NAIS Dublin Grade 10 Personal Project 2021

MYP Personal Project EXHIBITION 2021

A Message from our MYP Coordinator

Welcome to the 2021 Virtual MYP Personal Project exhibition for our Grade 10 students. In what has been a difficult year for all, our Grade 10 students have shown resilience and determination to complete their Personal Projects and they have done so to great effect. The students were originally meant to complete a physical exhibition in school; however, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this has been replaced with a virtual experience of which you are about to enjoy!

What follows is just a snapshot of the hard work and effort they have put into these projects and I am sure you will agree that what they have managed to achieve is a true testament to them. This exhibition itself is not a graded element of the Personal Project – rather a celebration of their achievements.

Over the course of the next few weeks, students will have the opportunity to reflect on the process and this will help them to complete their written report for the Personal Project (which is graded!).

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Grade 10 students on completing this important element of the Middle Years Programme. This will hold them in good stead for future opportunities, be it the Extended Essay in the Diploma Programme or wherever their paths may lie.

Many thanks to all the supervisors who have guided students along their journey, and of course, thank you to their family and friends who have supported them throughout the process.

Andrew Bateson MYP Coordinator and Assistant Head of Secondary

Global Context

Davide

Music: A Form Of Physical And Neurological Therapy

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To research and compose an innovative piece of music which will aid in the physical and neurological rehabilitation of an individual experiencing a disorder, disease or acquired brain injury.

How Is Music Utilized In Recovery Therapy?

What Is Music Therapy?

Music Therapy is an established health profession in which the art of music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals who have suffered neurological injuries or disorders.

What Diseases/Disorders Can Music Therapy Help Recover From?

Music Therapy can theoretically and practically help recover from symptoms of any disease, disorder or injury, both congenital or acquired.

Examples of disorders treated by music therapy include: Autism, Parkinson’s, Cardiac Disease, Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, Post-Traumatic SD, Schizophrenia, Strokes, Speech Disorder, and many more.

How Exactly Does Music Therapy Help?

Music Is Medicine. Music therapy is used to aid in physical discomfort by improving respiration, lowering blood pressure, improved cardiac output, reduced heart rate and relaxed muscle tension. The wonder drug that music is, alleviates the stress by interacting with the sensory and motor functions, which therefore releases neurochemicals such as serotonin and dopamine.

The Importance of Music Therapy

Music Therapy is a sublime and paramount form of therapy, which has the ability to be performed on any patient, non-reliant on age, gender, race, sexuality or beliefs, whence music being the universal language. This therapy is non-evasive, incisionless, enjoyable, efficient, and has no-known side effects.

Music Therapy Piece Process Journal & Inspiration

What Gave Me The Inspiration To Do This Project On Music Therapy?

From a young age, I have been passionate and enthusiastic about neurology, medicine and music. I decided to conjugate the three in such a manner that would allow me to still be able to compose an innovative product. My true inspiration occurred from my grandfather, who suffered a stroke, resulting in a half-body paralysis. This incident got me researching ways in which my grandfather could have a more speedy recovery. I came across music therapy and since then my grandfather has regained function partial function in his paralysed limbs. Observing the prime effects that this therapy inflicted, encouraged me to make a difference by composing a therapy song.

What Musical Features Are Used In Music Therapy?

The different musical features used in therapeutical songs vary depending on patients. No neurological injury is the same, and therefore specific pieces are composed or chosen by music therapists for their patients. The piece that I composed is not specifically targeted towards any disorder, rather more of a generalist therapeutical piece.

These were the musical features and characteristics that I utilized and intertwined into the piece:

• Title that creates hope and optimism.

• Use pleasant instrument, e.g. Guitar.

• Relaxing modal sound in the back, e.g. waves.

• Simple melody that is melancholy, and slow (adagio).

• Repeat the melody (ostinato), each time altering it.

• Allow notes to ring-on and fade away.

• The piece must create imagery by changing keys (modulation).

• Add a contrasting, and happy melody.

• End by allowing notes to ring on into silence.

Conclusion

What Did I Learn From Doing This Personal Project?

The most important lesson that I perceived throughout this personal project journey, was that even a 15 year-old student like me, has the tremendous ability to truly change one’s life for the better. Music truly is Medicine!

What Did I Find Most Enjoyable About This Personal Project? Personally, I discovered that the most pleasurable and entertaining part of this project was the actual composing and experimentation of the therapeutic piece of music.

What Kept Me Motivated Throughout The Course Of The Project? After exploring and seeing the prime positive effects that this therapy had, I decided to embark on both a learning journey as well as a mission to help out in the best way possible. This ideology kept me motivated throughout the course of this Personal Project.

My Favourite Music Therapy Quotes

“Where words fail, music speaks.” - Hans Christian Andersen

“Music is an art that goes well beyond science.” - Andrea Bocelli

The Product Piece of Therapeutical Music

The Title Of The Therapeutical Piece Of Music: Finding Sunshine In The Rain, Discovering Joy In The Midst Of Pain

The Composer Of The Piece: Davide Samuel Antochi

Note: This is a prototype version of the piece of music.

Chiara

SkateInk - Starting a Small Business

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To gain experience in entrepreneurship and build skills that could prove vastly useful in life.

Introduction

Creating and running a successful small business requires and develops research skill, as well as creativity, organisation, self-discipline, and communication. The products/services the business has to offer are custom decorated skateboards, which are a great tool for self-expression, a topic I hope to explore and learn about through my project. The skateboards will be designed, and hand painted by me, which will help me express my passion for art, and improve as well as share my work, benefiting myself and others. My project is an outstanding opportunity to develop my skills as a learner, gather new, and important skills, and connect with people in the community. Although I wish to pursue a career in the field of science, this project is a great occasion for me to branch out and experience a different field of work I show great interest in, business.

I will explore self-expression using my passion for the arts and by communicating with others. The personalised products offered by my business, present an opportunity for me to express myself as an artist, and for my clients to express themselves as individuals. I will also explore personal and cultural expression, and how identity, values, messages, and ideas can be expressed through designs, colours, apparel, and art in general. By communicating with the target market, I shall connect with others, and help them express themselves whilst expressing and developing my artistic style. The product will therefore be a mutually beneficial mean of self-expression for myself and my client. I will most likely be introduced to patterns, presented through the common culture of my clients, and I hope to branch out, and be able to experience the means of self-expression of several cultures.

Process and Thinking

Copious amounts of research must be carried out to ensure the business’ success and authenticity. I have found that various marketing tools must be observed and utilised such as the following (that I have investigated):

SWOT analysis - A strategic planning technique that identifies the company’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as its stance in regard to competition.

STEEPLE analysis - A strategic planning tool that deals with macroenvironmental, external factors, an overview of various external fields and their effect on the business.

MARKETING MIX - A foundation model for a business, which consists of a set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.

VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT - Two complementary statements aimed at creating and reinforcing a clear identity, communicating shared values, and a sense of purpose that all stakeholders identify with, which will help the business to maintain focus, and reach its goals.

Other research areas I investigated were:

Advertising

How to reach the target market? How to advertise effectively (platform, format, etc.)? Etc.

Materials

What materials to use? Where to get them? Quality and risks? How to use the materials? Etc.

Cost, Revenue & Profit

How much will it cost me? How to price? How much have I spent? Etc.

Selling & Shipping

How will I sell the product? How will I get it to the customer? What platforms? Etc.

Target Market

Market target properties (likings, needs, limits, etc.)? Competition? Effect of target market? Etc.

Entrepreneurship

How to create a brand? How to start a business? How to make it successful? How to identify my business? Etc.

Product pt. 1 - Skateboards and Business

The final product of my project is a small business, that although it is in its early stages I am running as a young sole trader.

The service provided by the business

The business provides a service/product, rooted in self-expression through skateboards. Clients communicate with the artist to create unique, hand painted and designed skateboards, that reflect the identity of the clients authentically and aesthetically.

