Valeriana

We first started the design process by defining our design specification, which is designing a toy that shows and teaches energy conversion. As we decided to make a toy, we defined our target audience, elementary schoolers, based on that as elementary schoolers seemed more fitting for a design concept of a toy introducing energy conversions. From that, we determined our user’s needs which were to introduce basic energy conversions clearly and engagingly to elementary schoolers, we thought that an easy, engaging, comprehensible toy would be beneficial for the education of energy conversion since children might not be interested in energy conversion and might not comprehend energy conversion, so these factors are very crucial. After determining the basics of the project, we researched precedents of games that we thought were easy to operate online and narrowed them down to analyze specific design ideas and their pros and cons in relation to the intended purpose and audience. When coming to a design concept we liked, we found more precedents of a specific design idea, the catapult, and repeated the process of analyzing precedents. As we proceeded with making our plan, we incorporated ideas into precedents we analyzed and we created our success criteria. As we were creating the success criteria, we put the important design specifications in mind, such as creating an eco-friendly, functional, durable toy. We also had the target audience and their needs in mind, we created other success criteria based on that, such as possible safety hazards, easy operation, and clear and comprehensible energy conversion shown. After creating the success criteria, we edited our plan accordingly and listed out needed materials, and created measurements. Moving on to the creating procedure, we first created the catapult to test its feasibility in creating a clear trajectory, then we chose to cut out cardboard pieces and assembled them using hot glue after. As we reached the end of our creation process, we found that the ball kept bouncing off of the Plinko board, so we added a plastic barrier over the board to prevent that. We shared our project with the class by offering others the chance to try our project, introducing the target audience and the intended purpose, and receiving feedback from them to further reflect on our project. From this project, I learned about design techniques, such as the success criteria, target audience, and intended purpose while also learning and practicing other techniques in the creating phase, the learning was further reflected and I gained a deeper understanding of it through the blog post reflections at every stage.

For our first success criteria, I believe we have reached few possible safety hazards with the exception of the possible safety hazard of the rough side of the plastic barrier which could possibly cut someone, otherwise, there are no other possible safety hazards present in this project if there is no extreme aggression while in use. Secondly, the materials are environmentally friendly, and many of the materials such as popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic bottle caps can still be reused if the project is taken apart, a weakness that failed to perfectly meet this criterion would be the usage of hot glue, this would make the cardboard unable for reuse, as reusing cardboard would be even better for this success criteria. Thirdly, it is easy to operate and easy to understand the operation as reflected from multiple pieces of feedback, although it is challenging for the ball to fall into the Plinko board and plastic barrier, the only weakness in this criterion, it is easy to operate the catapult. Next, the project clearly shows the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy which the potential energy can be identified through the compression of the catapult when getting ready to shoot (elastic energy) and also when the ball is landing on the Plinko board or obstacles of the Plinko board (gravitational energy), kinetic energy can be identified through the trajectory of the ping pong ball and the ping pong ball falling down from the Plinko board. The clear energy conversion shown is also identified in feedback from peers. Finally, our project meets the criteria of durability and functionality, it is durable as the ping pong ball couldn’t indent the cardboard pieces or make the extension on the Plinko board fall, currently, there has been no damage done to the project when in proper use. Our project also functions well, particularly the catapult part, the weakness of the function would be that it is hard for the ball to fall inside the Plinko board.

Our project meets the design specification of creating a toy that can teach or introduce energy conversions with regards to the environmental impact. It meets the first specification of a toy as it is derived from arcade games, a form of toy, and is engaging and fun, as multiple feedbacks have stated, which would be the primary purpose of a toy. Meeting this specification would bring engagement from our audience, therefore would cause the audience to be more engaged when introducing energy conversions. Our project meets the second specification through the operation process, such as the catapult usage and how the compression of the catapult leads to the creation of a trajectory, showing elastic to kinetic energy, and how the high altitude the ball lands causes the falling of the ball shows gravitational to kinetic energy. As stated before, a piece of feedback also states how our toy shows energy conversion clearly. This clear, visual representation in reality effects our audience as it is more direct and the directness of the showing of energy conversions could help them understand the conversion from potential energy to kinetic energy better. Lastly, our project has met specification three, the positive environmental impacts. We have used many recycled materials in our project, therefore it is positive to the environment. As stated above, many materials used would also not be trashed after in the case of breaking apart this project, which would also be environmentally friendly.

