Solve a World Problem
Project Description
The project assigned was to choose a world problem from a list that we brainstormed as a class, and create a possible solution using the engineering design cycle. The class was divded into groups of three or four; I worked alongside Lindsey Oppegard and Akio Suzuki. Our problem to solve was racism and discrimination on social media.
Evidence of Work
This is the presentation explaining our world problem and solution. It explains how we went through the engineering design cycle to create a solid solution. To begin, our team of three identified our need; first by choosing the topic, and then narrowing in on something we ourselves could solve. The topic we were stemming from was racism and discrimination. We then chose our focus of racism on social media. Next, we researched the main problem and found evidence to support our need, which goes into more depth in the slideshow. We read and annotated a total of 15 articles that we thought would fit, and found graphs to make a visual representation of the issue. We also included some history of organizations that bring attention to racism and who fight against the oppression to emphasize that this is a problem. The next step for us was to brainstorm solutions. We thought up many ideas like starting a club or using the morning announcements to teach everyone at school about it. Our final decision was to create a lesson plan for elementary school teachers that taught the children about racial identity and how discrimination can tear others down. This presentation is meant for 5th grade classes, but it could be used for whoever. The solution includes an interactive activity for the students which we created as a "prototype". Then we shared out these problems and solutions to the class.
Solution:
Content
Engineering Design Cycle
Identify Needs: As a class we brainstormed large world problems. Our group chose to focus on racism and then specified in social media discrimination.
Research Problem: Our team found and annotated 3 credible articles each and found tables to represent data relevant to our problem.
Brainstorm Possible Solutions: The three of us compiled a list of good and bad ideas and came up with 3 to choose between.
Selecting Solution: Our final solution was to make a lesson plan for 5th grade teachers.
Create Prototype: We created a slideshow to present and a document with instructions for the teacher. The slideshow also includes a game we created to engage the students.
Test and Evaluate: This step was difficult since everything's remote and we only had our small breakout room to try it out on, but we played the activity amongst ourselves.
Redesign: After playing a few times, we tried to make the characteristics more relevant to our problem.
Present: We showed and explained our project to the class.
Reflection
I feel very good about this project since the solution could be used to help fight discrimination over many years. As a team, we worked well together and were able to effectively communicate what we were feeling for each step of the project. At first we were at a loss for how a few high school students could make any kind of dent in this issue, but we continued on talking and building on our ideas until we were happy with the outcome.
During this project, I feel I excelled in collaboration and cultural competence. Even when we were having trouble finding a specific part of the large problem that we could solve, my teammates and I stayed working so that we never got too far behind on the source annotations or slideshow. When certain assignments within this project were due, I would remind our team to stay on track and continue on. Next, I do think that I've learned a lot more about the specifics of how discrimination occurs online and in general. One of the charts we selected shows the race of inmates in federal and state prisons. It showed that black people were the majority in the prisons compared to white and Hispanics, despite black people having the lowest percent in the US population, just 13% (as opposed to 61% white or 18% Hispanic). This statistic opened my eyes more to the discrimination in the justice system. In addition, our whole solution is based around an activity that allows kids to develop positive attitudes towards their cultural differences.
The things I could have given more energy towards for this assignment were time management and goal setting. Although we created a gant chart in class to plan out each day, our group did not spend much time filling it out. A few times we were unfocused or unsure of what to do because of this. In the future, I think I should spend longer laying out goals for each day at the beginning of class.