Reflection

Reflections for each Benchmark are at the end of each Benchmark section.

As my High School Mission Project, I have developed a learning tool for middle school students to visualize physics concepts through brainstorming, research, development, and presentation. The overall project was done from September, 2025 to March 2026, especially during the summer break and the early phase of the second semester.

My mission has been successfully developed, and I have earned significant gains throughout the project. The final outcome contains all the initial ideas I had, despite some modifications from the design. I am satisfied with what I have and how I achieved it, in terms of time management and the effort I put in. For instance, I planned at the beginning to distribute the work over the period to have a finalized product and process by the end of March, and this was successful. The success of my project is also well demonstrated in the last benchmark, which was a demonstration of my product in middle school. I presented the final prototype to 24 eighth-grade students in Ms. Walker's class. The survey results reflected that the product received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5, and engagement averaged 4.4 out of 5. Reading the feedback, students describing the tool as "professional," "well-made," and "surprisingly accurate", was one of the most gratifying moments throughout the project.

Thanks to the opportunity this project offered, I have learned invaluable lessons and skills that I would not have gained otherwise. One lesson was from the classroom presentation. Standing in front of 24 eighth-graders, I quickly realized that understanding physics and explaining it to a 13-year-old are two very different things. As I plan to work in a profession related to teaching, being able to adapt to the reader's level was an ability I value most. On the technical side, the growth I experienced felt significant because it started from nothing. At the beginning of this project, I had never used an Arduino or used a laser cutter by myself. By the end, I had built a functioning circuit with IR sensors and an LCD display, designed and cut a two-layer mainboard, and printed a custom weighted car. The ability to utilize a laser cutter and 3D printer was something that I did not expect, but thanks to Mr.Krisch and Mr.Pasco, who taught me how to do something instead of doing it for me, I was able to have unique experiences and learn new things. Lastly, the most practical skill I gained was the ability to constantly change plans to adapt to unexpected situations. For example, during the building process, the 3D printed car launcher was smaller than expected, so I discovered the double band idea to fix the situation.

If given another chance to do the project again, I would make some minor changes but keep the overall approach the same. One change I would make is to build more student participation into the demonstration from the start. While having two students come to the front worked well, more students could have had hands-on time with the device, or been given worksheets to record data themselves.

Adding on, my final product did not work on the day of the exhibition. The problem was identified as the amount of light in the Condor Plaza, which interrupted the IR sensors' ability to detect the car. It was a frustrating experience: I put in a lot of effort, but it wasn't working on the important day. I learned a valuable lesson from this: even when I face a big problem that seems impossible to solve, I should identify the problem and do my best in the given situation. 

The estimated cost of making my product is $25 ~ $40. 

Other scientific concepts that could be visualized similar to my learning tool include: