool before being fired again, he came up with the idea that each cannon would have multiple barrels, so that it can have a faster rate of fire. He also thought of an idea for a steam cannon, and ideas for how to make the projectile fired more lethal. Although some of his ideas did become implemented, many of his ideas remained ideas.


Tessellations
by Mikey

I am currently working on a PowerPoint that contains the history of the important people in tessellations and also contains all the types of tessellations that exist. There will be some foreshadowing telling you some background information on tessellations. In total there will be 26 slides including fractals, normal tessellations, demi-regular tessellations, and semi-regular tessellations. There will only be pictures of the kinds of tessellations that are featured in the world today. I’ve found some other interesting information about some other tessellation artists such as Robert Fathauer and Roger Penrose. I also may be able to make a tessellation of my own from little shape prisms I may be able to borrow from my old school, and then maybe take a picture of that and paste that on a poster board. Also, I might be able to pull up a YouTube video explaining M.C. Escher’s techniques for making tessellations. I will also have a model of my own tessellation that I created by myself online.


Fashion and Queen Elizabeth I
by Sydney

During this year’s Mayhem project, I am researching all about the fashion in the Renaissance. The Renaissance Era was was a time where fashion was very important to show and express what class you were in and what resources you were able to get. In my project I am explaining how Queen Elizabeth influenced fashion in England 1600’s.

So far during Mayhem, I have been researching on the computer and taking notes, and also reading chapters in book all about the Renaissance, Early Renaissance, and Queen Elizabeth. For my presentation I am probably going to do a poster board showcasing different fashions of the Renaissance and make a magazine with a cover story of Queen Elizabeth speaking about her influence on fashion, and also showcasing many different fashions that were in trend in the 1600’s.

I hope that people can see my focus on how fashion became what it was and how it is now and who incorporated their fashion sense in this.

The Black Death
by Billy

My project is on the Black Death, a devastating disease that tore through Europe in the 14th Century. My presentation will focus on an essential question: "What effect did the plague have on European culture and daily life?" I will present my topic and information in various ways. I will have a PowerPoint with music in the background as I talk and I will have many visual aids for the audience to get a bigger look on what it was really like. All in all, I think my presentation will be educational and interesting.


The Hundred Years War
by Derek

My project is about the 100 years war. The French and The English are the two main contributors to the war. The process of my project is first i find sources, then make source cards, then take notes on note cards, then make visual and present it. My main question for my project it Why did the 100 Years War last so long (to be exact 116 years).

I have learned about specific battles and people in the 100 years war so far but hopefully I learn even more in depth about the people in 100 Years War.I chose the 100 Years war as my topic because i was always very interested in the hatred the English and the French have for each other. So I chose the 100 Years war to go more in depth in that.


The Bubonic Plague
by Michelle Y.

My Mayhem project is about the bubonic plague which is a horrible disease when a flea’s bacterium is transmitted into human blood. I am focusing on when the disease hit Italy from 1347-1351. The disease killed more than one third of Italy. There were no doctors who knew about this disease and there was no treatment, so after a few days or weeks of getting this disease, victims would die. The rest of the people in Italy who were not suffering from bubonic plague shut themselves in their house so they wouldn’t get the disease. Because so many people were killed by this disease, there was a labor shortage and the economy and society changed immensely. Many parents died and their children were left alone without any parents do die as well. This was a horrible devastation in history. 

My main question for this project is how did the bubonic plague affect the everyday lives and society of Italy? For my project, I am writing a historical fiction story. My main character, Juliana De Luca who is living in Florence, Italy, has parents who are both suffering from the bubonic plague. Juliana meets Charles Ricci and she finds out that his sister is also suffering from the plague. Unfortunately, Juliana’s mother passes away and she turns to Charles for help, whom she falls in love with. Shortly after, Charles’ sister passes away and he shuts Juliana out of his life and turns into a cold, harsh person only because he keeps all of his emotions bottled up. Juliana’s father dies from the plague after, and Juliana must live with her two brothers, but she realizes that she really has nobody to turn to for help. She realizes how much the plague has impacted her family and she must find out why Charles has changed. Throughout my story, Juliana is writing letters to herself as a way for her to pour all her feelings out. 

I chose this topic because I wanted to learn about the affects the plague had. The plague was interesting to me and a huge devastation, so I wanted to learn more about it. I hope everybody will like my project and my story based on the bubonic plague (or the Black Death). 