I am most proud of our product and how it would function how it was meant to and how we finished the product on time despite the time constraints. I also was proud of the design process and thinking that I have learnt throughout this project, such as applying the target audience, their needs, and the success criteria to create a better plan that fits the design specifications. Something that was challenging was trying to solve the major problem of the ping pong ball bouncing off of the Plinko board under time constraints since this problem was only noted in the last class in the design lab, when we finished assembling. This problem isn’t solved in the most perfect way possible, but it would be solved to the best of its extent under time constraints.

Some strengths were that it is challenging so it is engaging to people, for example, when people were giving feedback on our project, many people were engaged in trying to get the ball inside the plinko game since we added a plastic barrier to the plinko game as the ping pong ball kept bouncing out when going through the Plinko obstacles. Another factor that meets our success criteria was the ability to operate and function efficiently, when people were trying out our game, they could understand the operation of the catapult easily and the game was functioning well and in a way that we wanted it to which was to launch the ping pong ball in a high trajectory and landing on the Plinko board and falling down smoothly, with exceptions to the challenge of getting the ping pong ball inside the plastic barrier. It was also very durable, as the ping pong ball didn’t break or indent any pieces of cardboard on the Plinko board, the catapult also remained intact after people tried playing our game. It also met the criteria of the fewest possible safety hazards as the ball wasn’t small enough for children to eat, and the ball would not have enough force to injure children when shot off the catapult. It was also environmentally friendly as we made this project from recycled cardboard boxes, bottle caps, and popsicle sticks. Many of the materials used were also reusable, such as rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and the ping pong ball. Most importantly, the energy conversion shown through this project was satisfactory, the catapult created a clear trajectory, and the plastic board and Plinko obstacles slowed down the ball this also made the conversion of gravitational force to kinetic force clearer by slowly and clearly showing how it fell from a higher altitude. Some weaknessesthat didn’t quite meet our success criteria were the easiness of the operation of the game, although we added a plastic board to prevent the ball from bouncing, it was a challenge to get the ball inside the plastic board without it shooting over the Plinko board, or not getting high enough to reach the board when people were trying out a game, many also experienced this difficulty. There was also a safety hazard found, due to time constraints, we cut the plastic barrier so that the sides were very rough, when reaching to retrieve the ping pong ball from the scoring area, it would be possible for people to get cuts from the plastic barrier. The final major thing that needed refinement was to be even more environmentally friendly, as wood glue didn’t work out when assembling cardboard pieces, we used hot glue instead, which wasn’t as eco-friendly as wood glue. Other than the eco-friendliness of our project, the cardboard pieces and plastic barrier can’t be reused due to the use of hot glue.

In the feedback given to us, many were praising how our game was fun, interesting and engaging while being simple and clear and showing energy conversions. Some constructive feedback that was given was making our project easier to operate, especially for the ping pong ball to get inside the plastic barrier. S0me changes that could be made to prevent to ping pong ball from bouncing over the Plinko board was to add an extension to the second degree on top of the board by 10-20 cm so that, even with large amounts of energy used to shoot the ball, the ball wouldn’t bounce over the Plinko board. It also has been considered to make the opening of the plastic board larger so it would be easier for the ping pong ball to get in, we also wanted to add a board stretching horizontally from the top of the plastic board with an angle tilted towards the opening of the Plinko board so it would also increase the chance of the ball falling into the Plinko board. There was also a safety concern identified at the bottom of the plastic barrier, as the cutting there wasn’t detailed and caused the side to become rough, it would be easy to cut elementary schoolers’ hands when reaching to retrieve the ball, some changes that I would like to make was to cover and decorate that part with felt so it would be softer and less likely to get cut.

