This project was fun especially with my group members, Jeremy Ong and Colin Vail. We all split up the work flexibly, if they couldn't do one thing, they did something else to make up for it. I did almost of the preparations and questions, I led two of the interviews; Jeremy scheduled the adult interview and led it; Colin asked a lot of follow questions and recorded the first interview. We were all in charge of one of the art pieces, helping each other with theirs, I got the adult puzzle pieces, Colin got the 3rd grade art piece, and Jeremy got the Brookdale member's lantern. They were really easy to talk and plan with, our plans were well thought out and we all supported each other. We never slacked or fought, we worked well with each other. Though, I would say I need to grow in patience/letting the group members participate more. I was ok with the work but there were times I had to do most of the work, I needed to make them do their part, for sure, but next time I will.
In Humanities, we read Romeo & Juliet, designed the art pieces, learned about human behavior/anthropology, and conducted interviews. Romeo & Juliet was a tragic story which we read out loud at school, made essays for, and had many discussions about love and otherwise on it. For the art pieces, we had to put in items that held meaning as well as figure out what would look best on the designs. Love back then as well as traditions and such are different from now, like the arranged marriage in Romeo & Juliet, and we also learned about beauty standards. That view of love and beauty were very strange compared to the information/opinions we got when we conducted our interviews. For our interviews, we planned a lot for it, the questions, the timing, the equipment, etc. We interviewed a Brookdale/senior citizen, an adult couple, as well as a 3rd grader. We got to learn a lot about our interviewee's views on love(how God was true love, how the couple loved each other, etc).
In Physics, we learned about electricity and building circuits, which we used for the light source in the lanterns we made for the Brookdale member. Using a battery, a light bulb, a simple switch and some wires, we used the pieces together to make a bright light for the lantern. We had to learn a lot about the different equations/laws(Ohm's, Watts', etc.) to solve for the power, voltage, work, heat, etc, using the given information of either power, voltage, current, resistance, work, and more. For the project, we conducted a lot of experiments and used many different instruments to test the lights/check the current or volts.
In Engineering, we used a lot of the tools in the Makerspace room to create the adult puzzle pieces as well as the lanterns. My group used Adobe Illustrator, the Laser cutter, wood glue, and clamps for the lanterns and the band saw, scroll saw, and acrylic paint for the adult puzzle pieces. They taught us a lot about the tools and how to prepare beforehand and how to use them properly. We also used some of the tools to assemble the circuit, like the breadboard and the soldering iron, to experiment and solder the pieces together.
All the work, blood, sweat, and tears were worth it in the end. The exhibition was held at Charity Wings Art & Crafts Center, and we also held some parts of it at Brookdale, for the members we interviewed there. We displayed every product in a gallery on shelves and hanging pieces on the side of the store. For the final products, we had a lantern brightened with a LED light, two painted wood pieces of a puzzle, a framed art piece, and a 1-2 minute performance from each group. The lanterns were inspired from the Brookdale members, which we gave a copy to them as well as did our performances in their common room. The senior we interviewed was Babette Gilbert, to which we put Colin's math construction, family, hearts, a bunny, musical notes, and a quote from her on the lantern, but we weren't able to give it to her. The puzzle pieces were made after Nate and Mori Johnson, the adult couple we interviewed, and it's in the shape of a cross with many meaningful things they said during the interview decorating the pieces. The art pieces were made by 3rd graders, ours created by Audrey, and for our's we have the things she loved drawn inside a star/written on the outside with more drawings. The performances were something every group did, whether it was playing instruments, singing, dancing, reciting poems, or a mix, everyone had an amazing talents to share. I got to dance to BTS' original choreography of Butterfly(Their original video on the bottom).
I'd have to say I worked really hard for this project, working day and night, prepping, practicing, etc. I participated in every process of the project, from the interviews and the products to the performance, I never slacked or fought with mt group members. In terms of work ethic, collaboration, oral communication, written communication, and content knowledge, I would say I did well for all of the compartments, the work I did showed through and I feel proud of all of it. Though I felt that my work ethic, content knowledge, written communication, and collaboration were stronger than oral communication. I did practice day and night for the performance, I planned everything(with the exception of the interviewees), I drafted most of the products, and I pulled through a lot of the drawbacks when some of my group members were missing. I did get to speak a lot during the project, participating actively during all of the interviews, but I felt like there probably should've been more opportunities for me to speak; for example, in exhibition, I didn't speak a lot about the products because there were already so many people talking about it. This project was fun, I liked reading Romeo and Juliet, it reminded me of the time when we did the play in 7th grade. I hope the next project will be just a fun as this one.