Sports - The Comparison 
By Leah

For my Mayhem project, I am researching the sports then (in the Renaissance) to now. First I researched some overall background information and now I am researching deeper into one game they played, called La Soule. It was a very, very rough game, and many famous protests were made against them. For my final product I will probably write a short story, as if I was in that time with the game and the protests going on and have a display of some sort with comparisons of the sports then to the sports nowadays. 


Da Vinci’s Inventions and the Modern World
by Nikita

Welcome back gaming cubs! Oops… wrong place. This is my blog post on my Mayhem project. My mayhem project focuses in on the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci and how they affected the modern world. I chose this topic because I love inventions, how they affect the world, and the process of making/explanation of the inventions. These past weeks I have been researching the different inventions, his inspirations, and, the obvious, how they affected the modern world. Sadly to my findings, his inventions never affected the modern world. He never published his work as some of it involved religious questioning. Even though his mind was hundreds of years ahead of everybody else’s mind. After that I sort of felt stumped because my question did not have the answer that I would have liked, so then I came up with sub-questions that would make the presentation better and explain more about Da Vinci’s invention. A couple of my sub-questions that I thought of are, “How would of Da Vinci’s inventions changed the world if he published his work?” and “Why couldn’t Da Vinci publish his inventions?” After I come up with a few more questions I will be heading on to start my visual and presentation script. In my visual I will try to recreate an invention of Da Vinci’s… the rest is to remain hidden…

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Da Vinci


The Architecture of the Globe Theater
by Lily W.

Hello 7th grade!!! My name is Lily (for those who don't know my name). For my Mayhem project, I am researching about the globe theater and about it's architecture. My question about this wonderful topic is what is the significance of the Globe Theater. how was it built, and what made it so successful? Well, so far, I have learned a lot of information. A few things are that the first owner, James Burbage, had permission to have a 21 year old lease on the theater. This theater, also known as the Elizabeth Playhouse/theater, was built by the carpenter Peter Smith and his workmen. The Globe Theater was the first theater in London to ever be built. In this exquisite theater, the people who stand on the floor are called groundlings and the people who sit in the Galleries payed 5 pence to sit in the soft, cushioned chairs. My plans for presenting this amazing topic is on a computer. I am almost done building a replica of the Globe Theater in Minecraft! Also, I will maybe have a posterboard that shows what I have learned. Overall, the process of Mayhem is spectacular for me and I hope it is to you. I hope you like my presentation next Friday!


Leonardo da Vinci
by Simone



For my Mayhem project, I am researching Leonardo Da Vinci and his inventions. I have always learned about da Vinci and his painting and artwork, but I was surprised to find that he was a scientist and an inventor, too. As one of the smartest person in history, da Vinci didn’t just paint, he observed nature and used his science to make some of his inventions, some used today. Some of the great discoveries that Leonardo da Vinci made was the parachute and the machine gun for the army, even though he was against war. 

My process for this project is to research da Vinci’s greatest inventions. I am using the question “how is the modern world influenced by da Vinci’s work?” as a research subject. This means I will be comparing his findings to modern day items and technology. I am planning on making something like a catalogue to present his inventions and put a price to it and a description of the item, which will be based off of my research. I cannot wait to present what I learned to my class!

Light Energy
by Roxane

For my Mayhem project, I am studying Light Energy. In the Renaissance, Light Energy influenced the painter’s perspective of color and light. Painters were fascinated that the three primary colors (red, green, and blue) when combined created white light. Scientists figured out that prisms can manipulate white light by separating itself into the colors of the rainbow. The color on top of the rainbow is red and the color on the bottom is violet. This is because the color red has a longer wave length and a less amount of energy. Violet is on the bottom because it has the shortest wave length but the most amount of energy. Light Energy is a very interesting topic and I can’t wait for Mayhem day!

Isaac Newton created this diagram to prove his theory and disproving French Philosopher Rene Descartes' wave theory of light.


The Galilean Telescope
by Noah

For my Mayhem project I am studying the Renaissance Telescope and lenses. This Project includes many important figures such as Galileo Galilei, Hans Lippershey, and many others. My ideas for this project include making a poster and making an example of different types of telescopes, so people can judge which ones were better. Galileo made many important astronomical discoveries including the different phases of Venus, the fact that the moon had mountains and craters, the sun had moving black spots on its surface, and the 4 largest moons of Jupiter. He was the one that made the telescope famous even though he wasn't the one that invented it (Hans Lippershey did). I am still researching for this project but I think the final product will be very interesting.


