The title of this course is called Designing and Engineering, which is a STEAM course that focuses on building things well. The course teaches us the history of design and how it changed so much over time, and benefited us in many ways. The purpose of this action project is to redesign a tool with a classmate that can benefit the elderly. Our users would be senior citizens; they are unique customers because they are older and need special equipment in order to work. Some have back injuries, some have knee problems etc. We learned about Empathy, which means to understand and connect to a customer's needs. It relates to this project because my partner and I had to think about what the elderly need in order to complete a task in a garden. What I enjoyed about this action project was redesigning the tool, and making a new one. What I found challenging was coming up with new ideas. What I am most proud of is the product my partner and I made.
Created by JV & DR Storyboard, 2015*
This is our story board about where, how, and why our customers will use our product. I learned that many things can go wrong when gardening, hands are better than tools, and take your time when you are working in a garden. Lightweight tools are easier to move around. Bad tools are heavy, electric, and wooden. For the external investigation I interviewed my mom who is a gardener and she told me, “I like using a tool that has a gel grip on it, because it makes the tool more comfortable to use.” Going off my mom’s quote I knew that I had to add gel in my project. For our field experience we went to Home Depot and decided to recreate a Tiller, which is a tool used to turn soil making it fresh and more alive. I learned that all versions of Tillers have feet/legs and are all used to work with dirt, and mix it up. Tillers all have handles and tines. They also all have safety pins to protect the sharp parts.
Created by JV & DR Model, 2015*
The new tool my partner and I designed is a shoe, the name is Tiller Kicks. It’s shaped to fit one foot of your choice, has toe slips so your feet fit in more comfortably and gel is inserted by the toe area. The kicks also have Croc material inside which is gel/foam-like to make the shoe even more comfortable. The outside material is made of Nappa material which is a full-grain un-split leather made from kid lamb, or sheep skin and is very protective; and will protect the customer's foot. The tines on the bottom spin on their own when you push down. Much like a pen that clicks, it uses force and a wedge because it digs into the ground and separates the material in order to work. The unique shoe isn’t too heavy so it will be the right amount to help an elderly get more leg strength. It also benefits people with arthritis because their toes would be separated and fit better without hurting.
Created by JV, Vectors/Forces, 2015*
The obstacles my partner and I went through was if our design should have batteries or be able to have the same design as a clicking pen, like when you click down it moves and when you don’t click down it’s back in its place. We also looked into if our tool should be for both feet or for just one. My partner and I just talked it over and we both agreed on a clicking shoe, and for it just to be used for one foot because it will be easier to keep balance and also more lightweight.
We think our new tool is better because it’s more useful and it benefits the elderly more, especially if they have knee problems or arthritis. The Tiller Kicks will help them improve their leg strength and also get good exercise out of it. Citations: Vargas, Lucy, personal interview with gardener.19, September 2015.
The title of this course is Rhetoric, which is my first Humanities course as a Junior. The course supposes that we use language to bring unity, division, and transcendence into our school, work, and civic life. To succeed we learned about Rhetoric devices that helped us analyze and critique language by watching videos, or reading short passages. The purpose of this action project was to demonstrate mastery of rhetorical techniques by writing my own speech. I had to imagine that I was in a political debate and had to come up with a topic that raised awareness. What I learned during this action project is all the devices and how to analyze a speech and text better. The challenges I faced during this action project is talking about my story about depression. What I am proud of is how my transcript turned out.
Created by JV 2015*
Did you know that suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 - 24 year olds? Approximately 5,000 young people die each year. Some causes of suicide are teens feeling like they can’t fit in and get block out from crowds. Feeling like they can’t be accepted for who they are, some youth LGBT have been going through this for many years. Some have taken their lives because family members and friends wouldn’t accept them for who they were. Jean-Philippe was 14 years old when he ended his life due to depression and suicide because he constantly got teased for being gay. His own family members found out by reading the letter he left them in which he wrote, “PS: By the way, I was gay and I would like to say to the ones who still love me I will never forget them.”
Depression doesn’t always win. My sister’s story is one that can be told proudly. I remember when we were younger she would never let me paint for nails or do her hair. She would cry, scream, and yell because I would force her to let me, but I had no luck. She started “changing” around 10 years old, wearing baggy clothes, cutting her hair shorter, not wanting to talk. Certain family members wouldn’t understand why she was dressing like this, or why she acted a certain way that was different from their expectations of her. I noticed something on her arm one day; I saw cuts and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she felt like we wouldn’t accept her because she's a lesbian. Lucky for her, she has a family that is the most loving, caring, and group of supporters for her.
A semicolon is used when a sentence could have been ended; but wasn’t. The Semicolon project is a faith-based, non-profit movement dedicated to offering hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide addiction and self-injury. The project promotes the semicolon tattoo in order to raise awareness of these important, life-or-death issues, but most importantly to let sufferers know they don’t have to live in shame because they aren’t actually alone. I am planning to get this tattoo when I turn 18 to represent my sister and myself, because I suffer from depression as well.