Prototype & Feedback”

Explain how you used design thinking practices to arrive at this iteration of your toy/device:

We arrived at this iteration of our toy by first defining the target audience and our intended purpose or design problem which are elementary children and to educate and introduce them to energy conversions, clearly listing out the user’s needs. With this in mind, we started to research precedents online in which we discussed different factors and whether they would meet the user’s needs, such as making the game easy to operate in consideration of children’s limited ability to understand complicated operations. After limiting our options, we further analyzed the pros and cons of each prototype and settled with the combination of Plinko and a basketball shooter, specifically, taking out the design idea of the scoring system from Plinko and the catapult from the basketball shooter since it would be easy to operate, shows energy transfers clearly, and engaging to smaller children. With further analysis, we also chose to find precedents on different catapults to analyze with the target of easy operation and creates a clear trajectory to show the transfer of energy. We found different types of catapults such as catapults made with popsicle sticks or catapults made with a paper cup and balloon and created a thorough analysis of the pros and cons regarding the levels of satisfaction of needs. While discussing that, we made a prototype of the paper and balloon catapult to test how well it would satisfy our needs as we were hesitant about its efficiency in operation, the prototype proved to be a failure in creating a clear trajectory. We finally decided on a popsicle catapult.

Design Concept:

Materials:

• cardboard
• hot glue/wood glue
• popsicle sticks *6
• rubber bands *5
• a plastic bottle cap
• a ping pong ball
• plastic board

Techniques:

• Measuring and drawing the shape of each part on the cardboard
• Utilizing the knife
• Cutting straight lines on the cardboard
• Utilizing glue and attaching materials to each other

Success Criteria:

• No/little possible safety hazards causing physical harm to children
• Environmentally sustainable materials and uses.
• Easy to operate and understand the operation so that children would be able to operate and understand the operation
• Clearly shows energy conversions (potential to kinetic – the most common and basic energy conversion)
• Durable (can withstand ping pong ball shooting without it damaging the catapult of the Plinko board in any way)
• Can function (can successfully launch a ping-pong ball with a high trajectory by pressing down and releasing the bottle cap stick, as well as accurately landing on the Plinko board and falling down smoothly)

Plan & Specific measurements:

We will be making the catapult first to test how well it could function and to change the catapult plan accordingly before making the plinko game. We were planning on cutting every piece of the plinko game out before gluing them together and assembling.

What is the purpose of your device/toy, how does it function, and who is your user?

Our toy is a combination of Plinko and the basketball arcade game. Its purpose is to teach and introduce to the user, elementary school students, energy conversions. It functions by shooting the ball with the catapult part of the basketball arcade game onto the cardboard board which slides down along the obstructions into sections with scores labeled. The function meets the purpose of introducing energy conversions through the shooting trajectory and the ball falling down the Plinko board. This would teach the students the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy, specifically, the conversions of elastic energy from the catapult and gravitational energy when landing at a high area on the Plinko board to kinetic energy. This would be introduced to them during engaged, joyful learning, which is reflected through the product which is in the form of a game and would further engage students, as it has a point system, in learning about energy transfers and how it might affect the created trajectory, allowing more points scored.

What is the environmental impacts of your product and is it durable and safe?

The environmental impacts of my product would have the least possible effect, as it would use cardboard, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and a plastic bottle cap, they could all be found ready-made and reused in this project to lessen the environmental impacts. Our project would also be using glue to attach cardboard together. As hot glue is primarily derived from plastic, it is not biodegradable and not environmentally friendly, we have decided to use wood glue instead, which is durable, non-toxic, and biodegradable.

Our product is very durable and safe. The main product wouldn’t fall apart easily due to the use of wood glue as it is very durable and creates a strong bond, the structure in the cardboard would also prevent the ping pong ball from making large indents on it. Apart from that, wood glue is nontoxic, so, in this case, it would be safer for children as their immune system isn’t as strong as ours. The catapult part of the product would be more fragile as rubber bands and popsicle sticks are prone to breaking with large, aggressive forces, so the product will have additional rubber bands to spread the forces on and prepare extra popsicle sticks to substitute any broken popsicle sticks. There will not be any major safety hazards if no aggressive actions are taken, such as the purposeful breaking of popsicle sticks causing possible injury.

What precedents inspired you? What did you take away from them & how did it inform your choices?

