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.

Report (Draft)

As a group we decided to stretch outside of the upper campus and see the problems the elementary and middle school campuses had. We contacted Debbie Uwaine which is the K-3 Science teacher, and she came to us proposing a problem that we could help her fix. She was given a little piece of land located by the K-3 playground area where she planted different plants that herself and her students tend too time to time. She thought that it would help her and ourselves if we were to make a sprinkler system that would make watering the plants a lot easier.

            Our group originally went to Lowes in search of PVC pipes and the different attachments needed. As we were searching we found a sprinkler kit that we thought would work a lot more better then PVC pipes. We came to find out that the sprinkler kit had no instructions and we had no success in setting it up. So we came back to our original plan to use PVC pipes by drilling multiple holes in them, connecting them to the hose and placing it in back of the box.

            We constructed to PVC pipes that is about 5 ft. each and we used attachments so that the hose could connect to them. We also used other attachments to put at the end of the PVC pipes to ensure that the water wouldn’t leak from the end. Little holes were also drilled into the PVC pipes so that water could travel from the pipes and water the plants. We didn’t face any problems in constructing this sprinkler system and we discovered that it is really easy to construct.

            Our project is used to help water the plants at a small garden at the Elelmentary campus and also stlightly lessen the work of watering the plants manually. It helps Debbie Uwaine and her students by decreasing the number of times they need to come and work on the sprinkler system on their own time.

            Our group has learned many lessons from this project. If you want to make a change, you need to do something about it and voice your thoughts or opinions. By doing this you open the doors for more people wanting to make a change for whatever reason or situation. We also learned that time management is very important. Without setting dates and timelines for yourself, you are really going to have a hard time finishing whatever you need to finish on time. The last thing we learned was that when you work in a group you cannot be the nice guy all the time. If you don’t take a leadership role and face the people who are not doing work, your grades will reflect your actions. If our group were to do anything differently it would be managing our time a lot better even though everything was turned in on time, it would have been better if we didn’t need to rush. For a group project to be successful, the main thing you need to have with all your group members is communication. Without communication you will fail.

            In conclusion, this project has not opened up the eyes to our group, but also the many people who are currently doing the project and the people effected by these projects. It shows that we as students are not powerless, we can make a difference if we set our minds to it and if we believe in it. Step by step we are making Kamehameha Schools a better place.

            

Sunday, May 15, 2011

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As the weekend slowly comes to an end, our group is still not finish with the rough draft. Holding more graphics than actual information, our presentation is far from being done. Nicole has the task of being "HEAD-PRESENTATION LADY", so she has supposedly fancied up our presentation for tomorrow. By sending her our information, she has gathered more information that we had on Friday. Still, we are far from completing the rough draft. Hopefully tomorrow we can come together to finish this baby up! Information and detail is what we should focus on inputting into the powerpoint tomorrow. Till then, I guess what Nicole has prepared will have to make due till then.

Friday, May 14, 2011

The presentation is well on its way. Varde's pictures and videos has made its way to nicole. Now we have a nice cover page and some pictures. All we have to work on is getting our information. As the time goes by, our next task is to think back and try to take notes on all the processes we went through. From the first proposal to the final implementation , we need to document. May God be with us as we ponder for the time being. Hopefully we don't come up with too much information. May the force also be with you on your future tasks.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

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The system works, but needs to be manually turned on and off. Although this may be an inconvenience, it's better than before. Before someone needed to water the garden with the hose. This would have taken up to 15 minutes. Now it will only take 5 minutes. Teachers can turn it on. Go back to their work. And come back when ever and turn it off. And like that, the watering will be done. If we had more time, we could have probably used the one hundred dollars to buy a timer. We could have also purchased a three way splitter so another water hose could be attached. But for now, the system works perfectly and better than before.

To the next step and beyond....

Since finishing our final implementation of the watering system, we have done nothing. For the next four days we will begin to start work on our presentation and final paper. I believe we will have to go back to the first thing we did and start to re-document everything in our final paper and presentation. Splitting up task will be a challenge, since our group has a very diverse way of completing our work on time. Hopefully, the four of us will find time to plan and organize the presentation. Or else, we may just fail. But, "nah" I have faith in our group. May we overcome all the obstacles we may face and triumph in the long run, or more like in the next two weeks.

WE DID IT!! 2

Today we went down to elementary during fifth period to install the sprinkler system. We had made two long sprinkler tubes, they were a perfect fit to cover the length of the garden. We bought a splitter so we could hook up two hoses. One hose was already there, the other we had to get ourselves. We placed the tubing against the edge of the garden and angled them so they would shoot up and out towards the middle of the garden. After a few minor adjustments and Varde getting all wet (: we got both sprinklers working perfectly. We were just happy Kaimana was able to join us this time... Progress!

WE DID IT!!!

Today we went down to elementary during fifth period to install the sprinkler system. We had made two long sprinkler tubes, they were a perfect fit to cover the length of the garden. We bought a splitter so we could hook up two hoses. One hose was already there, the other we had to get ourselves. We placed the tubing against the edge of the garden and angled them so they would shoot up and out towards the middle of the garden. After a few minor adjustments and Varde getting all wet (: we got both sprinklers working perfectly. We were just happy Bronson was able to join us this time... Progress!

