PAU!!!!!

Finally we finished our project and I am glad that we have done this and came with a solution for a problem. I'm also glad that we reached outside of high school and went down to the elementary to fix a problem. Our presentation also went well, we said enough and explained our project enough for people to understand our project. I thought that our project went really well and I also felt like a role model when the elementary kids were watching us make our sprinkler system. One thing that did not go as plan was that our sprinkler kit system that we bought at Lowes didnt work. We were planning to use that sprinkler kit and create a drip system for the garden. I learned that when you want to make a change you need to make sure you have no distractions and that you actually really want to make a change. Also when working in a group you need to communicate with your group members and also make sure that you are not afraid to tell your group member that they are not doing there jobs. You also need to create closeness with your partners to make sure you guys are close enough and comfortable enough with each other. Another thing I learned is that when doing this type of project you need to have good time management or you wont finish your project. I also learned from this project that something small can actually really make a big change. Even though our project was a small change, I think that the elementary kids really looked up to us and hopefully from us they are willing to make a change as well. I think that one that I would change would be telling administration to not take forever to email you back and contact you back. I know how they are busy and everything but I still think they could atleast get back to us. Mrs. Martin didnt even get back to us after we emailed her. The main project was was this project even science related? I say yes, even though it was a strech.  I think about it this way, science is about problem solving. We solved a problem with the plus of helping someones need. This was a great project and should be repeated again next year. HOOULU IA KAMEHAMEHA!!!!

Our Journey Has Come To an End...

Over the course of the fourth quarter we have been working hard to find a way to better Kamehameha. We have ran all over the school to talk to teachers and find some problems we could solve. We are the solution! Everyday was a workday for us because we had a lot of trouble doing this project since we made so many changes in our plan. We went through three different problems that we had planned on solving. The first was a Water bottle filling station so that kids wouldnʻt have to wait in long lines at the water fountain while others are filling their water bottles. That idea went for about a week because we found it would cost to much money and it was too hard to pull off. After this we planned on making a native hawaiian garden in the elementary school. We talked to Mr. Cup - Choy and Kumu Hans about some plants we could use in the garden. They both said they would give us some seeds to plant. Upon furthurence of this plan we decided that instead of making a garden, since there was already one, we would make a sprinkler system. This seemed to work out better than planting seeds. We constructed our first prototype from a sprinkler system kit that we purchased from Home Depot. This didnt work so we decided to construct one of our own. We cut two long pieces of PVC pipes and drilled small holes in it equally distant apart. This we then attached to a hose and splitter. Overall this project was very fun and was a great experience to help others and better the Kamehameha Schools. I learned some great team work from this project. Like i said earlier, we had a lot of troubles with this project, mostly it was meeting deadlines. We also were not able to make the solutions we wanted to. Through trial and error we did end up finishing in the deadline and doing a hell of a good job! I think the only way we could make this project better is if we had a bigger budget and more time. This would enable students to make a better project and solve a bigger problem, ultimately doing more good for Kamehameha Schools. Honestly i feel that there was still science inside our projects, although it was minor. We still used physics and science to construct our prototypes and draw out our plans. All in all this was a great project and i am glad i did it.

Final Blog Post

Source: Ustream
My overall thoughts of the project are pretty positive. One I enjoyed not having to learn during the fourth quarter. Two, the project allowed us to try and use physics in the out side world. This allowed us to try to make use of what we learned from the textbook and incorporate it in our own ways. The things that when well in our project was our completion of the task. We planned to do a watering system and we did it. Although we were rushed because of the time situation, we tried our best to do what was needed to be done when it was needed to be done. The things that did not go as planned was the blogging situation. We all planned to keep a steady rotation, but that didn't work out. Because of things such as work and short term memory, we all forgot to blog one day or another. I learned that in order to be on top of things, you need to know what you are always going to do. Also, finding trust in your group is hard. You can't depend on one person to blog. Checking the blog every night would be a good idea. To make this a better activity, more of a connection to physics should be made with all projects. If learning nothing for a whole quarter is what students are doing, they should at least be taking something out of the textbook and using what they learned in the 1st-3rd quarter to do their project. I do not think I was doing science. We didn't measure any pressure with an instrument, we just tested the pipes out and checked if water flowed out from each hole. In the end, I enjoyed the project and helping out the two elementary school teachers.

We are COMPLETE!

Finally our project is over and I couldn't be happier. The whole experience was fun and interesting but I am excited for it to be doe with. Overall the project was hard and took a lot of time to complete. Group projects are always hard and this specific project had many problems, but nothing too big that we couldn't overcome. Though it took us a while to finally decided on a final topic we did choose a good project in the end. We finished our sprinkler system in the amount of time that we had, and everything worked out for the best. We didn't plan on having to change our project idea so much, but we had to. It was only a minor set back though, because in the end we came out on top. I learned that team projects are still as hard as I remember them to be. I also learned that making a sprinkler system isn't as hard as it sounds. I would like to see our sprinkler system expanded int he elementary school. I really wish we had the time and supplies to make another system to fill both of the garden boxes, but we couldn't. I believe that our project had to do with science because the pressure and the water flow was physics related. Also, because we are creating a sprinkler system which waters the plants in the garden, it helps to develop the plants in photosynthesis, which is the biological cycle of plant growth. In the end our sprinkler system in the elementary school worked out good, nor perfect. I wish that our project went perfect, without difficulties at all, but it didn't so we have to deal with what happened. Well thank you for reading and following our blog because it was a lot fun doing it, and updating our viewers. Thanks again and enjoy!

WEEKEND POST :)

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With the oral presentation over, you would think the stress of this project would be gone. But it's not. The final paper is still needs to be finished. That shouldn't be that hard, saying that we already did the rough draft. Our presentation was better than expected, saying that we did zero practice. We all knew what we were talking about, so I guess practice wasn’t that necessary. Next step is completing the final draft. I looked over our first draft and I didn’t see any comments from Mr. Blake, so I guess I need to add things according to my own knowledge. Hopefully I can pump out a 'not to shabby' final draft by 4th period and maybe get a passing grade for the quarter and semester.

Tonight is the Night!

So tonight is the night of our huge presentation. The show begins at 5:30 p.m. and goes until 9 p.m. tonight. Our group will be performing second around 5:45 p.m. To say we are anxious would be an understatement. We are very excited to have finally finished our project. All of our hard work has paid off. Tonight will be the final judge to see if we really did all of this work for something. Together we will work to present our project in the most formal and dignified way possible. We can only hope from smiles and applause from our audience. After eight weeks of discussion, multiple fights, hard labor, and long papers we have finished. After tonight the only other thing we need to finish is our final paper, which is worth four-hundred points. All we can do is hold our heads up high tonight, and try to impress all of our viewers. Wish us luck! Thanks for following us!

Almost there!

We are almost pau with our physics project and our entire Junior year. We finished our draft and turned it in today. Im glad that everything worked out in the end, even though we changed our minds so many times. Now that we have our draft we are going to work on our presentation and practice for when we have to go up and present in front of everyone. Its nice to walk around campus and see all the things our class has changed. Everything from 5 minute warning songs to chairs and umbrellas on Konia field, these things may be small and some not physics related but they do make a large impact on the students. These small acts combine to make Kamehameha a better place for us all.