MSExploreQ2-Johanne

=Design Folder - Johanne=

Unit Question (UQ)
Why and how do societies convey the importance of global issues to its members? Here at AISD how can we promote the importance global issues so that we can better live the school's vision of “being stewards of a just and sustainable world?"

Unit Question Interpreted
Why and how do societies communicate the importance of worldwide problems to it's members? Here at AIS/D how can we communicate these big problems better so that we can promote the school's vision for a "just and sustainable world", and participate in making the world a better place. I think pollution is a very important global issue, so it is important to communicate this to everybody so they can participate in making the world a better place.

UQ Mindmap
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Observations about wood
In class today we all got a block of wood, we were asked to make observations these are some observations I could make:
 * Color - The wood was grey, but it was also red some places (I don't think the red part was natural). The ends were lighter than the other surfaces. There are some arcs on the ends. Non of the colors are solid. All the surfaces are different.
 * Roughness - The block was pretty rough, but the ends were smoother, and the more grey arcs are smoother than the yellow-brown arcs. Little splints are sticking out. All the surfaces are different.
 * Quality - The block has some holes and cracks in it. The block is hard, but somewhat elastic.
 * Smell - The ends smell like dirt, but the other surfaces have no smell.

You know wood is a living organism because:

 * It grows
 * It absorbs water

BRAINSTORM

 * a board where anyone can post important global issues
 * a bin where you leave stuff you don't want anymore (but is not bad enough to be thrown away), and then people can pick up whatever they want
 * donation box
 * traffic light
 * pencils
 * a CO^2 meter to have in your car
 * an animal cage

DESIGN BRIEF Nov. 30, 2011
My product is going to be a sign on a small cage (to illustrate my message) saying "Don't make me __want__ to end up in here. STOP destroying my home - monkey". It is going to sit on a desk and my audience is everyone.

GUIDING QUESTIONS Dec. 7, 2011

 * How big is my cage going to be? - Relatively small (maybe 30cm x 30cm x 30cm).
 * What materials do I need? - I need wood boards, and wood bars.
 * Do I have enough time? - Yes because I'm making the cage so small.
 * Does it meet the UQ? - Yes because I'm writing "Don't make me __want__ to end up in here. STOP destroying my home - monkey", on it.

DESIGNS Jan. 8, 2012
__DESIGN # 1__

FROM THE FRONT Base - wood Bars - wood Top - wood

FROM THE SIDE Base - wood Corners - wood Sliding door - wood

FROM THE TOP Base - wood Letters - paint

__DESIGN # 2__

FROM THE FRONT Base - wood Top - wood Bars - wood

FROM THE SIDE Base - wood Corners - wood Sliding door - wood

FROM THE TOP Base - wood Letters - paint and wood

__DESIGN # 3__

FROM THE FRONT Base - wood Top - wood Bars - wood

FROM THE SIDE Base - wood Corners - wood Sliding door - wood

FROM THE TOP Base - wood Letters - wood

I chose to do design #1 because it is the easiest design to make in the time available.

__Process Journal (Jan. 11, 2012)__
The first thing I did today was drawing a square on a piece of wood, and Mr. Hassan cut out two of them for me (base and top for my cage). Then I found 12 bars. I sanded the base and the top, and then I started painting the top blue. The only challenge I faced today was figuring out how many cm I should have between the bars, I solved this problem by making it my homework for next class so I won't waste my time in class to think about that.

__Process Journal (Jan. 15, 2012)__
The first thing I did today was to finish painting the top blue. After painting the top, I started painting the base (also blue).