IMPLEMENT BY TUESDAY

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So all we have right now is our pvc pipes. We need to start working on the actual thing pretty soon! All we need to do is attach a cap and make holes in the pipe an we will be done. We began by choosing to make a sprinkler system but ended up making more of a drip system. It should water everything but in a longer period of time. In the end this should be fine because it accounts for what they asked for, something that waters everything. Hopefully we will get together tomorrow and work on this. Till then, our pvc pipe will be a lonely solider.

Close to the End

School year is almost coming to an end and you our project is also coming to an end!! Our group has started our final piece of work. We have not asked to be equipped with any materials needed. All materials that we got were found at home or bought with the money in our pockets. We werent able to ask for funding because of poor time management on our groups end and our groups members had the materials necessary so there was no need for the funding. But our group is on our way! We are working hard and getting things down. WE GOT THIS!!

BIGGER

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As you can see, our prototype is quite small. The reason for this being the sudden rush to build something that works. Our first attempt was with a sprinkler kit that we purchased from Lowes. After an hour of trying to set that up, we found out that the kit worked but was a fail. That was on Tuesday. On Tuesday night, we built the prototype in the picture below. This one works but is as big as two laptops. Our goal is to create a system that will water the entire garden. Therefore we will need to build a bigger one. Work on this should start this weekend and be ready by monday. Hopefully we can make this happen.

Prototype

We have changed our prototype into a newer model. Our first model was a starter sprinkler kit from Lowes. It worked, but not the way that we wanted it to.  We used PVC pipes, glue, water, etc. to make another sprinkler system. In the amount of time we had, we made a small one to make sure we had a prototype by today. Today, we set up the newer prototype and put it into affect. It worked effectively and we are excited to make a bigger system now to cover the whole garden. Hopefully we can make the final sprinkler system by the end of this week, and hopefully it will work. Thanks for following us. Enjoy!

We have LIFT OFF!

So we had a fun and exciting day setting up the sprinkler system in the elementary. During 5th period we trekked down to the elementary and started our project. We ran into multiple problems while trying to set up the system such as, the hose wouldn't fit into the tubing, we didn't have anything to cut the tube, and much more. But in the end we prospered because we finished and set up the sprinkler. We decided to only do one side so far because we wanted to make sure it worked. So we can say that we have a working prototype. We are also going to go back down to the elementary again tomorrow after school to continue working on our project. Yes, call us dedicated. Okay thanks for following.

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Ready, Set, Go!

Today our group went on a trip to Lowes after school. Our initial thoughts were to use PVC pipes somehow and also the use of sprinklers, but as Kaily and I were walking around the store looking for glue pvc pipes and different attachments, a sprinkler starter kit caught our eye. Since we weren't able to ask Mr. Blake for the initial materials needed we didn't have anything to show for our prototype. So we bought the smaller sprinkler kit to show for our prototype and then for the final we will set up the bigger and better sprinkler kit that will be more effective. Tomorrow during 5th period we will set up our sprinkler kit down at elementary. Finally this coming along!!






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Final Proposal

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Proposal: Watering system
Our project…
As of Friday April 29, 2011, our group has decided to help two elementary teachers by creating a watering system in Ms. Beverly’s small garden. This will make Kamehameha a better place by assisting the elementary teachers and students in the watering of their garden, which is used to teach biology to students. It addresses the inability of teachers to water their garden consistently. Teachers will benefit by having an easier time watering the garden and students will be able to see a garden in full bloom because of constant watering. It will be beneficial because it will help the teachers have a livelier garden to teach biology with. Our proposed solution is to create a watering system with PBC pipes or a hose and connect that with a water fountain that will enable the water from the fountain to split in two. This will allow one water hose for another garden and a watering system for Ms. Beverly’s garden.
Our Solution…
Since we do not have ample time, we have not had time to think of any other possible solutions. Our solution is no unique at all. Instead, it is one that many people make use of everyday. Therefore, it should be quite easy. Our solution is beneficial because it will ease the stress of teachers so they don’t have to remember to water the garden. We are choosing this solution because this is what she asked for. This watering system should last long because there is no maintenance needed. This solution is very practical because it can be built in a day or two. The materials we will need is a saw, glue, pvc pipes, and a water pipe spiltter. This would cost about $70.00 or less. The construction will call for special knowledge about how much water pressure is needed for the water system to work correctly.
Relation to Physics..
The elementary teachers that we met with already have an existing garden by their classroom, so they asked us to install a watering system for the garden. The physics relation to our project will come from the flow of water. We will need to create a system of pipes that flow by water pressure from the water fountain, out into the garden. We will use physics to calculate the water pressure and the direction of flowing water through the pipes. We will also need to use physics to determine either a timer, or self-watering system

Better late than never.

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Date: 4/29/11
Today we visited our kumu at elementary campus. Meeting up with Ms. Uwaine and Ms. Beverly, we found out that they need a watering system rather than a new garden. Therefore, since the flow of water has many things to do with physics, we are going to make a watering system. The garden has a length less than four yards so it will be rather easy to build create a watering system. From this point on, we will need to create a new proposal and detailed design by Monday and we need to do our prototype soon. In the end, all I have to say is we are "better late than never."