Vision Statement

Provide clients with unique, hand-painted, and individually designed, highquality apparel, to authentically express themselves. Work with professionalism and strong communication for the experience to be a beneficial for both the client and the artist and to create a product that will be close to both their hearts.

Mission Statement

Our company, SkateInk provides high-quality skateboards, each designed, and hand painted based on request, to best reflect the client, and the message they wish to communicate to the world in a personal, aesthetic, and authentic manner.

Product pt. 2 - Skateboards and Business

Product

After communicating with the client, the skateboards are created following the ensuing process:

1. Create a sketch using a digital stylus.

2. Sand the surface of the skateboard and apply masking tape to the edges.

3. Spray-paint a few coats of white spray paint to create a base.

4. Sketch the design on the skateboard with a pencil.

5. Build up even colour using layers of paint, on larger areas.

6. Add finer details, once again using layers of paint.

7. Add the finest and final details (e.g. outlines) using fine tipped paint-pens.

8. Add final touch-ups and let dry.

9. Remove tape and add fixing coat.

Product pt. 2 - Skateboards and Business

Social Media/Advertising Platforms

Through an accurate profiling of the target market, I identified the best platforms to reach out. The most suitable proved to be TikTok, which allowed me to share the process of creating my skateboards with hundreds of people and is found to be the easiest way to reach a lot of people. I received positive feedback, through the comment section. The creation of said TikTok page followed strict rules, based on research to ensure, authenticity, quality, and success.

Here is a website I made with more information and videos.

Connections and Communications

It is undoubtedly important to establish a target market as it is one of the bases of building a successful business strategy therefore business. The target audience influences the product, where and how it is advertised, the prices, etc.

Self-expression is the focus of my business and project; thus, I must communicate and get familiar with my target market. To create an accurate and applicable profile of the target market, I conducted surveys with members of the target market.

Interview with skaters – findings:

I reached out to people who have a passion for skateboarding and found out about the significance of their skateboards.

“it is fun to skate around town, and to hang out in skate parks.”

“Skateboards are very personal to us skaters, and the way they look are one of the main focuses when buying them.”

“Design wise I look for something that reflects me or is just simply visually appealing. The colours and patterns are important.”

Through my project I notably developed my communication skills. I communicated with the target market, professionals in the field of business, and fellow young entrepreneurs and applied their knowledge to my project.

Alexander

Exploring the History of LGBTQ Representation on Western Television

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To create an animation depicting the history of LGBTQ representation on Western television

Introduction

This project began because of my interests in animation, LGBTQ rights and popular culture. I think it’s important for people to recognize how far we have to go, so this animation is a way of communicating that idea.

The Animation

Watch the animation on YouTube here!

Watch the animation

The Process

The project began with a research phase, where I researched some of the most prominent examples of LGBTQ moments in television history and branched out from there.

By the end of my research, I had come up with 17 shows, but eventually scrapped one of them (Friends) as I felt it wasn’t monumental enough to include.

I began scripting and animating, using a mobile app called FlipaClip.

I then drew the faces using reference images and simply tracing over their features. However, I often changed parts of the face or body to achieve a different pose, or I adjusted the colors to match the shading.

I would often draw each person in phases. For example:

• Basic outline

• Smaller outlines including facial features

• Filling areas with color

• Adding details like shading and depth

Once I was done with the animation itself, I did a voiceover, using that to get the timing right between frames, a credits roll, and then edited them all together.

Ethan American Football Meal Plan

Global Context - Fairness and Development

Goal - To create an affordable 7-day diet plan for any teenagers that are interested in getting into shape for American Football.

Introduction

My personal project is a book focusing on a meal plan I have created for teenagers playing American-Football. The meal plan was constructed by me using an assortment of recipes I found online from a number of different sources. All of the meals put into the plan are there for a reason as they fit the purpose of the meal plan.

I choose this global context as my original goal was to create a meal plan that was more affordable to the average household than others often used. I also wanted to development a meal plan that incorporated plant based meals. I did this because there are a number of health benefits to plant based meals that are not normally utilized by meal plans I have seen in the past.

At first I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to create my product, I knew I wanted to create a meal plan but I didn’t know if I wanted it to make in the form of a book, or a website. I decided to go with a book as I wanted my product to be able to be read online as well as printed out.

Incorporating plant based meals into my plan wasn’t something I decided to do from the very beginning. The idea started when my personal project tutor suggested me the documentary, “The Game Changers” and I was able to learn about the benefits of plant based diets. Watching this documentary lead to me doing further research and deciding that implementing plant based meals into the diet would be beneficial to my product.

On this page I have included an image of the table of contents, and the complete meal plan I have created. The meal plan is just an overview of all of the meals as the following pages go through day in detail.

Conclusion

The product provides 5 snacks that have similar benefits to the meals in the plan. These snacks are all relatively easy to make and provide good nutritional value. There are a variety of snacks out there that work with this meal plan very well, I decided to choose 5 that follow the products goal of providing affordable options.

At the end of the book there is a bibliography which includes a citation for every meal, snack and smoothie provided in the book. The bibliography is organized in a way that allows the reader to easily find the origin of any of the meals in the book they may enjoy.

Directly after the title page I included a table of contents, this was done to ensure that the reader can easily find anything they may be specifically looking for.

My product includes pages explaining multiple parts of the meal plan. These pages explain things such as why plant based meals are included, and how this meal plan relates to American football.

Every day of the plan includes three meals and a smoothie. The creator of the recipe as well as the ingredient list, method and nutrition are provided for every meal.

Most of meals chosen are very simple, this decision was made as most high school athletes don’t have much cooking experience.

Daniel

The Effect of Covid-19 on Businesses

Global Context - Globalization and Sustainability

Goal - To inform people on how the pandemic has affected businesses and how they are run.

Introduction

My personal project is an informative research essay. The essay has an interview from two business owners. It also talks about how the government of Ireland has spent money on supporting people through the pandemic, the final segment is on international companies such as Amazon.

The goal of this project for me was to inform people on how the pandemic has affected businesses and how they are run. It informs regular people interested on the topic as well as letting people understand how real business owners feel through an interview hosted.

I thought that this was fitting for a topic that covered a topic revolving around how businesses and companies were struggling in a financial crisis.

Inspiration

My idea all a long was to have a project that revolves around businesses, however since the economy is forever changing I thought that I would do it on a topic that was relevant to now. This is when I had decided that I would do it on the effects that COVID-19 has had on businesses.

To start I was always thinking of having an interview as the focal point for the essay as it is a good source of data as well as opinions. I then decided that I would interview two business owners in my town Greystones. I created a survey using google forms and sent it to them, this was then added to the essay. However this wasn’t enough to cover the topic so I added a paragraph on the government’s spending and then also a paragraph on more international companies such as Amazon.

The Hungry Monk run by Mr. Keown

La touche Wines run by Mr. Sherlock

Final Words

I hope that this has given you an insight into my personal project and why I created it, there will be a document attached if you would like to read the full thing. Thank You!

Agustina

Animated Informational Video: Plant-Based Renewable Energy

How can one sustainably harness the energy produced by plants and what can their possible uses be?

Global Context - Scientific and technical innovation

Goal - To create an animated video on ways to sustainably harness the energy produced by plants into electrical energy and their possible use.

Introduction

For my final product, I created an animation video to explain the technology that can allow us to transform the energy produced by plants into electricity. I created the video having no experience in either animation or digital drawing, which made for an interesting journey. All of the information and statistics discussed in the video are the result of the scientific research I carried out prior to making the video.

Process and Thinking

I decided to centre my project on a field of science because it is something I am very passionate about, science and its function in the betterment of society. I ended up choosing bio-technology because the topic was too interesting to pass up, and it was a chance to learn more about it.