Some precedents that inspired us were the basketball arcade game and Plinko. We did further research on different types of catapults in the basketball arcade game. We took away the catapult part from the basketball arcade game as it could better reflect potential energy transfer to kinetic energy instead of throwing the ping pong ball. From the vast majority of catapults, we chose the elastic band one as it has elastic bands in sight, which could contribute to an easier explanation of what elastic energy is since it is the energy stored when a material is stretched or compressed and perhaps could be widely associated with elastic bands, it also had a larger, more controlled trajectory. This was also chosen as the balloon launcher was too fragile and the clip catapult would have larger safety hazards if it did break since there are sharp, tiny parts inside. We substituted the basket on the arcade game with a Plinko board in hope that it would arouse continuous engagement as it includes a point system which would create competition and more activeness in the engagement of learning, it also could clearly show the transfer of gravitational energy to kinetic from the downfall of the ball.

How are you making this product original and/or using creativity?

We are making this product original by firstly analyzing different precedents, specifically, analyzing how well they can reflect energy transfers, their safety hazards, and how fit they are for children’s use. We are combining different precedents that best and could clearly show energy transfers and customizing the catapults so that it is easy to control for children.

A total of 617 million youth and adults lack basic mathematics and literacy knowledge (UN). As provided, the lack of quality education is a serious, important matter that calls for feasible solutions. Quality education is a very vague, general standard, and many different areas have different requirements for their curriculum, as stated by Jia Yin from Unicef. But, according to the UN and the School of Education, the standard of quality education worldwide should ensure equal access to education and vocational training for people of all genders and of all races, including ones with disabilities, and that every person has basic literacy and mathematical knowledge. Education should also guarantee that learners have the basic skills to find decent jobs, employment, and entrepreneurship and ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills to promote the importance of sustainable development, cultural diversity, gender equality, peace, human rights, and global citizenship. It is also crucial for students to get more attention regarding their well-being and needs. To better achieve these goals of quality education, it would be crucial to first gain understanding and address problems of quality education. 

Problems Within the Problem: 

As mentioned above, it is essential to understand the causes of the lack of quality education and why quality education is important. Firstly, education can be understood as creating a foundation of society as it directly impacts how people view the world and their understanding of the fundamental problems in our world, which could impact the future as learners age (UN). One of the main reasons for the lack of quality education worldwide, currently, has to do with many students being out of school due to COVID 19 (UN News). Students out of school would mean that teachers would not have the opportunity to supervise them properly, ensuring that students get a quality education, which is the problem of not getting enough awareness in learning.

Another significant reason for the lack of education worldwide would be the lack of qualified teachers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the shortage of teachers was over 110,000 in the 2017-2018 school year in the U.S., the data on teacher shortages have quadrupled from 2012-2013, and it continues to grow. The shortage of teachers would mean that there might be overcrowding in one class, meaning that there would be too many students in one class and not enough teachers to give enough attention to students to ensure quality education. Furthermore, according to the Learning Policy Institute, teacher shortages have been a problem since the Great Recession, which challenging work conditions such as relatively low payment has led to a decrease in enrollments related to education.

Next, another key cause for the lack of education worldwide would be poverty and fiscal deficit, which is the lack of financial ability to provide accessible education to all. “Factors linked to poverty such as unemployment, illness and the illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of non-schooling and the drop-out rate of a child by 2.” (Humanium). This quote reflects the impacts that poverty and well-being have on quality education and proves that it is very crucial to solve these problems to ensure quality education for all. Moreover, according to Global Citizen, efforts have been made to abolish school fees across sub-Saharan Africa yet there are still many families unable to afford school and force their children to stay home to work or do chores. Surely, poverty is a large barrier to achieving quality education worldwide, as extreme poverty still existing might also mean that humanity has not yet achieved quality education for all, because it is shown in UNESCO studies that quality education would break poverty, and increase payment, and employment opportunities. Overall, the main reasons causing the lack of quality education, COVID 19, teacher shortages, poverty, and fiscal deficit all are major problems needing to be solved to ensure quality education.  

