Eye Opener: Online Learning Activities

Ashley: Calculate your auto emissions

My 1996 Dodge Intrepid has a 3.5L, 6cyl. Automatic engine. I would say that I use the average miles that most Americans do which is 12,000. For this average I use 333.33 gallons of fuel in the city and 230.77 gallons of fuel on the highway, totaling 564.1 gallons yearly. My car uses up 10,887.13 lbs of CO2 and has a 4.94MT of CO2 MT Emissions. The total CO2 credit cost is $39.52. Check out my results.

My car is a bigger and older car so I guess my results make sense. Even though I used the average amount of miles for an American I do not think that I drive this much, which would reduce my overall emissions yearly. Still, to think that I use this much personally I can’t imagine how much we use globally!

Jamie: How fit are you?

I scored a 45 on the How Fit Are You? Test. According to the site I am “super fit and the envy of the rest of us mere mortals”. I kind of expected this because I am very involved in fitness and keeping my body in good shape. One thing I need to improve on however is my flexibility. I rated myself short of my age range because I could not make 19inches. This is pretty embarrassing, but for me stretching is so boring and it hurts! I guess I should put more effort into stretching out my muscles after I workout.

Elly: How big is your footprint

I was unable to complete this exercise because my car model wasn’t listed on the website’s drop-down list. I do however remember what my CO2 emission was from doing Ashley’s online activity. According to Ashley’s activity I used up 10,887.13lbs of CO2 a year. This was an astounding number to find out because I did not think it was even close to being that much. One thing I can do to change/improve this number is reduce the number of useless trips that I make during the week. Another easy thing to do is carpool with others to wherever I need to go. I personally have no thought about switching to a more fuel efficient car only because I cannot afford it right now. Due to my college budget, this just isn’t an option for me. Some changes that I would like to see are more people ridesharing with each other. I don’t think it’s necessary to people to make solo trips especially when others may be going the same place.

Kara: Energy Dustbin Game

The dustbin was a cool game to test our knowledge about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. I scored a 36 on this activity, which I think is good but I am not sure. This was a neat activity to test our knowledge about the differences of nonrenewable and renewable sources. I really liked the source about the Ten Facts of Renewable Energy. I think it’s really cool that enough sunlight hits the earth in just one hour is enough to meet the world’s energy demands for a whole year. It doesn’t make sense that if this is true then why are we not utilizing the sun more! It’s free! Why wouldn’t we?! From this activity is makes me wonder why we aren’t using renewable sources more, it just seems that this would be the most logical thing to do.

Dani: Waste to Energy Crossword

Doing this crossword was a really creative way to test our knowledge. I kind of wish it would have been interactive tho! I thought the sources were a great addition to this activity because it made me more knowledgeable about the different waste to energy technologies. To tell you the truth I was clueless about how many there actually are, and what each of them comprises of. Another thing I thought was neat was the amount of Waste-to-Energy facilities there are in Minnesota. I would have never guessed that we have ten, which is more than the average state in the US! This was a great activity and I am glad I now know more about Waste-to-Energy facilities.

Lauren: Workout Plan

So the purpose of this activity was to incorporate physical activity into our life. I found this to be a cool way to test our abilities of our physical state. I thought the Fitness Quiz wasn't very credible. It states that I was only 30% fit and I don't believe that to be quite accurate. The assigned Burn-Fat-Fast Workout was pretty challenging. I used to do a lot of circuit training so I was very familiar with these moves. I would have liked to see more of a variety but it was still a challenging activity. The leapfrog move was pretty tough to do for a minute straight but I don’t think it was hard enough to limit it to only twice a week. Overall, I didn’t really learn much from this online activity but it was fun to work out as an assignment :)

As far as the Physical Assessment goes, here are my answers.

1. Walking fast, Dancing, Housework, Lifting, Turning, Carrying less than 50lbs
2. 6 days
3. 40 minutes
4. Running, Walking upstairs, Basketball
5. 5 days
6. 40 minutes
7. About the same
8. No
9. 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 or more days
10. I have been regularly physically active for the past 6 months or more
11. Teach my fam and friends the importance of physical activity, Lower my stress, Feel better
12. Yes
13. My friends, just by supporting me or joining me in working out.
14. Very confident