Before I could even start to make the video, there was a lot of research that had to be done. The most important parts to research were the topic itself, the software and the process of animation. The photos show some of the information I took from the different sources. There was a lot of research done to make sure that I had the correct information, to simplify the information, and to find the right software.

To make sure I was keeping my information concise, I wrote all the important parts I wanted to put in the video on a double-sided A4, ensuring I was keeping it concise so that only the most important parts would be added to the video.

Video Making Process

The video took a lot of time to do, not only because there was a lot of research that had to be done about the topic beforehand, but also because there are certain steps to follow to make sure the video ends up looking good.

Once I had condensed and divided all the information I needed, I began the storyboard process. I created a total of two storyboards. The first one was very simple, I made it to figure out what was going where, only the utmost important events of the video where included in this storyboard.

The second storyboard was more complex, there I started to piece the video together, figure out how I wanted to do transitions between the events, and how I could make it more interesting. Everything that was going to be included on the video was there.

As soon as I had the storyboards complete I began to sketch and create the important scenes. During the whole sketching process I followed the steps I learnt during my research. The extremes were sketched first, then the breakdowns and in-betweens, this way the scenes would be more fluid.

The sketching process was more about getting the scenes done rather than making sure the timing was right. Managing the timing and stretching the video was done while creating the final layer. While I was making the final layer, I also started writing the script, Ailbhe had thankfully agreed to be the narrator for my video. Once both the sketch layer and the recordings were done, the hardest part of the process had to be done, making sure it all fits in. During this part, I had to lengthen and shorten scenes, add extra scenes to create more coherence, and cut certain scenes. The video changed a lot when the recordings were added, but as soon as that was done, it looked a lot more like an animated video than ever before.

The path after that was straightforward, only missing colours and the background music. The colouring process was boring at times, but the finished product is definitely worth it. While choosing the background music was a bit of a hassle, seeing the end product shows it all paid off.

Conclusions

What is the most important thing I learnt during this project?

I learnt a lot about creating animation and digital art. Starting with zero knowledge, there was definitely an increase in that set of skills. My research skills also improved a lot in the course of this project.

Why did I decide to do this project?

As I said before, biotechnology is something I have always been interested in, and digital art and animation have always been skills I wanted to learn. This project was a way to combine both interests and learn something about both of them.

How did I overcome challenges and setbacks during the project?

Throughout the project there were several setbacks and challenges, to overcome them the only way to go about it was to keep going. Knowing when to take a break to start off with a fresh point of view and when to persevere onwards was a vital lesson I learnt.

Feedback

I’d be grateful if you could take the time to complete this short survey.

Final Product

The animated video, which as I said is the final product, is 3:40 minutes long and drawn in a simplistic doodle style with lots of pastel colours. The drawing process alone took approximately 2 months, but the end product was definitely worth it. The photos show different scenes of the video. Since it is an animated video, it had to be drawn frame-byframe. For it to be 3:40 minutes, the video had to have 2640 frames.

How to Harness Energy from Plants

The Development of Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To find a renewable source of energy that I have decided was hydrogen internal combustion engines and to develop the design to create a safer and more efficient engine and to add further improvements that can be done to make the car overall be better.

Introduction

For my final product I decided to make a small model of the hydrogen engine which I will use to show what exactly I have changed and to point out which part I am talking about. Hydrogen has only been involved in some car brands in renewable energy and is still a relatively new idea that has not been developed as much as electric cars for example, all of the cars that use hydrogen essentially mix with oxygen to power an electric motor and the hydrogen is not combusting, since I am a car enthusiast I really enjoy the sound that cars make and since gasoline is going to run out eventually hydrogen combusting is the only option that we know of so far.

Background

From a younger age I was interested in cars and motorcycles and it was a hobby that I could bond with my dad since he also had an interest in it and so I like to think that I have a good understanding of how the engines work and what makes the car move.

When I was presented with the personal project I knew that I wanted to do this topic and so I started looking into hydrogen as a combustible fuel source.

Looking into this topic I started early in September looking into the pros and cons of the fuel source so I can get a better idea on what problems there are in hydrogen engines which then I would try to find a way to fix that problem further on. I have decided on a few things that I would focus on that that could be improved on and I will elaborate on them later, the first problem is that the chamber walls in the engine will need to be stronger, secondly the pistons and the connecting rods would also need to be stronger and finally the fuel injection valves would have to be more air tight so ensure there is no back fire when the hydrogen combusts.

Most of the work that I have done started at around November where I started doing some research and working on my essay and I started doing work consistently around January which was a bit late.

Process

In the model that I have made I have separated into 3 main parts, yellow is the valves and the engine block, red is the whole piston and green is the chamber walls. This model is very basic and was made to simply show the audience the different parts of the combustion chamber as simple as I can.

Problem Solving

The first problem that I mentioned is that the chamber walls would have to be stronger that the original gasoline chamber since the quenching distance in comparison to the gasoline combustion is much closer as shown in this picture:

And the final element that would need to improve is how tight the valves on the fuel injector would need to be since the quenching distances in closer to the walls of the chamber the hydrogen could leak through the valves and possibly cause back fire and so the valve timings would have to be more precise and the valve should close tighter.

Why Humans Tend to Focus More on Negative Bias than Positive Bias

Global Context - Identities And Relationships

Goal - To earn and understand why humans tend to focus and cling on negative things more than the positive things around us.

Introduction

I want to use the steps scientific method to create a survey based of the research and information that I find and analyse the results to inform others why We Humans remember Negative comments, articles, feedback etc. Better than we do the positive.

With this goal I had a question in mind, “How much do I focus on the negative bias?” And reflecting on myself I realized, quite a bit actually. I often better remember the Feedback on parts of a project or paper where there were suggestions on what I could have done a little better than all of the other parts that I had done well on said project. With this in mind in wanted to learn the reasons why.

The reason why humans are more prone to remember negativity

The official term for why negative events have a greater impact on our brains is known as Negative Bias. Negative bias is not only the human tendency to register negative stimuli more readily but also to fixate and dwell on certain events that cause negative stimuli. In short it means we have much stronger feelings towards representation or rebuke than we feel the joy of praise and approval.

The brain shows that when it is responding to specific sensory, cognitive or, motor stimuli have shown that the brain elicits a larger brain response to negative stimuli than positive stimuli does.

The fact is humans tendency to pay more attention to negative things and overlook good and positive things is actually most likely a result of evolution. For example in early human history people who paid attention to dangerous, bad and negative threats around them was quite literally a matter of life and death. Those who were better attuned to danger and paid more attention to their surroundings where more likely to survive. This meant that those who were more attuned to danger where much more likely to pass down genes to the next generation that made them more attentive to danger. So basically its due to natural selection.

My Hypothesis

I Hypothesized that the titles that appealed to the negative bias would be remembered more than the positive bias. Also that negative titles would also genially have a larger reaction response than the positive titles and here are the results.

My Project

To test my topic I decided that I was going to create a survey that contained 10 different Titles with an image from things like videos and news articles, each would either target a negative bias or a positive bias, I then asked the participants to describe their initial reaction to each Title based off how they felt towards the picture and the description. After each of the 10 different titles had been reacted to I asked the participants to take a 15 minute break before responding to the last two questions. Those questions where which title they remembered the most after the 15 minutes, and in their opinion why they remember that title the most. I specifically picked negative articles and the main picture that was shown on the picture that I believed would have a more profound reaction on the participants in which they would be more likely to remember than the positive counter parts.

Briefly: What is your initial reaction to this article based off the title and image?

Example of a positive title

Example of a negative title

Results

The results were pretty much what I had hypothesized, to provide a little context titles 10,4 and 1 where meant to be focus on negative bias and titles 5 and 6 where focusing on the positive bias. From the results we can see that majority of the participants remembered a negative tittles. Also the longer reaction responses towards the titles tended to be longer when describing ones that revolved around negative bias.