COVID 19:  

As stated above, the biggest impact of COVID 19 on learning would be online learning and ensuring education. “Activities began in villages in Punjab in July 2020 with just two online classes, but the numbers gradually increased over time.” (Embracing the World). In the article, it talks about how the government has provided television and online lessons, in this quote, “numbers gradually increased over time” would mean that the online lessons have increased which would also mean that the number of students interested and participating also have increased. The number of students increasing in participating would also represent a success in providing television and online learning in rural areas where people might not be able to afford these materials and how online learning might be also successful in ensuring learning as more people would mean more attention to the lessons. This victory in covering education should also be executed throughout other LEDCs (less economically developed countries) as it would only take a few T.V.s in the area and lessons for online learning. Yet as COVID 19 goes on, many schools are allowing students to go back to school, but there are still other problems, taking into consideration the lack of resources and teachers. 

Teacher Shortages:  

In order to solve the major issue of teacher shortages, it is necessary for resources to be placed in teacher training and recruitment programs. “At the same time, however, lack of sufficient resources (trained teachers, textbooks, materials) was stated repeatedly by teachers and school heads during interviews and focus group discussions on every country as a challenge to the school being child-friendly in the area of pedagogy. According to the focus group data, the lack of materials is especially acute in Nigeria, South Africa, and Guyana.” (UNICEF). This especially shows the need for trained teachers, in which using resources on recruiting and training teachers could substantially help the situation of shortages in these rural areas. An example of putting a series of programs for combatting teacher shortages in California from Phi Delta Kappan: “This combination of programs produced impressive results. From 2000 onward, the proportion of underprepared teachers declined every year, even as the overall size of the teacher workforce in the state grew significantly — from 292,000 in 2000 to 310,000 in 2008.” These programs funding recruitment and teacher training have made an immense impact on the teacher workforce, which should be promoted and enforced in other areas with a need for teachers, and in LEDCs (lower economically developed countries), funded by organizations such as the World Bank. This solution is completely feasible and efficient as shown in the data above and meets the needs of many schools in many areas, therefore it should be implemented.

Not only is investing resources in the correct area consequential but spreading awareness and volunteering in programs can also be significant in rural areas. “She explains that if the 400,000 Kenyan high school graduates who spend a nine-month period waiting for university to begin volunteered twenty hours per week, 320 million hours each year would go to Kenyan primary schools—those hours are valued at $110 million.” (Youth Action Net). This shows the substantial impact of volunteering as later mentioned in the article, Kenyan schools have an urgent need for more teachers as they have been faced with the problem of overcrowding. Overcrowding in classrooms would lead to not only more work for teachers but also not enough attention for each individual student. Volunteering can not only take pressure off a teacher but also ensure the quality of others’ education, yet for people to understand the benefits of volunteering, it would be needed to raise awareness. At the end of the article, “But, she says: ‘Whether our volunteers become bankers, parents, or the President, they will have a better understanding of our country’s educational challenges.’” This reflects the point that volunteering might also be a way of raising awareness of the importance of educational problems, which will be beneficial towards achieving quality education. Yet not only are teachers needed in order to provide quality education, but it is also important to solve what is not making education accessible.  

This is an infographic provided of how education helps increase income and eliminate poverty. https://world-education-blog.org/2011/10/16/how-to-reduce-poverty%E2%80%99s-impact-on-education/

Poverty & Fiscal Deficit: 

Poverty and fiscal deficit might be the largest reason many are not able to afford education, even the most accessible ones as even schools free of tuition fees include other fees for books or other materials. This reflects that we must pay more attention to the financial condition of families living in poverty, helping with funding children in extreme poverty with tuition and resource fees until free tuition and resource fees are free in areas of the fiscal deficit would potentially assist with the situation of providing education. A similar program to this idea has also been tested out and has increased the enrollment and other educational issues: “Cash transfers to poor families, with eligibility linked to school attendance, can help to counter the effects of poverty. Such a programme has been successfully employed in Mexico, where it both improved enrolment and average years of schooling achieved.”(GEM Report). Transferring cash to families in need is highly like funding children in school and has proven effective in increasing enrollment and the time of enrollment. Yet solving the issue of providing education is far not enough, another problem of gender inequality still is influential in most poor families’ decisions.

