Rocket Project Reflection

        1. My biggest take away from My second project (Sugar Rocket Project w/ Esteban) was that things don't always work out the first try. I learned that through countless mistakes, endless troubleshooting and failed fixes you can learn a lot. Through my failures, a few small lessons I learned include: 

                i) Windows movie maker requires just over 3gb or computer memory in order to export files without corrupting all the files

                ii) When building a sugar rocket, make sure to use as strongly concentrated potassium nitrate and as little rocket body material as possible

                iii) A proper fuse gives off sparks and lighting off a rocket with only flames is either impossible, or extremely difficult.

                iv) Cologne is very flammable 

                v) A string must be weighted or very stiff in order to dip it down into the gas tan of a car

                vi) Resourcefulness combined with creativity is a dangerous duo when problem solving. Quitting will never help you fix a problem.

                vii) When doing a school project that could be seen as dangerous, either do it without asking any one, or ask well in advance (at least two months in advance, even more is even better)

        Intentions: 

                i) I intended on making a short film that would display some of the learning and the actual rocket process but unfortunately my computer did not allow that.

                ii) I intended to work with Situshan and Ali but school safety problems did not allow it due to time restraints.

                iii) We intended to make two rockets and have a competition between the two to see which one flew/looked/weighed/was better. Unfortunately, we only had time to make one rocket and whittled the group down from five members to two.

                vi) We (as a class) were supposed to use “Trello” during our project however after looking at it and getting comfortable using it for about a block. I realized that I could easily replicate all the features of Trello (that we needed for our project) using programs associated with google (because everyone has a google account) paired with texting. For all planning we used google drive and shared the documents between the two of us, after all the planning, we walked out with a shopping list. We put the shopping list on a program called “Google Keep”. In terms of learning a new program we sort of replaced Trello with Keep. Keep is very easy to use, it is simple, has only a few key features (lists, notes, check boxes, labels and colours for sorting) but the biggest draw, for me, was that it is a google program because, again, everyone has a google account.

        2. If I were to re-do my project process, I would have not built a rocket body, I would have solely launched the engine. I also would have found a different way to do our community connection as the video failed. I also would have gotten permission way earlier than we did thus giving us enough time to get all the supplies. The only other thing I would have done different is that I would have made sure positively that the Potassium Nitrate we had was 99% pure at least.

        3. I have learned a great deal from this project. I probably learned more than because of all the mistakes and errors we made throughout the process. 

                i) About myself: I learned that I am able to be creative and resourceful when pressured. I learned that Contrary to the video we watched at the beginning of the year I was most creative and resourceful when I was forced to accomplish a task in a certain allotted time. When I felt pressured, I found that since I wanted to finish, and had really strong motivation to complete the rocket, I was more creative than I would have been bar the deadline.

                ii) Twenty First Century Skills: Resourcefulness: This is a word I have used profusely throughout my reflection. It means (in my own definition) doing whatever you can to accomplish your tasks using all the tools available to you. I learned to make a makeshift fuse out of a sparkler, I learned that a wooden hand saw can cut PVC pipe when you need it to, I learned that a piece of yarn does not make a good fuse, I learned that a bent coat hanger does not make a good launch rail for a 2lbs rocket. Not all of these are things I can do, some are things that don't work. Things I learned through being resourceful and inventive, testing and trying (with Esteban of course).

        Over all, I think I learned the most I have ever learned in any project with school. I am proud of our work (regardless of a faulty launch) and look forward to possibly making a rocket launch for real in the future.

He who fails to plan, plans to fail.

Planning.

        Planning is paramount to potential of success. In order to plan, you must have the big picture in mind. This means setting goals. So planning is essentially the step between chaos and order, it is a simple process. The way I plan (this is what I have found to be the most efficient for me) is I establish my end goal, what I want to accomplish.

Example Situation

Goal Time Estimation

        So, for sake of explanation, let's say I want to go skiing at cypress mountain for the weekend. My first step is to establish what I want to accomplish. From there, I will work backwards. My next task is to asses my room and decide approximately how long it will take me to clean it fully. From here I decide that it will take me two hours to clean my room.

Assesment
        A very important part of planning is stepping back and assesing your plan throughout the process. I now have spoken with my mother and realized that when she said "clean room" she meant tidy the entire room and then vacuum and clean out my dresser putting all the clothes I don't wear in a bag so that they can be donated. I originally decided that my room would take two hours but now that I have realized just how much work I will be doing, I must re-evaluate my original observation.