Italian Architecture of the Renaissance
by Josh

Italian architecture during the renaissance is what I will be studying for Mayhem. When I make my visual, I am planning on making a model of some of the architecture in Italy during the renaissance. That style of architecture was inspired by the Romans and consisted of a lot of arches and domes. All structures of this style were symmetrical. This style of architecture eventually spread to, not only all of Italy, but also throughout other places such as England, France, Germany, and Russia.

Galileo’s Modifications of the Telescope
by Nastasia

For my research topic, I will be studying Galileo and how he modified the telescope. I will be researching the types of lenses of his telescope. I will also be going into depth with his ideas, and the trouble that he went through to invent his telescope. For example, he even was placed under house arrest, because of his beliefs. My visual will be the telescope itself, and I will also be doing a unique board to represent and display my research. I think I will have lots of fun studying and making this project that interests me.

The Telescope
by Michelle M.

For my Mayhem project I decided to research about the telescope. The telescope was discovered in 1608 by Hans Lippershey. He invented the telescope to see far away things or as he said "seeing faraway things as though as nearby." After Lippershey invented the telescope Galileo improved it. The telescope that he improved was called the "Galilean telescope." For my presentation display, I'm going to be building my own small telescope and I'm going to be making a display board. I chose to research the telescope because I was always interested about it and I thought this was a really good way to learn a lot about the telescope.


Submersibles during the Renaissance
by Zivin

I will delve into the different types of submersibles that were created during the Renaissance. On the visual, I will try to construct a periscope (used on submarines) and possibly a scale model of the first submarine (probably of the first submarine that was designed by William Bourne). It will also include a large timeline displaying different submarine modifications. This will include different pictures, as well as a title that stands out to the audience. The different pictures of the submarine will be displayed on a timeline in the order of making, with detailed captions explaining when it was created, by whom, and the comparison of it with modern day submarine. My goal is to get all supplies by the end of the week and begin construction during the weekends. Supplies include a poster board, wood (mainly balsa wood), and a variety of other items to make my presentation as appealing as possible.

Leonardo da Vinci in Science and Painting
by Ryan

For my Mayhem project I have chosen to do something out of my comfort zone. My project is on Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci because his work was not in theatre, fashion, or music. Rather he made contributions in science and painting. these fields are something new, and challenging to me. What makes my project so much fun is, I will be creating a crane. da Vinci did not invent the crane, but he created a more effective useful crane. His crane was able to pick up heavy loads and move them to a new location.Overall my mayhem project is about davinci, but not Da Vinci as a painter. Da Vinci as an inventor.


The Submarine
by Brandon G. 

     

I will be doing my project on the submarine. This invention had a major impact during the time of the renaissance! In that time period the submarine can only partially submerge but now it allows man to go leagues and leagues under the sea. I will also be focusing on Leonardo Da Vinci himself. He was an extraordinary man with brilliant ideas. I will show my visual as a poster board and show the inside of the submarine. For Leonardo Da Vinci I will just go into great depth explaining him. I think I will enjoy this plan and I hope you will too.


The Mechanical Clock
by Nathan



For my Mayhem project, I chose to study the mechanical clock. The mechanical clock had a huge impact on the renaissance period, because it was very hard to tell time with the old water clocks. Villard de Honnecourt described the first escapement we know. An escapement is the balance wheel on a watch or the pendulum on a grandfather's clock. I will have a tri-fold on the mechanical clock which will describe how it is made and some history on it.

The Galilean Telescope
by Chloe







For my Mayhem project, I am studying the Galileo Telescope. My research plan is to create my very own Galileo Telescope and design a poster. I have been researching Galileo as a person and the design of the telescope. Galileo did a lot more than invent the telescope but the telescope and astronomy were his biggest accomplishments. He discovered that the moon was not smooth, he discovered 4 of Jupiter’s moons and he proved that the sun was the center of our universe. The telescope had a focal length of 30-40 in. and the field view is 15inches in 100 yards. It had a 30x magnification. Galileo was very interesting and I am excited to research him.