“If families cannot afford the costs of school, they are more likely to send boys than girls. Around 15 million girls will never get the chance to attend school, compared to 10 million boys.” (Global Citizen). This reflects that many areas inflicted with poverty will have gender inequality issues as less educated families still might have the mindset that girls will never be as good as boys, yet the truth is that girls should be equal to boys and should get equal opportunities as boys, stated above in the standards of quality education. Recognizing the problem, it would be profitable to educate and help families realize that education is important and that girls are equal to boys. “For families experiencing financial hardship, child marriage reduces their economic burden, but it ends up being more difficult for girls to gain financial independence if they are unable to access a quality education.” This is also quoted from Global Citizen and shows that many girls in extreme poverty might just be deprived of their chance to receive an education and the opportunity to help their own family out of extreme poverty because of child marriage, similar to the graph showing how much more money education can bring. This further emphasizes the importance of educating and changing families’ attitudes toward girls receiving education and helping them look for long-term solutions.  

Conclusion: 

It is very crucial in realizing that although measures have been taken to ensure quality education, many around the world still lack basic knowledge and do not have the skills to find decent jobs. It is also especially important for more feasible solutions to continue to try to provide quality education by solving problems such as but not limited to COVID 19 restrictions on education, teacher shortages, poverty, and fiscal deficit as quality education is key to solving other global issues in the long-term and to provide a better environment for humanity.  

Works Cited:

“Quality Education.” United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/. Accessed 5 May 2022.

Yin (Unicef), Jia. E-mail interview with the author. 23 May 2022.

“5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education.” School of Education, soeonline.american.edu/blog/5-ways-policy-makers-can-improve-the-quality-of-education.

Owoicho, Apochi. “Link between education and well-being never clearer, UN pushes for ‘health-promoting’ schools.” UN News, 22 June 2021, news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1094552. Accessed 5 May 2022.

García, Emma, and Elaine Weiss. “The Teacher Shortage Is Real, Large and Growing, and Worse than We Thought.” Economic Policy, 26 Mar. 2019, www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-shortage-is-real-large-and-growing-and-worse-than-we-thought-the-first-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/.

Learning Policy Institute. “U.S. Teacher Shortages – Causes and Impacts.” Learning Policy Institute, Aug. 2018, learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/body/Teacher_Shortages_Causes_Impacts_2018_MEMO.pdf.

Humanium. “Right to Education : Situation around the World.” Humanium, www.humanium.org/en/right-to-education/.

Rodriguez, Leah. “Understanding How Poverty Is the Main Barrier to Education.” Global Citizen, www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/poverty-education-satistics-facts/.

“UNESCO.” UNESCO, www.unesco.org/en/education.

“COVID-19: Solutions for Basic Education in Rural India.” Embracing the World, 16 Mar. 2021, www.embracingtheworld.org/news/covid-rural-education/.

“UNICEF.” UN Children’s Fund, www.unicef.org/education.

Berry, Barnett, and Patrick M. Shields. “Solving the Teacher Shortage: Revisiting the Lessons We’ve Learned.” Phi Delta Kappan, 1 May 2017, kappanonline.org/solving-teacher-shortage-revisiting/.

“The World Bank.” Education, www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education.

Jones, Lisa. “Solving Africa’s Teacher Shortage, the Youth-Led Answer.” Youth Action Net, 19 Mar. 2015, www.youthactionnet.org/blog/solving-africa%E2%80%99s-teacher-shortage-youth-led-answer.

GEM Report. “How to Reduce Poverty’s Impact on Education.” UNESCO, GEM Report, 4 Apr. 2022, world-education-blog.org/2011/10/16/how-to-reduce-poverty%E2%80%99s-impact-on-education/.

During this Humanities assignment, we read contemporary realistic fiction books and reflected on how these books connect/differ from us and our identity, we also discovered power dynamics in these books and how these variables affected the theme of the story. We were tasked to complete a book talk on the theme and powers in the books that we read.

Lip Balm Recipe + Trials

The oil-based food coloring finally came after a few weeks of waiting. During this trial, I had added one drop of pink into the lip balm and the lip balm turned out better than the last one I tried with water-based food coloring. This food coloring had actually mixed in with the lip balm base. This trial turned out really nice, it had a light lemon scent. When applied, the lip balm didn’t transfer the pink tint that it had onto skin which was kind of surprising, but overall, I really like it.