The projects main purpose was to test whether negative bias was indeed remembered better than positive bias based of a title with an image without much context being given except that which was provided through the title and then analysing the results to see whether or not my hypothesis was correct or incorrect.

Longest response to a negative title

Longest response to a positive title

Conclusion

In conclusion my hypothesis was correct, form the data of the graph we can see the that negative titles where genuinely better remembered than the positive ones. As expected most of the participants had a stronger brain response towards the negative stimuli they got from reading negative titles.

Because we live in a modern age weather or not we remember every negative thing does not mean we will end up in a life or death situation, however the negative bias can have a powerful impact on our behaviour, however being aware of this means we can beguine taking steps towards a more positive overlook on life. To take a more mindful approach will require being aware of our own tendency towards negativity. Consciously and continually elevating happier thoughts to the front of our awareness will be one of our best ways to combat the negative bias in our lives.

Medhir

Terraforming and Bringing Life to Mars

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To present the different methods of terraforming mars to bring human life to mars.

Introduction

As my final product, I chose to create a video tour of a possible mars base humans could survive without terraforming the planet. Prior to terraforming the planet, humans will have to reach mars and have a type of base of operations. I used the software ‘Sketch up’ to create a detailed 3D model of a self-sustaining possible base suited for six individuals.

I wanted to discover the steps required before actually terraforming the planet, and the different processes which would have to undergo to reach the final goal.

Process and Thinking

I found that for this project, self-management skills were very important. This is because we were given such a long period of time to work on the project. Without a proper plan, it would be easy to fall behind on the workload instead of spreading it out. To avoid this I created a research plan where I set deadlines for myself, and also made sure to set goals for myself whenever I sat down to work on the project. If I was not able to complete the amount of work I wanted one day, I’d have to do more the next time I decided to work on the project. Before beginning to create my final product I also created two drawn out versions in order to get my thoughts onto paper, and so that I would have a clear focus when creating the model with software.

The image seen on this slide is the second iteration of the design. After created the first iteration of the design, I realized I was missing many features which should have been obvious to me. This included areas such as a gym, and even a bathroom.

For the project I found that it was best to complete my research early, and then partially complete each criteria of the final report. After this, I created my final product, and filled in the rest of the information.

What do we need to change about Mars, and are there any other options planet wise?

When Mars first formed, the planet had a thick atmosphere, and had a third of the planet’s surface was covered by an ocean of liquid water. This is known due to features resembling shorelines, as well as chemical properties of the planets soil and atmosphere. Due to the fact that the planet has a very weak magnetic field, the majority of the planet’s atmosphere was destroyed. The problem in terms of the magnetic field is not exactly it’s strength, its more the size of the planet; Mars is only 11% the size of earth. When put into perspective, Earth’s magnetic field is not very strong, it is only about .25-.65 gauss. The average magnet is 400x its strength. It’s the fact that Earth’s magnetosphere is massive. The best option is to create an artificial magnetic field to defend against solar wind stripping. A concept of this is depicted in the image on this slide.

As aforementioned, the planet has little to no atmosphere. When light hits earth, it bounces around its atmosphere, heating up the planet. This does not happen on mars, the light radiates of the planet, leaving it at a cool -60 degrees Celsius. This makes it impossible for any liquid water to be present. The atmosphere we have on earth also protects us from any harmful cosmic rays and radiation. We believe that what once made up Mars’ thick atmosphere is stuck in frozen ice caps, and we just need to release it.

Mars is a top contender for terraforming simply because of how similar it is to earth. It is slightly tipped on its axis, and rotates once roughly every 24 hours. It is the closest to us, and it is believed that we will have the best results with it. partially complete each criteria of the final report. After this, I created my final product, and filled in the rest of the information.

How we can terraform the planet

One risk which would mostly wipe any chance of terraforming the planet it that mars lost all of its atmosphere to space, rather than absorbing it to its surface. If this is the case, it would be highly difficult to terraform mars with modern day technology.

Firstly, there is the popular idea of nuking the poles. This could melt enough carbon dioxide and water to kickstart a cycle of global warming. This may work; however, the chance of simply contaminating the planet with radiation is also very high.

Another option is that of harvesting the south polar ice cap, which has water ice, and CO2 ice. It could possibly double the CO2 in the atmosphere, but is still roughly 100x too low to even make a difference.

Alternatively, there is a theory that there is CO2 absorbed in surface dust. We could shift is equilibrium over 10,000 years to release a small fraction of CO2. This long term option would only provide 4% of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Next, we could strip mine carbonate materials. Mining the largest carbonate material surface deposit would likely return less carbon than melting the polar ice caps. Such materials likely lay deeper under the surface in even larger deposits. Once the materials are collected, we could either heat them to 300 degrees Celsius, or melt them with acid.

There is also the idea of hitting the red planet with comets. Comets have been confirmed to have gas warming particles such as CO2, H2O, and molecular nitrogen.

We could also artificially spark the greenhouse effect. Sunlight comes in which is mostly visible light, gets absorbed by the soils, and it re-radiates infrared heat which then gets blocked in by the greenhouse gases. This does not happen in a thin atmosphere like that of mars. By setting up large mirrors in orbit (which would send heat which normally wouldn’t reach the planet) we could make the planet warmer, melt the ice caps, and set off a domino effect. Putting microorganisms such as cyanobacteria would take CO2, and create oxygen on the planet.

Conclusion

I created two different variations of my final product. Initially, I created a longer video of the project, but later found out the video could be a maximum of thirty seconds long. Both videos can be accessed through the QR codes on this slide. The images on the slide also display my final product. In the images, the ceilings were removed so the insides of the base could be seen.

When creating the base, I was thinking about amenities the crew would need, ways to keep the base sustainable, and how to generate electricity. The base is powered on a mix of solar and nuclear energy. Water is always recycled. There is a greenhouse to make crops, and a gym for the crew to stay fit.

Some features of the base include:

Two laboratories

A greenhouse

Combined living room and kitchen

Bedroom with bunkbeds

Gym

Bathrooms

Solar panels

Nuclear energy

Rovers

Reusable water

Find out more!

Long version

Short version

Aidan

Aidan’s Shoot-a-thon Fundraiser

Global Context - Fairness and Development

Goal - To host a basketball shoot-a-thon game to raise money for a charity called Lauralynn Children’s Hospice, which is a charity for helping children and young adults with disabilities.

Introduction

I believe this global context is connected with my project as Fairness and Development as it is all about the relationships between communities, and sharing or giving resources with other people. As I am helping a community of people with disabilities and trying to encourage them, and be motivational.

The Product

I have officially partnered up with the charity Lauralynn and they have helped me create an Instagram account promoting the fundraiser and I created a website where you could donate to the cause. I requested for the help of PTA and teachers to help promote this event. The competition will hopefully take place at the Edge sports hall at Nord Anglia International School Dublin with the permission of from the head of the school’s sport department.

The reason I chose this topic and would like to achieve the goal is because I don’t give anything to different communities and I want to contribute more, and by fulfilling this and helping others not only would it make this a better environment, or better people. It would also make me feel like I have contributed something to a community and I have done something special and worthwhile / good. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions and circumstances. The Shoot-a-thon couldn’t take place before the fair, but it will certainly take place when COVID restrictions have settled and it is safe to proceed with this event.

The ultimate goal I hope to achieve is to have raise some money to donate to Lauralynn and try to make a difference in young people’s lives who are terminally ill, and also to raise awareness about this particular charity.