Depression is like a big tumbleweed filled with uncontrollable feelings and thoughts. You never know when it’s going to leave or cross your path again or what garbage it’ll pick up along the way. Some days you’re fine, and then the next it’s there hovering over you and can take days, weeks, and even months for it to leave. Even the simplest things can make it come back and you just wish you could feel numb. Robin Williams was one of my favorite actors and he lost his fight with depression as an extremely successful,well-known adult. Just because he had a big smile and knew how to make people laugh doesn’t mean he was okay. One thing I learned from depression is that it’s so easy to hide from people; you can look so happy but inside you are running, running, running away from that one thing that can bring you down. Another thing that I learned is that depression isn’t me, it’s just a thing that happens. You have to stay positive and accept yourself for who you are, not caring what other people think. Depression doesn’t always win. Be like the semicolon - before you judge pause and take a moment to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
In the third and last unit of the Cure course, we studied the revolution that happened in Western Medicine with the discovery of vaccines, turning medicine to the direction of prevention. In Math, we studied equations, and connecting them with real-life scenarios. The last action project was to take on the role of a very specific kind of doctor which would be yourself , your own "prevention doctor", empowering yourself to make healthy choices regarding nutrition and complementary approaches to leading a healthy life. We created a video to represent that. I talked about Diabetes because it does run in my family, I wanted to address how people can prevent it from happening to them. I really enjoyed this whole course. I loved learning about taking taking a different option on medicine and how there are so many different ways that you can cure yourself without going to the doctor in some cases. For our last field experience we had a guest speaker who taught us about plant medicine, she showed and taught us how to make Fire Cider, and Healing balm. Which are two alternative ways to treat yourself when you are sick or hurt. I learned so much throughout this course and also improved in math which I am proud of myself for that.
In the 3rd Unit of the Drama course, we studied the term Matriarch. We read A Raisin in the Sun to gain a better understanding of race and class in the 1940s. By reading the play, it made me understand the meaning of matriarch. One character from the play was Mama, the matriarch of the family. She supported her family and did everything she could to make them happy. The purpose of this Action Project was to write a traditional Greek chorus about A Raisin in the Sun. We came up with a guiding question for our Action Project, and interviewed people to see what their response was and used that as the voice of the chorus in response to a character in A Raisin in the Sun . My guiding question was "Is it okay to keep secrets?" I came up with is guiding question because I wanted to talk about Ruth from the play. In the play, Ruth kept a secret from her husband Walter which later caused problems between them. The purpose of my chorus is to teach others not to keep or hide secrets from someone that you care about because later on it's going to come back and hurt you more. Overall I really enjoyed this course. It was so amazing having a class that taught me about women and how we are seen in society and what are “roles” in regards to gender. Each play that we read taught me something new and I really like that.
In Treatment, our second unit, we investigated the revolution that happened in Western Medicine with the discovery of penicillin, which helped treat a lot of diseases during WW2. We also focused on how antibiotics and other common medicines work and how they chemically react with our bodies. For the math part we practice balancing chemical equations, and quadratic equations and that helped us understand the processes better. For the Action Project we were challenged to create a medicine box, we had to pick OTC medication and Rx to help treat a pain that we researched. I thought the project was really cool, we made our own medicine box putting all the information on it. We has had to make a video of us demonstrating quadratic equations, the number that we used came from our box we measured each side in inches.
Created by JV 2015*
. Citations: "Advil Side Effects." www.drugs.com. N.P. 20 April, 2015. Web. 5 May, 2015.
The second unit in Drama is called Doll, we learned many different definitions of a Doll and how a woman who is seen as a Doll can have different roles. We read Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House to gain an understanding of social and gender roles in Europe during the 19th Century. For the second Action Project we had to write a play, using Nora the main character in a Doll's House , and a chosen historical. I picked Elizabeth Blackwell, I also picked a character in The Little Foxes. During this unit I learned a lot about woman and how we are suppose to have certain rules because of our gender. This unit really taught me a lot and I enjoyed it so much.
The title of the course is Cure, the course is divided into 3 units, each one representing a revolution in the history of western medicine: emergency, treatment and prevention. The first Unit was called "Emergency" which we learned about surgery as a primal method of healing in western medicine. Surgery lead us to an understanding of the different anatomic systems, organs and tissues. The purpose of our first Action Project was is to map a chosen surgery, by presenting the type of cells affected by the procedure and explaining the process of healing that takes place. The surgery that I picked was Tonsillectomy, the reasoning I chose this surgery was because I had this producer done on me when I was younger. I had both my Tonsils and Adenoids taken out. I wanted to learn more about the surgery, and how it was done. My experience wasn't that bad, I healed in 3 weeks, the pain was mild I was on a liquid diet and the only bad thing was I couldn't eat like a normal 8 year old. I really enjoyed this project, I learned a lot and I like how my prezi came together.
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