Throughout this part of our Capstone Project in STEM, our team set out to investigate the uses of alternative concepts. It was a main theme of what we did throughout our project, and became an integral part of our final product at that.That being said, throughout this extended period of time, our team became all the more curious about product design, concept selections, and its implications on environments around the world. While we had learned about similar processes through the engineering design cycle, we wished to widen our horizons and possibly learn about how these strategies are applied in industry.
With all things in consideration, this step of our Capstone was perfectly paced, with. In this step, our groups were required to choose multiple alternative design concepts after conducting a large amount of brainstorming and research. Once researching it, our groups were tasked with identifying the best aspects of each design, and additionally, any specifically detrimental cons that we had to rectify. For this step, I was once again in a group with Chapin Williams, Kianna Brabo, and Heston Wilson. We chose to do our research on different algorithm designs and wearable concepts, and synthesized all of our information into carefully constructed diagrams and matrices. Our aim of these diagrams was to make them as informative as possible. Over this period of time, our group spent a good amount of class both discussing, researching and individual work to create the diagrams seen below. We had a great deal of fun on this step, and additionally, learned quite a bit about the engineering design cycle in the process. |
Conceptual Sketches of Wearable Ideas
Top Down Design for Algorithm Concept
Classification Schemes
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Branded Team Documents
Video Notes |
Sketches |
Reflection
For one of the most involved parts of my STEM project this year, I was rather pleased with my performance. Initially, I thought it would be rather difficult to get back into the rhythm of doing STEM type project based learning, but I was able to recuperate rather quickly and had a great time during this project. Specifically, I was rather pleased by the fact that while this was a somewhat research heavy project, it still allowed us to express our creativity and do something cool. Oftentimes, I find that STEM research projects can be a bit mundane and monotonous, yet this project was able to perfectly bond science with a self driven want to learn the content.
Throughout the course of this step, I believe that I was able to do several things well. That being said, the two things that I believe I did best was being a better group mate and improving my sketching skills. During STEM last year, I often found myself taking control of projects, often to the extent where I was the only one doing work. With that in mind, I came into this project intentionally trying to step back a bit. I opened up opportunities for the rest of my group mates to share their ideas. We all worked together rather well and appreciated each other more because the work was more evenly distributed.
On top of stepping back, my video sketching skills increased exponentially on the project. Because more assignments were online and the sketching tutorials were up to us to do, I took initiative to do my sketches in a timely manner. Oftentimes whenever I make sketches, I typically make them not the most technical. Because this is a STEM project, I was forced to make my sketches in more of a professional style. I believe that this took my sketching skills to a whole new level, as it allowed me to convey a much clearer message to the viewer.
While I did a lot of good things on my project, there are also some certain things I could definitely improve on. First and foremost, I can definitely get better in the department of time management. Throughout the project, I would find myself messing around with Chapin and Kiki over Zoom, and while this was very fun, it also slowed down our progress. Had I not contributed to this being off task, we could have finished all of our parts of our project faster next time around. By managing my time, I will be able to understand how I should be working, and in turn not waste my time doing other things.
On top of this, another thing I would like to improve on is being a more positive leader. At times when our group was behind, I would have a tendency to be rather pessimistic and fearful of the impending deadline. This in turn would bring down my teammates as well, making us all feel bad. To combat this next time, I will try to see the brighter side of the situation in order to help the group as a whole.
Throughout the course of this step, I believe that I was able to do several things well. That being said, the two things that I believe I did best was being a better group mate and improving my sketching skills. During STEM last year, I often found myself taking control of projects, often to the extent where I was the only one doing work. With that in mind, I came into this project intentionally trying to step back a bit. I opened up opportunities for the rest of my group mates to share their ideas. We all worked together rather well and appreciated each other more because the work was more evenly distributed.
On top of stepping back, my video sketching skills increased exponentially on the project. Because more assignments were online and the sketching tutorials were up to us to do, I took initiative to do my sketches in a timely manner. Oftentimes whenever I make sketches, I typically make them not the most technical. Because this is a STEM project, I was forced to make my sketches in more of a professional style. I believe that this took my sketching skills to a whole new level, as it allowed me to convey a much clearer message to the viewer.
While I did a lot of good things on my project, there are also some certain things I could definitely improve on. First and foremost, I can definitely get better in the department of time management. Throughout the project, I would find myself messing around with Chapin and Kiki over Zoom, and while this was very fun, it also slowed down our progress. Had I not contributed to this being off task, we could have finished all of our parts of our project faster next time around. By managing my time, I will be able to understand how I should be working, and in turn not waste my time doing other things.
On top of this, another thing I would like to improve on is being a more positive leader. At times when our group was behind, I would have a tendency to be rather pessimistic and fearful of the impending deadline. This in turn would bring down my teammates as well, making us all feel bad. To combat this next time, I will try to see the brighter side of the situation in order to help the group as a whole.