Do it Better

For the last project of my freshman year I was in a group with Nora Schiltgen, Maddie Walker, and Kiley White.

The Assignment & Content

This project was a little bit different than our usual projects, because for this one, we were allowed to choose the concept of our project, how we wanted to implement it, etc. In other words, we had total freedom with this project and as the name speaks for itself, we were getting the chance to make up one project and "do it better".

At the very beginning of this project, we were asked to look back at our previous projects (within the last semester) and choose the one where our grade/score was the lowest. For me, it was the gravity and orbits section. And we were told to make a group that had people of the same grade. So, my group focused on gravity and orbits and we threw in some sound waves too.

To incorporate both of those concepts, we decided we wanted to make a slideshow explaining how different planets "hear". Essentially, it explained how an atmosphere's composition and density affected how sound waves traveled and we decided that we wanted to have "things" to compare our research to and have a model to go with our slideshow. We chose 3 different planets to help us further explain what we wanted to achieve, Earth, for something to compare everything to (the baseline), Mercury, and Venus, two very opposite ends in terms of affecting how sound travels. As for our model, we grew orbeez of 3 different sizes to imitate the 3 different types of planets.

Process

At the beginning, everyone was on the same page. We all had a GANTT chart due the next day, all rushing for new, brilliant ideas. And then the next day came, everyone got their chart checked off for the very last time and next thing you know we're all on our own.

Our group at the beginning followed pretty closely to the GANTT chart, but then later on we slowly drifted from it. We first decided to do some background research to get a rough idea of what we were getting into then we started working on the slideshow, putting it together, and making the script(s). Making the orbeez models, putting the videos on there, and then our slideshow was done!

After we finished our slideshow, we started practicing how to present, after all, this was our final.

Incorporating the Engineering Design Cycle

Since the beginning of this project, my group and I wanted to have a model to demonstrate our project's idea. As you know, we decided to have some orbeez in a tub/bin and when it came into contact with energy (movement), it demonstrated how sound waves react to each other.

The first step to building our model was to grow our orbeez. One of our group mates brought the orbeez and we grew them in class. We experimented with our orbeez to see which technique would help the orbeez grow faster. We had three separate bins, one with a lot of salt, one with a moderate amount of salt, and one without salt. We experimented with salt because researched multiple sources that said salt helped them grow their orbeez faster.

After a day of letting the orbeez grow, we came back to check up on them. We noticed that the orbeez with a lot of salt barely grew, the ones in the moderate amount of salt looked like something stunted their growth (they grew to medium size), and the ones in the no-salt bin grew normally.

We concluded that orbeez grew faster in regular water and we continued our experiment, growing more orbeez with normal water.

The Engineering Design Process:

Ask - identify need + constraints

Research the problem
Imagine - develop possible solutions
Plan - select a solution
Create - build a prototype
Test + evaluate prototype
Improve - redesign as needed

Intergalactic Planetary: How Other Planets Hear

The Slideshow

This slideshow is the slideshow we presented in front of the class, hoping to get the point across how different atmospheres react to sound waves.

It transitions from an introduction to the 3 planets, then it dives deeper into atmospheres and air density, then how you would hear on those different planets, and then our orbeez video models.

Reflection

In general, I am very proud of this project. I think our idea(s) were brilliant and we did a very good job executing them. And as usual, my scores of myself out of the 6C's. I was very good at being a communicator and being culturally competent because throughout this project, my group and I expressed our thoughts and ideas clearly and I sought multiple perspectives and inputs about our project.

However, I could do with some more help on being a conscientious learner and a collaborator because I did practice self-regulation and reflection as well as I would've liked and I could've had a better overall attitude in the project.

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