__Process Journal (Jan. 17, 2012)__
Today I finished marking where on the base the bars are going to go.

Product Evaluation

 * The quality of my product is OK, not bad, but not good either.
 * I think the strength of my product is good because I chose to use screws in stead of glue.
 * The appearance of my product is also good, the product has nice colors. The shape of my product is pretty simple, but that makes the product easier to make in a nice way.
 * The function of my product is not what it was supposed to be. I did not have enough time to make a sliding door on the cage, so you cant open it. And I did not have enough time to write the message I was going to write on top of the cage, so my product doesn't even solve the unit question.
 * It is not easy to use my product as an actual cage. It would be easy to use my product as a sign if I wrote the message on top of it.
 * My product was easy to make, but it took more time than i expected.
 * The ergonomics of my cage could have been better, it is not easy to read the message on top of the cage (because it is not there), and it is not easy to put stuffed animals inside it (because you can't open it), but the cage is easily portable.
 * I think I had an appropriate use of materials, when my product was finished, there were no materials to go to waste, and the bars I used were recycled.
 * I don't know the cost of product because I don't know the cost of wood, but I guess it is not too much. And I don't know the cost of the paint, it is probably more expensive than the wood, but I didn't use too much of it.
 * The user benefit is not good because the product is not complete, so if the user wanted to use it as a sign which is what it was supposed to be, the he/she would be disappointed, if the user wanted to use it as a cage for stuffed animals it would work better, but the stuffed animals would have to be pretty small for the user to be able to get the animal in through the bars.
 * The environmental impact is good, the cage is made of a sustainable material: wood.

Process Evaluation
The process of making the cage was a little bit frustrating, because I felt like I didn't use my time well, but when I actually put the cage together and painted the different parts I didn't feel too bad. My strength was that I chose a product that was easy to make, so I didn't have a lot of trouble putting the cage together. My weaknesses was that I didn't know how to do the math my product required, and I didn't know, so I couldn't decide whether it was better to use a template or not, to mark the wood with little marks or a circle the same size as my bars, and to glue or screw the bars to the base and the top. If I would have to do anything differently, I think I would just make up my mind in stead of thinking back and forth. Something that surprised me was that it was easier to make than what I expected. My time management was confusing, I didn't spend my class time well, but after all I finished more than I expected (even though that required me to stay after school). Something I learned was that every single step of the design cycle is very important, if you don't do the investigation, you don't have a good plan, and you have no idea what your product is going to end up like. The creation part is obviously very important, if you don't do it, you don't have a product when you finished. And the evaluation is also very important, because if you don't do it, you don't have the chance to think about what you did wrong and right, and your experience is just the same as what it was before you started. For me the investigation part was the hardest, I really wanted to make something creative, something that no one else would think about, and so I though about a cage, but that doesn't really solve the unit question because the unit question is about communicating. Luckily I came up with a solution; to write a message on top of it, and it would solve the unit question. I think the reason that the investigation phase was the hardest was that it was the longest, because when I think back, there weren't too many problems. The creation phase went past too fast, but I think that also went OK. The evaluation phase seemed pretty straight forward, it was just to answer questions from the "Design Folder Explained".

Evaluation Questions

 * 1) Does the product solve the unit question?
 * 2) What could I do to improve my product?
 * 3) What was challenging?
 * 4) What is the greatest strength of the product?
 * 5) Is the product visually appealing?
 * 6) Did I use the materials I had available good? How?
 * 7) Did I feel safe in the D.T. lab?


 * 1) Yes, the unit question is how we better can communicate important global issues. And my product is a cage with a message on it saying that we have to stop destroying the animals' home.
 * 2) To improve my product I could made a sliding door on the cage, this would improve my product because then I could put a stuffed animal inside to illustrate my message better.
 * 3) The most challenging part was to find out how much space I had to have between the bars. This was challenging because I'm not too good in math.
 * 4) The greatest strength of my product is that it solves the unit question.
 * 5) Yes, I think the product is visually appealing.
 * 6) I think I used the materials good because in stead of having 12 bars on each side, as I first planned, I used 4. This is good use of materials because I didn't need more than 4 on each side, so I saved material in stead of wasting it.
 * 7) Yes, I felt safe in the D.T. lab.