Revised Goal Time Estimation
        Now, looking at all the work I will be doing, I decide that in order to complete all these tasks, I will need three and a half hours. Two hours for tidying, one hour for clearing out my dresser, and a half hour to vacuum.

Scheduling
        Now that I have established what I need to accomplish, and how long those tasks will take, I need to fit it into my schedule. Today is Thursday, my mother has told me that I must have my room cleaned by the weekend (Friday night as I will be leaving on my ski trip Saturday morning). I have a friend's birthday party today after school today, from 4:30pm until 10:00pm. School ends at 2:45 and it takes me fifteen minutes to get home. leaving me only an hour and a half to clean today (Thursday). Tomorrow (Friday) I have school from 8:10 until 2:45pm. I have guitar practice from 4:00pm until 6:00pm, then go straight to basketball practice from 6:00pm until 10:00 and when I get home I will be far too tired to clean my room.

Reflection/Solution
        This is where the importance of planning comes in. By Friday, I will have completed one and a half hours of my cleaning but still have two hours of work to do. I only have one hour free after school and so I plan to clean from 3:00pm until 4:00pm. I still need to find time to clean for another hour in order to complete my cleaning on time. I decide to wake up an hour early in the morning and do the cleaning then, from 6:00am until 7:00am. If I had not planned my task, I would have failed. I would have not woken up and just tried cleaning my room as much as I could, and therefore would not have woken up early on Friday morning and would not have had enough time to finish cleaning.

Rocket Project Proposal

Rocket Project

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Purpose/Rationale:  Our Purpose is to create a rocket. We want to learn several different skills throughout this project. Firstly, and most prominently we would like to learn about rocket propulsion and controlling explosions to create enough force to launch a rocket higher than Esteban and Omeyer’s group. Secondly we would like to learn some video documentation and editing as we will be documenting our entire process: creation, planning, mistakes, tests, and finally, launches. We want to learn about rocket propulsion and aerodynamics and different forces centred around rocketry purely out of interest but the skills we will develop in the video making will be very useful skills. The world is becoming less and less attentive and videos are becoming more and more popular due to the limited attention required when watching a video. For these reasons, learning about cinematography and video production is very relevant in the advancing world.

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Connections: Human Ingenuity: Because of the contest nature of our project, we will be pushing both ourselves, and the other group to be creative, think of new ideas to “push the envelope” so to speak.

• Human Ingenuity – creative or artistic exploration, designing something new or re-designing something to improve it

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Audience: Our peers, youtube, possibly an elementary school.

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Estimated Timeline:  Week 1-3: Planning and Research, Acquiring Materials

     Week 3: Building of the rocket

        Week 4: Presentation

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Resources:

• Web
• Books
• Chemistry Teachers
• King of Random (Youtube, possible facetime?)
• Testing

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Process Log and Reflections:  We will record  it using a camera, kind of like a vlog for our blogs. We will upload short videos about our progress every time we make progress. At the end of the project, as the reflection, we will put together a video outlining what we learned and how we built our rocket.

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Peer Review:  For our peer reviews, we will be meeting up with Esteban and Omeyer at about half way through the project process. We will be discussing our progress, how much more work we have to do, and we will be projecting our probable presentation dates, thus creating a deadline which will keep us on track and focussed on the task.

Project Process

http://popplet.com/app/#/2472986

Click the link above to be taken to a Popplet that webs out my mental process throughout the project.

Crash Course for Design Thinking Reflection

For our crash course to creative thinking, we redesigned classrooms. My partner was Sithushan and together we both found it very interesting and thought provoking. 
        The goal in our crash course was to model a new classroom and in the end, I think I came up with a pretty good concept. I had all the tables set in groups to encourage collaboration, I had outlets on the desks for the students to charge their devices, I had a red carpet between the desks and along the front that gave the classroom structure and created a clear path around the class so students won't block it with bags or other school supplies. I had a snack bar to keep students happy and energetic, I had a one on one conference room for the teacher to conference with the students about marks or assignments. The walls were painted in bright colours (but only one colour per wall) to keep the learning space positive but not distracting. There was a smart board for the teacher and a gumball machine to keep the students in good moods.
        I found the crash course to be time pressuring and slightly stressful, this helped me keep my mind from disregarding any ideas I had because I knew that I may not have time to think of better ones. I am happy with my completed classroom and would enjoy doing this excersise again.

