DONE!

In my opinion, overall this project was all right. I completely understand why it was important for us to do this project. It is important to know how to apply what we learned into our daily lives and that is what this project was basically about. However, this project was difficult because it was hard to find a good problem that we would be able to fix in such a short amount of time. Although it was difficult, my group worked really well together and shared each task fairly equally. The work that needed to be completed for this project was done by each member of the group in some way. We had a rough start to our project because of the many rejections and proposals that we had to go through. In the end we were not able to implement anything on school campus. We are not absolutely sure if Mrs. Cooke and her staff are going to install the metal strips in the near future because we never really got any clarification on it. However, I for one, have learned many lessons from this project. I learned that sometimes it takes a lot of work from more than just one person to get something done. Before starting this project, I didn't think that it would be all that hard considering we would be working with a group. I thought that we would just need to contact a few people and get some approvals. Well, we quickly learned that this project was much more difficult that we predicted. We thought that since we got approval to put the strips on the stairs that it would get implemented. But, we were wrong. Although many things weren't great about this project, I wouldn't change anything about it because it is different than sitting in a lecture and taking notes. It gets students to think more for themselves like we will eventually have to do in the real world in the near future. I hope that the upcoming Physics students that have to do this project will understand the real purpose of this project and really take it to heart. Although we were supposed to maybe learn more about science through this project, I feel as though I learned much more life skills than anything else. And that is not such a bad thing. 


  

Last Blog

 Overall I thought this project was all right. The one thing I had in mind is that the more years this project is done the harder it is going to be to find tangible problems around campus to fix. The project itself was a good idea and it fixed many problems we had this year. The things that went well in our project was communication. When we went to get our project approved by faculty and staff, we did it fairly quickly. We also were able to communicate well amongst our group to get things done. Some of the things that did not go according to plan is how many ideas we went through. We ended up going through two projects before getting one finally accepted. And at the end the project we chose did not get fixed by the end of this year. I think this activity is fine how it is. It is up to your group how you want things to be done with little help other than the acceptance of the proposal to Mrs. Martin. I did not really think I was doing physics. It was a little difficult to apply physics to some of the problems we were trying to fix though. By learning physics and doing this project it makes you realize how much science we deal with in our everyday lives.

Final Blogpost!

Overall this project was okay. I understand that applying what you learn to real life is important and that’s what this project promotes. But this project was fairly difficult though in the sense that solving a problem on campus can be done in the time given. With that being said, not being able to solve the problems in the time being kind of defeats the whole purpose of bettering the school. My group worked really well together and we took on the tasks fairly equally. The work assigned for this project was very reasonable and we were given a plethora amount of time to accomplish them. We had many, many rejections as far as proposals and ideas go. And we were unable to implement anything. We don’t know for sure if the metal strips are going to be implemented for sure. I learned that it takes a lot of work and approval to accomplish one thing. I also learned that deadlines in the real world aren’t flexible. I thought we would just have to talk to people and the process of putting the strips on would take less than a day and we’d be done. Little did I know that, that wasn’t going to happen even this school year. I wouldn’t necessarily want to change anything in this project because it is a nice alternative to learning and have to take another final. I would just hope there are still things to better Kamehameha after all these groups tackling tangible things to solve. There was some science involved in this project but I mostly learned life skills this past quarter.

DONE SON!

YAY! Today is our last monday schedule of Physics.  Yes! I'm so glad it's basically done! :)  I felt that this project was definitely a learning experience.  We learned multiple things that we can take with us in life.  The first thing I learned is that "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."  I got that quote from The Lorax because we needed to watch this movie at the beginning of the quarter.  From this quote, I learned that many people are unaware of problems in our world.  If we see a problem, we should point it out and let others know about it and attempt to fix it.  If people don't know of these problems, nothing will be done.  I also learned about teamwork.  Everyone in my group needed to finish their part of the project to get things done.  Without there efforts, we would have majorly failed.  I felt that the best thing that went well of all the things that happened in this project was that I got to work with people in my class that I don't really talk to, and we got to know each other better and see each other excel during this project.  We all were very helpful when needed.  Even though our project could not be implemented on time, we know that it will be fixed in the future! We are happy to see that Kamehameha is growing to becoming a better place because of students who care and want to see things being fixed.  This project was kind of difficult in trying to find a problem to solve and then going through all the little steps to getting there with approvals from administration with deadlines.  It was very stressful.  I don't really have any other opinions on how this activity should be fixed.  I felt that we were doing science, but in a different way then normal sciences do their work.  I liked how the 1st 3 quarters we learned about actual science.  Then, in 4th quarter, we needed to relate something in the real world to physics, learn about it, and then explain it to our fellow classmate.  This was a really interesting quarter for Physics.  I'm so glad we're done!! :)

