Solve A World Problem
Our Process
We only had two weeks to do this project. We spent the first day brainstorming possible ideas that we could focus our project on and then we got in to our groups. The next few days we researched information about homelessness and then shared it with our group mates. The next week we brainstormed 30 solutions in 7 minutes and then picked our best one which was the "resource van." The next two days we dedicated all of our time to our prototype development and we made our slide show. The day after we finished that which was Thursday, we redesigned part of our slideshow and practice our slideshow repeatedly. On Friday, our whole class presented our solution to our world problems.
Content
We researched our problem for a total of three days. We all picked 2-3 articles to annotate and then shared our annotation with each other. After we shared our annotations with one another, we understood the problem of homelessness a little bit better. We next came up with around 30 "solutions" to homelessness in 7 minutes. Some of the solutions that we came up with that we didn't use were educating schools about homelessness so then are more willing to help, building a homeless shelter, and something to do with taxes. The solution we ended up picking was a resource van that had many essential resources that homeless people might be in need of. Some things the van offered were food, counseling/therapy, job opportunities, hygiene products, and clothing. One way we planned on providing food for our van was to have food bins by each trash can at schools that students can put packaged food and fruit in to donate to the homeless. The van would be four days a week, open from 8 am to 8 pm, and would switch locations frequently. In our solution we actually have three vans: one for clothing and hygiene, one for job applications and therapy, and one for food. We presented our project on Friday in front of our class and it went very well.
Reflection
My team and I worked really well together on this project. My group did a great job splitting up the work and working as a team. One thing my group did very good on was collaborator. We did a great job staying positive and everyone got a say in everything we did. One example of us being good collaborators was at the very beginning of the project. We were trying to decide what our solution was going to be and every one was very kind to one another when expressing our ideas. We all had great ideas and also did a good job about adding on to each other's idea to finally get the idea of the van. There wasn't one of us who didn't contribute to our final idea. Another thing my group did a good job on was being culturally competent. While researching our problem and working on our solution, we looked at our problem from multiple view points and our solution involved taking action in our community. One example of us doing this was when we were making our slideshow. We were trying to make sure all homeless people would feel welcome in our van. We did some research to see how much of each "type" of people were homeless and made a great graph. We then made sure to put on our van some kind of sign that said, "We accept everyone," or something along those lines.
Although my group and I did a great job on this project, there were somethings I struggled with. One of those things was being conscientious learners. I was not amazing about managing my time effectively and creating goals. An example of this was when I waited for the last minute to finish my assigned slides. I really want to get better at not procrastinating. One thing I can do to do this is do little chunks of an assignment over the course of a few days instead of all at the last minute. Another thing I struggled with was being a good communicator. Sometimes I would space out and not really listen or not tell my ideas to my group clearly. One example of me doing this was during the making of the slide show when we were assigning what slides we were going to do. I wasn't really listening and so didn't really know what to do so I had a hard time starting the slide show. One thing I can do to prevent this is really focus on what is happening to not space out.