Accomplishments

My goal will be challenging because during harsh times and restrictions for the COVID 19 rules, it would be very hard to have as many people as I would like to have at one time. Another challenge may be since the people are limited due to COVID 19 we may not raise as much money to as we possibly can. And another challenge for me may be that, this is the first ever time in my life that I am running a fundraiser event on my own so I may make some mistakes but that is expected an a all part of the process. The objective of this event is to raise 500 euro. I will have an official partnership with the charity, so they can help boost the event and provide me with gear such as sponsorship cards, t-shirts etc. For successful advertising, I plan to create social media accounts on multiple platforms and advertise the link (webpage made by me, payment directly to LL) for donations on each platform in order to, possibly achieve higher than my objective. I will also put advertise the event on TV’s all around the schools. I will also email Mr. Crute to make an announcement for me on a particular day so that the whole school can hear about this. I need to email Mr. Dunphy and Mrs. Butler Walker to confirm the data, and to get a floor plan of the hall to know where everything would be set. I will also email chair of the PTA Mrs. Pesak if they can help donate anything to the cause or help with décor. Student volunteers would be good, to email just for extra help. I will also investigate who would be able to cover my event insurance wise just in case of injury. The event would run in a way whereas no one would be bored when their turn is not yet. Tickets cost 5 euro for 3 shots. There will be appointed scorekeeper to monitor and judge the shots. You win the event by making the most shots in a row, whoever has the most wins a prize of a gift basket. Once partnered up with Lauralynn’s Children’s Hospice, payments would be paid directly to them with a special account for the event in order to track how much the event was able to raise.

Changes

There were many changes made to my project mainly due to COVID 19 guidelines. Unfortunately these guidelines prevented me with various ideas I had to make this project a unique and organised product. During this criteria, I had to change the capacity of the venue to make sure that the event is safe for participants and audience members. The reasoning behind this is because COVID has restricted the amount of people that can come together in one place. Another change made through this criteria is, the way of collecting funds for the charity. Originally, I had decided to have people from the charity that have partnered up with me to hold buckets and collect cash from participants and audience members who just want to watch but are willing to donate to such a cause. But at this moment, I have created a donation website which I have shared on social media, and shared with Mrs. Bateson to put on her morning emails to all students and teachers to create more attention for my product. I have changed my marketing and promoting strategies in more online ways than physical ways.

Mairead

Designing and Handmaking a Carbon Filter Mask

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To design a protective mask and donate it to those less fortunate

Introduction

My personal project is going to be about designing and handmaking a carbon filter mask and after making it and hand sewing it, I will then donate it to the poor and the homeless. In order for me to be able to do this product and for it to become successful, I will need to research and learn how to hand sew and to stitch by hand, I will also need the right materials that are long lasting. I have found a few websites and video tutorials that will provide information on how to handmake a carbon filter mask, or the materials that are needed and could be used for this project.

The reason I chose this topic to do for my personal project is that since we’re in the middle of a pandemic and we’re it’s quite dangerous and risky to be around people and especially strangers and different people, I thought it would be a good idea to design a protective mask and donate it to the homeless because I presume that they don’t really have much protection from this virus, so I will hand stitch and hand sew carbon face masks. I have found out that gas masks are similar to these carbon masks, for gas masks the bad or polluted air goes in and there’s first an aerosol filter which removes particulate matters from the gas that goes in, and after the aerosol mask there’s an ASZ charcoal filter, and they filter gas through a bed of activated carbon (carbon processed to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption which means holds solid molecules of a gas or liquid as a thin film, or chemical reactions.) And after the ASZ charcoal filter there’s the charcoal dust filter, the charcoal filter can be cleaned and reused. After that process then the filtered air is what you breath in.

What

I will do that’s linked to that

is

that

I want to use the Charcoal dust filter but the ones I found are 3 layers and I think that’s going to be too thick, I will also be using the Aerosol filter as that is what does most and filters the air. And then I will also be using Kente cloth to cover it and I’ll be putting a little of my culture into these masks. Kente cloth is a Ghanaian cloth that has different patterns and is made of interwoven cloth strips of silk and cotton. ‘Initially, the distance coupled with the strength of exhalation could be investigated, but then face coverings made from different materials and critically with different numbers of layers could be tried. The design of face-covering that made it hardest to divert the candle flame will probably provide the best barrier for projecting the virus forward and through the face covering.’

Grace

Bilingual Book for Children trying to Learn English when coming from a Foreign Speaking Environment.

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To create a bilingual book for young children who are transitioning from a foreign speaking environments into English speaking ones, my goal is to create the book in French, Irish and Spanish.

Introduction

I chose this global context because I felt as though it fit the criteria of my research project perfectly. My project talks a lot about personal expression for children as they find it hard to speak up and communicate their thoughts and ideas at times, especially at a young age. Cultural expression is also seen in my project as it talks about the cultural challenges that children face when trying to express themselves in a foreign country such as learning a new language and also cultural challenges of moving to a new country. When view these two together I can say that the global context relates to my project by researching how children with different cultural backgrounds verbally express themselves.

Illustrating My Story

For the project I created a series of 10 images that illustrate my story. My story is about a deer called Oliver. The first thing I knew is that the book had to be gender fluid while also being interesting for my target audience. From there the creation of Oliver the deer formed.

After creating Oliver I decided I needed to create more characters, friends for Oliver so that the story would become interesting. From there I created more characters 2 squirrels, 1 raccoon and 2 rabbits. I thought that these characters would be engaging to the children and add something different to the story. I tried to include an adventure into the story too that would make the child more engaged and use their imagination further. The story depicts an adventure that Oliver and his friends go on, one that is thrilling but dangerous. Oliver and his friends encounter some obstacles on their journey that they must get through. To end the story I wanted to end on a rather happy note but also a complete twist in the story.

Process

When first starting out to create this project I began researching extensively. This portion of the project was most time consuming but also the most interesting. I conducted research on children that had ADHD and Dyslexia by interviewing the learning support teachers at my school. I had the privilege to interview 2 of the teacher and I was able to have a better understanding of the two learning conditions. One point which I would like to highlight is “dyslexic people often miss every third word and if you can imagine giving an instruction to somebody and they miss every third word. It like when you’re on the phone on a bad phone line .” in my opinion this was the most interesting and important part of the interview as it made me have a better insight and understanding to how those with Dyslexia think.

To try further my research I created a survey in which I got the grade 2’s to fill out. These questions varied from “do you like school?” to “do you know what Dyslexia or ADHD is?” I found these results rather interesting. There were no children who knew what ADHD was and a few knew what Dyslexia was. One of the participants said that they had ADHD however they weren’t sure what it was. This question allowed to me come to the conclusion that there was in fact a great need for my product in society as many of the children who have such learning obstacles aren’t being helped as much as they need. In school class rooms today there are not many to no multisensorial books which allow these children to learn more effectively and easier. This type of issue needs to be further incorporated into the school system. As well as that my survey found that over 80% of students said that they found something to do with writing, reading or learning a new language(in most cases English) the most challenging thing in school, this result further backs my point of allowing children to learn easier especially those whose first language isn’t English.

Conclusion

My project was not only about helping children with ADHD and/or Dyslexia it was about helping those who are unable to speak or read in English learn. I conducted much research on how a child is effected if they are constantly moving from country to country. I found out that many children are unable to make friends and have long lasting friendships as distance is difficult. Many children have no sense of home or a place of belonging. I found this quiet interesting as I had never thought about this type of issue before as I have never moved in my life so thinking in another perspective was very interesting and eye opening.

Damoa: A Website for the Community

Global Context - Globalization and Sustainability

Goal - To create a plan for a service or make a service that allows people to borrow other people’s unused items. This was to help reduce waste on items that were not being used.

Introduction

I decided to create a website by learning how to make one through research.

Process and Thinking

I first started off researching about the different ways in which I could make a website. I initially decided to make the website by learning html. However, after discussing with Mr. Bateson and Mr. Maurrison I made the decision to use a website creator, such as Wix or Squarespace, to make my website. Along the way of researching, I did encounter problems, major one being when I bought a “app theme” believing that it was an app when it was actually a “theme” for another app. I was able to greatly learn from this mistake which was worth the money spent. I then moved on to Wix to create my website. But, before making the actual website, I drew a sketch of what I wanted my website to look like. The final product did not end up exactly like the sketch, but it helped me as a guideline for the design of my website. Even though I faced numerous problems along the way, I was able to successfully complete my final product.