My remote presentation is starting now. Follow along remotely from your phone or computer: http://prezi.com/jusjajlqfqd9/present/?auth_key=z9mixxq&follow=fv-8dn3bhulc&kw=present-jusjajlqfqd9&rc=ref-14035656

Music Piracy Project

Curtis’s Music Piracy Passion Project, PDD12, Block 2

How Can I Make People More Inclined to Purchase Music Rather Than Pirate It?

Purpose:

My purpose, or reason for doing this project is to, first of all, find out how music piracy is affecting the musical industry. Secondly I want to asses the major roots of why piracy is a preferred method of acquiring music. Thirdly, I want to develop some sort of potential system that will make most users more inclined to purchase music as opposed to pirate it. With this project, I am not sure what I will learn, as I have a lot more research to do. I expect to learn about different marketing effects, strategies, copyright laws, and what the government is doing to stop copyright infringements.

Rationale:

I hope to develop some sort of system that will enable the consumer to choose my system over piracy. I want my system to be intuitive, cheap, easily accessible, and time efficient. I may end up biting off more than I can chew, in order to avoid that, I do not plan on making any actual programs (for computer) because that would require learning a great amount of coding that I frankly won’t have time for. That being said, I think that I will still be able to draw up designs, and theories, and somehow make a prototype of my program or system.

Connections:

This project will fall under “Human Ingenuity” because I am taking the current methods of distributing music and reworking it so that it is centred around customer convenience, and getting money to the artists for their music (without changing the industry drastically). The reason why this doesn’t fall under community and service is because technically, the percentage of the community that I would be helping (artists) is drastically lower than the percentage of the community that I am going to be costing money (consumers who pirate music… so everyone)

Audience:

My intended audience is consumers who pirate music, as well as consumers who purchase it legally. I am targeting people who pirate music because I want to enable them with a better alternative, I want to make my alternative have so many extra features that make it better and I want the prices to be so low that people wont mind spending on the music. My target audience also includes people who purchase their music through systems like iTunes or the Zune store because I want my system to be better than both of those programs so that people would choose mine over their normal, comfortable, program.

Timeline:

Week one: Research (centred around music piracy laws, sales, stats on piracy, sales and comparing the two).

Week two: More research (if needed), begin brainstorming ideas of what kind of system I would like to create and how, have first peer review.

Week three: Begin creating a model of my system/program and have the second peer review.

Week four: Finish creating a model and have final peer review. Have a poll as well on who would pay for music and who would not (sample of 50 people minimum, more is better)

Resources:

I plan on using the internet for most of my research and information gathering. I plan on talking to my dad about marketing strategies and business models (as he owns a business) in order to make my system that is user friendly and sensible to the consumer so that it goes beyond fitting their needs. I want to give them options that they have not heard of or thought of. Some of my other resources may be people from iTunes or other music selling platforms so that I can ask them about stats and what is working and what doesn’t work. I may also try to get in touch with different artists that I can

Process log and reflections:

For my progress logs, I plan on doing weekly blog posts with multimedia and written components so that I can explain what I did that week and show what I accomplished through multimedia.

Peer Reviews:

I plan to have three peer reviews

1. The first I will have two weeks into the project, this one will be a one on one conference and it will be centred around my work (quantity) and my ideas (quality). I will be asking for advise on time managing and asking if they think that I have been using my time wisely. Next I will ask them about how my ideas seem to be coming along. This is the most important part of any of the peer reviews I think because it is very important to start off well. I will ask them if they can see where I am going with my ideas and if they think that it is the right direction to be going in the long run. Based on their observations, and their evidence for those observations, I will determine whether or not to listen to their opinions.
2. The second peer review will be a conference as well. It will take place once I feel that I am half way done my project (for organization sake, let’s say 3-4 weeks into the project). The main questions I will have for my peer are: “Am I still keeping up my work habits?” And “Am I following my ideas in an efficient, and effective path?” these questions are much like the first peer review questions because this conference is all about progress and making sure that I am doing what I need to do in order to complete my project properly.
3. The third and final peer review will take place the day before I present my project to the class. I will present my project to a peer and simply ask for presentation advice.