improve QR code vs barcode activity, classify solar cell activity as enviro science

Author: chrisorban

projects/qrcode.qmd

@@ -8,27 +8,23 @@ categories:
 
 ![](../img/multigrain_cheerios_cropped.png){width=400 fig-align="center"}
 
-### Required materials
+Which contains more information: a QR code, or a barcode? Grab a ruler and find out!
 
--- A basic printer to print some black and white pdf files
+## Required Materials
 
--- A ruler (metric or standard)
+- A basic printer to print some black and white PDF files
+- A ruler (metric or standard)
+- A device to scan QR codes and barcodes, such as:
+  - A Chromebook using the default camera application ([instructions for scanning QR codes](https://support.google.com/chromebook/thread/207682161/how-do-i-scan-qr-codes-on-chromebook?hl=en))
+  - Any device with a web browser using [the QR code scanner](https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/scan)
+  - A smartphone using its default camera application
 
--- Some method to scan QR codes and barcodes:
+### Printable Materials
 
-###### On a chromebook the default camera application has [an option to scan QR codes](https://support.google.com/chromebook/thread/207682161/how-do-i-scan-qr-codes-on-chromebook?hl=en) OR from a browser using any device you can use [this site](https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/scan)  OR using a smartphone and you can use the default camera application
+- [Printable PDF of barcodes (cereal brands)](cereal_barcodes2.pdf)
+- [Printable PDF of QR codes (school-appropriate websites)](qrcodes_examples.pdf)
 
-## Central Question:
-
-### Which contains more information: a QR code, or a barcode?
-
-[Printable pdf of barcodes (cereal brands)](cereal_barcodes2.pdf)
-
-[Printable pdf of QR codes (school-appropriate websites)](qrcodes_examples.pdf)
-
-Note: On most smartphones, if you view a QR code with the camera it will tell you what the code represents (for example the URL of a website). For barcodes, the camera app on a smartphone will give you the number that the barcode represents but you already know the number because it is written in base 10 numbers below the vertical lines.
-
-### Important information:
+## Important information
 
 Another name for a bar code is a [UPC code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Product_Code) The UPC stands for stands for Universal Product Code
 
@@ -46,10 +42,15 @@ Consider the smallest QR code (which would have the largest black and white squa
 
 Optional: use a black marker to fill in some of the white squares of the QR code. Does it change the link?  Use the marker to fill in some of the white lines on the bar code. What happens?
 
-### Advanced questions:
+## Advanced questions
 
 Standard barcodes have a series of vertical lines that are either black or white. If you used those lines to create an unsigned binary number system (similar to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SMmc9gQmHQ">this video</a> from 3blue1brown but with more than five fingers or more than two hands) then how high could you count? How does this compare to the ten digit code below the lines and how high that number could ever go? Which is larger? Which is smaller? What does this tell you about the design of a barcode and how might you have designed it differently?
 
 Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6aR1k-ympo">this youtube video</a> about How Barcodes work. <b>Describe qualitatively in your own words why the extra numbers at the beginning and the end of the barcode are important.</b> Do these numbers help to specify the product or are they there for some other purpose?
 
 Why can you cover part of the QR code and still get the link from scanning the QR code with the camera app? Shouldn't the link be corrupted by blocking part of the message?
+
+
+### Related Activities
+
+The [Bracket Builder](bracket.html) generates a QR code to store your choices for the NCAA college basketball tournament