Final Product

When first entering my website, users are greeted with a brief explanation of what the website is. If they wish to know further about the website, they can click on the arrow at the bottom right to be directed to the “About” page. If the user doesn’t wish to go to the “About” page, they can close the pop-up to see the main page of the website. On the main page, users will be greeted with items that other users have posted. Right now, they can see a post put up by me, which explains how users can post their own items onto the website.

Final Product

On the “About” page there are explanations for what the website is, what the name “Damoa” means, and what I wish to achieve from this website. I also have a hyperlinked button located at the bottom of the website that directly links to my email. The users can send any questions they have about the website.

On my third page, “Contact”, I have a forum that also allows their users to send any questions they have. However, this forum is only submitted through the website manager and not directly to my email.

Check out my website!

Grace

A Guide to Environmentally Conscious Businesses

Global Context - Globalisation and Sustainability

Goal - To accomplish raising awareness for the environmental crisis we are currently facing. As well as making it so people will be less likely to support businesses who do not care about the environment whatsoever!

Introduction

Businesses like “Pretty Little Thing” are guilty of exactly this, yet they continue to be supported when businesses like “Grown” who sell beautifully made, sustainable clothes are much less known. I want our environment to not only survive but to thrive.

To achieve this goal, I set out to write a book about businesses in Ireland and how they are working to decrease their negative impacts on the Earth. I then ranked said businesses on a scale from 1-10, 1 being the least sustainable and 10 being the most! I have three chapters ranking different types of businesses. Chapter one is dedicated to Fashion businesses or clothes shops, chapter two is dedicated to food or food establishments like cafes and grocery shops! And chapter three is dedicated to Accessories and cosmetic businesses. I have a chapter four that looks a little different, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Harney who has been working in government for many years. She has been Tánaiste, The Minister of the Environment, she is currently the Chancellor of the University of Limerick, and along with these she has been many other things too! It was truly an honour to get to interview her! She gave some good insight into the state of the climate in Ireland! I hope my book can function as a guide of sorts for anyone who is looking to educate themselves on how to be more environmentally conscious.

This book is dedicated to Earth, our home.

Process

This notebook functioned as my progress journal, I picked it out because it was made from recyclable materials, as shown in the picture, the cover says it used to be a plastic bottle.

It was a tad ironic that it came wrapped in unneeded plastic, just goes to show how much further we have to go before we are a completely sustainable country.

The second picture is of my first entry/brainstorm in regards to my Personal Project, I knew I wanted it to be about the environment but I was unsure of which aspect of the environment that I wanted to focus on specifically, I eventually focused on Irish Businesses and that is why there are multiple things circled in red because I wanted to mix a few of my ideas together!

Rating

Some of the Businesses I chose to rate were...

Veganic - 8.5/10

https://www.happycow.net/ reviews/veganic-dublin-173257

Fresh Cuts Clothing - 8.5/10

https://www.freshcutsclothing. com/

Conclusions

My name is Grace McLaughlin, and I am the author of this book. I created it because of the love I have for my planet. You see Earth is heating up, ice caps are melting, animals are going extinct, and natural disasters are becoming unbelievably common. Humans are threatening to go past the point of no return in the name of technological advancement, in the name of the “future”; but let me ask you this: how can you say you are modernising and preparing for a future when that specific thing you are advancing towards may just be the reason that we do not have a future?

Table of Contents:

1. Prologue

2. Chapter 1: Fashion

3. Chapter 2: Food

4. Chapter 3: Accessories and Cosmetics

5. Chapter 4: The Interview

Avoca - 9/10

https://www.avoca.com/en/ stores-and-cafes

6. Epilogue

How does Music in Film Impact the Audiences Emotional Response to a Scene?

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To create a film and a soundtrack to the film that will have the ability to impact the audience emotionally, through use of various techniques used by professional composers for film and through use of different elements of music, based on my research.

Introduction

The objective of this project is to able to tell a story almost entirely through music, and leave an impact on the audience. To complete this project, I researched the impact of music choices on an audiences’ emotional response to a scene. This included music theory, the impacts of different types of music and how when music is associated with something it can impact a person’s emotions. Along with this I created a short film, (this includes writing a script, creating a storyboard directing and editing) with a choice of songs to be used in it. This included 2 pieces of music created by me in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), and 2 songs from other artists, that I think were suitable choices in attempt to test my research. I used the different musical techniques to hopefully create an emotional response from my audience, while relating the music choices to the storyline of the film.

Process

I came across a YouTube video called “How Pixar uses Music to make you Cry” by the Youtube Channel “Sideways.” Immediately I thought that this concept could be very interesting to experiment with. The main idea behind this technique is to associate music with a particular character or action, as opposed to a particular emotion. The way in which Pixar plays with the audiences emotions is by using music to show a relationship between characters. For example, if a certain theme is played throughout 2 characters’ entire relationship, then, during a scene in which they can’t see each other anymore, that music will be played again, to evoke memories of their relationship, and therefore make the audience cry. The technique essentially establishes a relationship between 2 characters and the audience, therefore losing a character not only makes the other character upset, but also the audience.

I really wanted to test out this theory, along with other ways in which I could use music in film, so I created a survey to get a general idea of what type of music people associated with each emotion. I began to experiment applying these elements of music in a DAW. I had never really used one before, so it took a lot of trial and error to understand how to produce a piece of music, however I did have prior experience in video editing and the format is fairly similar, so eventually I got used to it.

Then I started to think about the story I wanted to tell through my film, and I decided to relate it to current circumstances. I filmed all of my footage and began to edit it together, using the music that I created, along with music from other artists that I thought seemed suitable for each scene, based on my research.

Conclusion

Finally I finished editing, and this is my final product!

Spencer

Making an Artificial Intelligence

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To make an artificial intelligence that can play a simple game.

Writing a Story Book About Viking History

Global Context - Identities And Relationships

Goal - To conduct research on my family heritage and Vikings to successfully write a short book about my family history and the movement of ancient civilisations throughout Europe, specifically the Vikings.

Introduction

I wrote I short book about the Viking timeline whilst telling it through old Viking stories, myths, and legends.

Research

In this chapter I will research and write about who were the Vikings and where they came from?

Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings were invaders and settlers who came from Scandinavia. Scandinavia is a collective of countries in Northern Europe which includes Norway, Sweden and Denmark however authorities argue for the inclusion of Finland and Iceland due to their speaking of Scandinavian languages. The Vikings travelled by boat as far as North America in the West and Central Asia in the east from about 700 AD to 1100.

The Vikings were very well known for their plundering and invasions which makes sense considering the word Viking meant “pirate raid” in the old Norse language that was spoken in Scandinavia around the same period. However they also voyaged to some other countries to settle peacefully, or to trade with faraway lands.

Process Journal Sample

Questions/Reflection

What was your inspiration for your project?

My project was motivated by my fascination for history, and I believe that our knowledge of the past should affect the decisions we make in today’s society. I was especially interested in the history of my family tree, which led me to begin research on Vikings and eventually to write a book on their history. After doing my research I knew what I wanted to do with it: present it in a book in a fun and engaging manner.

What did you learn about yourself as a student or a learner?

After reflecting and reading my process journal I came to the conclusion that I am a physical/kinetic learner. When it came to research and reflection, I found that I sometimes procrastinated, but when it came to actually making the product, I was really involved and interested in my work. I’m happy I noticed this while working on my project because I believe knowing this will help me study and work more efficiently in the future.

What is the most important thing you learned from doing your project?

The most valuable skill I gained from my personal project was the ability to efficiently manage my time. Since we had to set our own deadlines and complete the work in our own time, it was critical that I managed my time effectively. This is an ability that I certainly improved while working on my project, and I glad I did because it will most definitely come in useful in the future.

