Solve a World Problem

Task

For this project, our assignment was to solve a problem of our choice using our engineering skills. Each group chose their own individual problem to solve in their own way. We were to do this by following the Engineering Design Cycle.

Stress Due To Finals

Stress Due to Finals

R.E.L.A.X

For this project, I worked with two other group members, Hana and Selina. In order to successfully complete this project, we followed the Engineering Design Cycle. To do this, we created a Gantt Chart to set up our plan for the next couple weeks. We planned on what we would do and when we would do it to check back and make sure we were on task and organized. According to the Engineering Design Cycle, we first identified the need by coming up with our world problem. At first, our group chose to solve the negative impact that sunscreen has on coral reefs. As we went through the process of coming up with a possible solution, we realized that there's already a solution to that and we would just be advertising it. That seemed boring to us, so we took a couple steps back and chose another problem. It took some time, but we thought about what problems we, as teenagers, face today and came up with the stress that we face during finals week. We then researched important components related to this, such as what other things cause stress, what stress can lead to, and how to cope with stress. To get some background information, we created a survey and asked some students what are some things that may help them minimize their stress during dead week (week before finals week). When coming up with possible solutions, we kept in mind those things that the students said. Our most promising solution was an idea of having one period dedicated to minimizing students' stress by doing the students' answers to the survey. I created a schedule that would replace the Monday, Thursday, Friday schedule and would only apply to dead week. It allows for each period to be 45 minutes long, including the extra stress-minimizer period, which we decided to call R.E.L.A.X. (refer back to slideshow). Students would have a choice of what they would like to do during this period for 3 days.

Gantt Chart

Engineering Design Cycle

Identify the Need: To identify a problem, the class brainstormed ideas to come up with as many possible world problems.
Research the Problem: After we chose our world problem, we did our research by choosing 3 educational websites to analyze and annotate.
Develop Possible Solutions (Brainstorm): After going into depth for our knowledge on the problem, we set up a timer and started brainstorming ideas on how to solve that problem.
Select Most Promising Solution: With a long list to choose from, we tried indicating a solution that seemed most promising to us and the people involved in the problem.
Construct Prototype: For this specific problem, we couldn't create a physical prototype, so instead we decided to come up with a protocol, or system/steps in order to make our solution possible.
Test / Evaluate Prototype: We did this by creating a survey that would determine what students would like to do to de-stress themselves during dead week.
Communicate Design: We communicated this by creating a slideshow and presenting it to the class. Our presentation went smoothly.
Redesign & Repeat: When we found a problem in our protocol, we found way to improve it. We went to Ms. Warren to get her opinion on our idea and she helped by telling us what action steps she recommends us to take in order to make this happen.

Original Bell Schedule

This is the original schedule for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each period is usually 52 minutes.

Modified Bell Schedule

(R.E.L.A.X.)

When I made this schedule, I tried to make the dismissal bell fairly close to the original schedule to ensure the school day wouldn't be too long. In this schedule, each period is just 47 minutes shorter, leaving 45 minutes for the RELAX period in between 4th and 5th period. Students would be dismissed at 3:20pm, which is only one minute later compared to the original schedule. It would be replaced with the original schedules on the same days, Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

Reflection:

Throughout the process of this project, I think it went very well. Our group worked efficiently together.

Something I thought was our strongest area was Critical Thinking. When there was a problem, we would all help to come up with ways to fix it or improve our project. We definitely had some issues coming up with our main problem. In the beginning of this project, we made a mistake in choosing a problem that already had a solution. I was stressing because I thought all of our research and annotating sites was a waste of time. I didn't keep in mind that we had time to complete our project successfully; I was too busy worrying about getting everything done when I should've been focusing on finding a new way to fix the complication. After spending time on Critical Thinking, we came up with a problem and solution and stuck with it. It took a lot of thought and time, but we eventually came up with an idea and excelled off of it. We divided the work among the three of us so we could work more efficiently. Our project ended up as a success. Our presentation went very smoothly and I was happy with the work that each of us contributed to the project. I feel that our group was also strongest when it came to Character. Each group member came in and started the project with a positive attitude and good energy. This improved the quality of our work and made the process more fun. Even when we thought things were going downhill, we still kept an open mindset and resolved any difficulties.

An area that I could work on for the following projects is improving my Cultural Competence. I feel that I usually don't communicate as well as I could be. I like listening to other peoples' ideas but sometimes I don't say my own ideas because I think it may be a bad idea. I should keep in mind that there are no bad ideas and I can put myself out there more to contribute to the group project. For our upcoming projects, I will acknowledge my Character and recognize any situations where sharing my ideas would be beneficial to the group and the quality project.

Page updated

Report abuse