What are you most proud of with your project? What makes you say that?

The physical product (the book) and the amount of research I put into this project are what I am most proud of. I am proud of the product because I put a lot of time and effort into it and tried my hardest to make it as I imagined it to be. And regardless of what mark I get I think that is something to be proud of.

Designing an Intuitive Brace

Global Context - Scientific and Technical innovation

Goal - To design an intuitive brace that will assist in the movement of someone who has a lower body that is weaker than most people to assist in the rehabilitation of patients that underwent long term treatment and improve the quality of life of people with a naturally weak lower body.

Process

The same design is repeated 6 times, with 3 different poses, showing how it would bend in the knee, and the red parts are simply the joints that are highlighted. The angles that the product is angled at is as follows: top-front-right, top-front-left, bottom-back-left, bottomback-right, and right.

Process

The following are concept sketches that best portray how the straps are implemented and are the most aesthetically pleasing anything that is marked with “wrong measurements” have wrong measurements.

I drew on my leg to assist in my visualization, and so I documented some of the measurements, and selected the most aesthetically pleasing ones here.(Disclaimer: I did not use permanent markers, and they are very washable and generally safe for the skin. This being said, I still do not recommend doing this yourself, as washing it off can and will prove to be difficult).

My Product

My product is the design for the intuitive brace. The brace will be intuitive when mechanical aspects are brought into account, when this happens, then the joints are reflective in the motions that they will do. In respect to the three upper joints, the top joint is responsible for raising the leg vertically, the joint below that is responsible for lateral leg movement (its positioning makes it limited, as only limited lateral leg movement would be necessary for people who are recovering or have weak legs). The joint directly below that is responsible for rotating the knee/foot. This is also there for balancing purposes. The joint located at the knee is to assist in extensions/contractions at the knee. The joint at the ankle is there for minute adjustments at the foot, and is also there primarily for balancing purposes. This brace primarily assists the user by giving them an additional place to move their weight (the belt and straps on the thigh/lower leg keep the brace on and the poles/base are there to help redirect the user’s weight. All of these are adjustable, as to create products that would fit their users better. The only parts that will have to be custom made is the foot/ ankle and the triple-joint). The straps on the back of the lower leg and thigh also would be laced with pressure sensors, which would then be calibrated with the user’s movements. This would result in the brace knowing how the person moves, and the brace would move appropriately to assist in the movements. To address the powering system, I would reply with the creation of the lithium battery. Lithium batteries are found in both phones and electric cars, and evidentially has the ability to store and release sizable amounts of power. This battery would be charged in a port while it’s user is not putting it in use.

Timeline

November

Research and Initial thoughts (initial)

February

Details of drawings were refined (Leg)

December Research and Initial thoughts extended (Material and primitive concept)

January Rough sketches and concept drawings (concept)

(Early) March

Digital version, which also brought about the shown workings (Maths workings)

Questions/Reflection

What is the most important thing you learned from doing this project?

The most important thing I have learned from doing this project in terms of life skills is how to become motivated. I stayed motivated by setting deadlines that I had told someone. In terms of trivia/facts, I believe that the most important concept that I have utilized is trigonometry, as I would not have been able to complete the digital projection without my trigonometry knowledge. In regards to a new fact, the most important thing that I have learned is that polypropene is the plastic that orthopaedics use and the padding that is commonly used is called a rayon fleece. In terms of observations that I have found interesting, I believe that the human body proportions are quite interesting, and seeing as my hip was exactly 1m above the ground, I was able to make assumptions of the human body quite easily. Of course, the alleged facts are not likely true, as it is under the assumption that my body is of an “average” person’s proportions, which is highly improbable.

What about this product are you most proud of and why?

If I were to choose one aspect of my project that I am proud of I would say that I am most proud of the 3d design. I am most proud of that because I initially thought that I would have to constantly ask someone who was already familiar with the program, but when I actually made the 3d projection, I was able to make what I wanted to quite simply and did not need any help. Despite how complex and organic my subject may appear, the human body is quite geometrical, allowing for the program to be used primitively and still create the intended product.

What made you decide to choose this as your project?/ What was your inspiration?

I decided to do this project for various reasons. My initially inspiration was from the Marvel Superhero Iron Man. I have always admired the suit, and have always wanted to attempt to recreate it. This was obviously not possible, as it would require an immense amount of energy and lots of air circulation, which would consequently result in an extremely difficult design challenge, as the shape of a person’s body would have to be taken into account. Additionally, I have a family member who has a leg brace, and whenever it was exposed, it would draw my attention, and I would think about how it could be implemented elsewhere and/or how it could be improved. This allowed for lots of prior thought of the product, and efficient periods of progression.

How did you overcome any challenges that you experienced?

The primary challenge that I had to overcome was a lack of motivation, as I was not able to see people as frequently as I was used to and I was getting more work from school (I have found that online school has more work than regular school). But I overcame that by simply sitting down, start working, and getting into a productive flow. This flow enabled me to progress immensely in a short period of time. Additionally, frequent meetings with my supervisor and deadlines immensely encouraged me to further progress with my work.

Rupasri

The Ethics of Embryonic STEM Cells

Global Context - Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To create a scientific essay investigating and discussing the ethical concerns of embryonic stem cells while using my research to formulate my own opinion.

Introduction

Embryonic stem cells are a form of medical treatment that can potentially treat various prevalent diseases. However, it is a controversial topic due to various ethical concerns. My product (an essay) involves the discussion of cultural, religious and scientific reasoning in order to create a conclusion and personal opinion.

Learn more!

Read my full project here!

Contribute!

In order to for me to gather a third person perspective, you can contribute to my project with your own opinion by filling out this online questionnaire.

Ruhee

Gender Inequality in India

Global Context - Fairness and Development

Goal - Toresearch what caused gender inequalities in India and how they affect girls and women in education and the workplace.

Introduction

Gender inequality is a very prevalent issue in India, preventing millions of girls and women from achieving their true potential. Often, these inequalities are left unaddressed and therefore it was important to me that I find out about them in order to educate other people about the problems girls and women face in India.

For my final product I chose to present my findings in a research essay.

For my product, I had to conduct a lot of research. In order to organise my research and my essay I split my findings into three categories that I thought would be most interesting:

1. What caused gender inequalities in India

2. How inequalities have affected women in education and the workplace

3. How gender inequalities have impacted the wider society

I made notes on the research that I thought would be relevant which was very useful as it meant that when it came to writing my essay I had all of the information ready. I also made an essay plan prior to writing the essay which gave me a clear structure to follow.

My Findings

After researching and writing my essay, I found some striking statistics about gender inequality in India. It is evident that there are huge gaps in the access to education women and men have. Women, especially in rural areas, have less access to education than men resulting in them not being able to find work.

Here are some of the most important statistics regarding literacy rate, unpaid labour and female GDP contribution:

Impact of Reducing Inequalities

The final part of my essay was investigating what the impacts of gender inequality is in India. I learnt that if these inequalities are reduced it will result in a stronger economy and less unemployment as well as a lower rate of child marriages and child pregnancies.

Therefore, it is vital that girls are empowered through education as it will provide them with the tools to access opportunities and build a better future for themselves and other women.

Reflection

Overall I found the personal project to be very enjoyable and I developed many skills through doing it. In particular, I really enjoyed reading the articles about the importance of empowering women through education as they were very informative and interesting.

The project however was definitely challenging and something I initially found quite hard to do was finding reliable and relevant information as there were countless resources available. However, this later got easier as I became quicker at scanning through articles and choosing the parts that would be relevant to my research.

Isaac

Is Editing an Improvement or Restriction in Photography?

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To create a compilation of my photographs before and after editing in order to decide whether editing photographs makes them more beautiful, inspiring and expressive, or takes away from the authenticity in their feel.

Introduction

As photography has evolved from black and white to colour, from physical to digital, and most importantly from a darkroom to Lightroom, more and more possibilities have opened up for the photographer.

Through the course of my project, I wanted to explore the newest great opportunity in the field of photography: editing, and discover whether it cruelly disregards the history and culture of the art form, or adds another layer of beauty, personality, and expression.

Clandestine Cottage

In this example, the colours have only slightly been modified, the trees livened up a bit, and the porch of the house made a little more dramatic, but it is clear, at least to my taste, that the resulting image is far more beautiful than the initial one. As for the authenticity, I believe depth has been added; another layer for the viewer to appreciate without removing authenticity.

My intention in this photograph was to express the mystery of the future, and what it is to me. The foreground is bright and colourful: how the present can be, but the further down the road you go , the darker and more mysterious the picture gets. This symbolises the uncertainty I was feeling about the future at the time I worked on this photograph.

Modern world: 1 point, tradition: 0

Dizzy Daisy

In this, a second example, the image is constructed much more simply, allowing for more creativity in the editing process. I completely modified the colour of the sky, and got the flowers almost to pop out of the image, not to mention chopping off the sides, but in my mind, the photograph has been given a new layer of emotion, mystery, and character, to be appreciated both by the artist and the audience. It is as if a subtle fantasy world has been created, the sort of one you never really know you are in, until you return to our same-old, drab reality.

It is in this fantasy world that I wished to be at the time I created this photograph. It was a way form me to express exactly what was going in my mind.

Another point for the future, I think.

Silly Sunset

Don’t worry, I’ll give you a second.

Yes, this one is much more sacrilegious than the previous examples, as if it was created in a Volkswagen bus parked in a field around 1966. On the surface, this may be seen as an exception to the growing trend of added beauty due to editing, but really, this image still has a deeper meaning. Yes, it may be considered a bit extravagant, but anyone will admit is has a very clear vibe to it.

This “photograph” does something that would have been unimaginable when photography was first invented, unless you had immediate access to a leaf blower and an industrial tree shredder before the ink dried. However, coming back to the feeling of the picture, one has to admit it is striking, as if a gaping hole has opened up in the artist’s imagination, and multicoloured paint is flowing out. The happiness I was feeling when I took this picture has been reflected in the editing process, although I did take some liberties with the kaleidoscope-looking mess of colours.

So, ummm, 3-0?

Conclusion

I have come to the conclusion that editing photographs not only adds to the beauty and depth of the photograph, but also offers a way, beyond the taking of the image, for the photographer to express themselves. Adding mood, colour variation, and even distortion at times, can greatly influence the feel of the photograph, and offer a window into the mind and thought process of the artist.

In my mind, photo editing is its own art form of its own, and, as with other mediums, has its own challenges, constraints, and opportunities for expression. This is what makes it truly stand out: its unique opportunities for expression and change, but its place among painting, sculpture, and music as an art form in and of itself.

If you wish to give your own opinion about the outcome of this project, please provide your feedback here.

Jocelyn

What to Expect when You’re an Expat Kid

Global Context - Personal and Cultural Expression

Goal - To inform and educate that there is in fact this group that do not identify with only a single cultural identity, but rather have an appreciation for many.

Introduction

My personal project is a reflection of my life as a Third Culture Kid. Sharing my unique story, my travel, my experiences as well as those of other Third Culture kids who have crossed my path.

A Short Film about the Struggles of being a Teenager

Global Context - Identities And Relationships

Goal - To show teenagers that they are not alone in their struggles and that their problems aren’t as big as they seem. To support them as they figure themselves out. To help them feel less alone in the difficult journey they are going through. To guide them to the right coping mechanisms.

Introduction

Focusing on Identity and What the biggest challenges teenagers are faced with are and how would they be portrayed in a short film?

Inspiration

After coming with an Idea for a project I struggled to come up with a plotline to the script. I decided to base the script on a short play that I had written and performed in 2019. The play was about underage drinking and the risk of alcohol. The research I conducted suggests that underage drinking is not only a problem in itself, but it is caused by many other, smaller problems. Such as stress, peer pressure, academic pressure, self-image, insecurity and many more. This became the basis of my script. What happens when you don’t know how to deal with those problems, and turning to alcohol instead.

Process

The original plan was to write and film the short movie and present as a film. However as things unfolded filming a Movie became irrelevant. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise giving me more time to perfect the script and the deep meanings behind it. I began by doing research on the Internet, I read up on the opinion of experts on the matter of teenagers and what they’re struggles are. Perhaps, the most Important part of my research was talking to people my age, hearing their experiences and views on what is in fact so difficult about this period in our lives. Once I had all the information I needed to narrow it down to a few of the most important things that I observed and figure out how to fit it into my script. I then edited the original script and wrote the new version.

Final Script

The final scripts contains the struggles of academic pressure, peer pressure, the need to fit in, self-image and the way they lead up to the most obvious problem, alcohol.

The script follows a young girl named Emma, who’s just failed some of her lessons and is worried about telling her parents. She is offered a drink at a party and things go downhill from there. She decides to buy into the fact that drinking can solve her problems and learns the hard way that it can’t, no matter how blinding it may be. She learns the way of her mistakes the hard way.

Sofia

Making a Relaxing Song

Global Context - Identities and Relationships and Scientific and Technical Innovation

Goal - To use music (writing a song) as a therapeutic tool to decrease stress in students.

Introduction

As High School students we experience a lot of stress, whether its because of the pressure coming from school work or ourselves it has become normal for us, students to be stressed. A survey done by Princeton showed that over 50% of students report feeling stressed, and 25% of students said that homework was their biggest source of stress. In another survey done by The Atlantic (newspaper) 26% of students reported that they were diagnosed with depression. High schoolers are working towards big goals and higher education, we face exams, assessments, homework that all ultimately add up to grades that determine our future.

To further structure the project I will be aiming to connect the process and product to the global contexts of Identities & Relationships and Scientifical and technical innovation.

Process and Thinking

As I mentioned in my goal, in this project I wanted to write, record, and produce a song that is able to relax the listener. The aim of this song is to physical reduce the stress experienced by the listener in one sitting, to do this I knew that I would need to know how to write a song as well as research musical components that are effective in reducing stress (when found in songs).

Luckily enough I had a lot of prior knowledge in writing and recording songs, as I have the tools and equipment to do both, however I did need to teach myself how to produce (mixing songs). My first big step was researching, I started off by researching the effects of music on the brain and then graduated too researching specific relaxing music components and their specific effect on the body (e.g. slow songs lower heart rate and blood pressure).

Once I had finished researching I moved on to creating an instrumental track, I used an MPK mini (mini keyboard that can be used in GarageBand to record more than one instrument) to create the many different layers of instruments to the songs. The rhythm, tempo, and instruments were chosen according to what I discovered in the research. Once I had added all the instruments and was satisfied with the way it sounded I started to mix the track together so that it sounded more cohesive (process journal entry below). During the time which I was making the instrumental track I also wrote the lyrics and created the melody so the next step was to record myself singing the song over the finished instrumental track.

I chose the best take of the vocals and started to correct the voice and mix the song into a final mastered track. To do this I did watch a YouTube video as I had no prior knowledge in this area. I essentially cleaned up the audio of the voice and added some subtle effects. Finally once that was done I transported the finished audio to iTunes. I then created an album cover using Canva and a photo I had taken and edit. I then created an iMovie with the album cover as a background and the finished song as the audio, I downloaded the movie and uploaded it to YouTube.

I wanted to create a song that could de stress listeners and this is the generalised version of how I accomplished my goal.

Backstage Pass

This is how I made the instrumental track and mixed my vocals.

Recording Vocals

Mixing the Vocals

Making the Instrumental Track

Mixing the Vocals

Finished Instrumental Track

Making the Instrumental Track

Pictures of the Garageband Process

Listen here!

Be Ambitious