The Weekend After

Since yesterday was basically the finale of our quarter and our various projects, we don't really have homework!!!! THANK GOD! Our only homework is to blogpost and to edit our final paper to turn it in on Monday. Tomorrow morning our group will edit out paper and then we are done! Monday we need do our final blogs and then it is finals! I'm so happy we're done.  Hopefully we got a good grade on our project even though it didn't quite follow through.  I think we deserve a good grade because we gave our best and tired MULTIPLE problems to solve but even with our best given out, we couldn't get the conclusion we wanted.  We did learn good lessons throughout this project that we can take with us in life.

Presentations!

Today in class we didn't really do much because it was a PM Modified day, so we only had 40 minutes left.  Because we had shorter classes, and mostly everything was already turned in, we just rehearsed what we were going to say during our presentations and what order we were going to talk in.  We decided to write our notecards in case we needed to refer back to them.  None of us were really that scared of presenting during the day.  After the school day was finished we met as a group at 4:30 to rehearse one last time.  We all looked so good in our formal wear!  Right before our presentation I was kind of scared, but it wasn't too bad.  I realized after we were finished with our presentations I was fiddling with my cards and my hands.  I'm not the greatest at public speaking.  Well, we are all just glad it's basically over! Woohoo!

Last Block Schedule :(

Today was the last block schedule of the year!!!!! Wow this quarter and year flew by so fast! Anyways, today in class we worked on our final paper.  We added our conclusion and made final touch ups.  We also turned in our PowerPoint to Mr. Blake for tomorrow's presentation.  I hope we are ready and prepared to present it in front of Administration!  This should be interesting.  I'm glad we are going 5th of the 12 groups.  "Perfect! That's right before the time everyone gets bored" - Cory.  Haha he kind of said that to himself after we found out we were going 5th.  Tomorrow in class we need to rehearse what we are going to say so we don't screw up! Tomorrow should be interesting.  I don't want to dress up, but to get full points we have to.

Final Paper is almost due!

Tomorrow our final paper is due...well the first draft of it at least.  We've been working on this paper for most of the quarter, starting with the proposal and now ending with our reflection and conclusion of the project.  We are almost finished typing this paper.  Since we did not have class today, our group decided that we should assign different parts of the paper to each person.  In doing this we will get our paper done more quickly and more efficiently.  We are almost done completing this on Google Docs.  We have about 8 pages finished so far. Hopefully when we are finished, we will have a good length paper that covers everything!  Tomorrow is our last block schedule day for physics! :( How sad....

Working on the Final Paper

Today in class we turned in our PowerPoint draft.  Mr. Blake took a look at ours to see where we were in the process of getting prepared for Friday and what he felt needed to be changed and/or added to our PowerPoint.  After viewing our slideshow he told us just to add like a little reflection and how we felt before/during/after the project.  Tonight I will add this to our PowerPoint and add any last minute pictures and then our PowerPoint will be done!! :)  After showing Mr. Blake our PowerPoint, our group thought it was a good idea to start working on our Final Paper since it's due next class.  We got a fair amount of work done in class today.  So far we have about 8 pages of only words.  Yay! We just need to finish up the paper and conclude it, then add our pictures and we are finished with the paper! Woooo! 3 more days left of the week!

ALMOST DONE!

YES! Just finished up our first draft of our PowerPoint.  It's due tomorrow, and we're ready to turn it in! This is basically the last week of school, and we are all so stoked for summer!  All we have to do now is hand in our PowerPoint and get it revised, and turn in our Final Paper then present on Friday and we are good to go! This quarter went by so quickly!  I think I can say from all my group members that we just want this project to be done! It was kind of frustrating trying to find and fix a tangible problem at our school with a money budget.  I didn't think it was going to be that difficult at first, but as the project went by it seemed to get more frustrating.  Well, now that we are almost done the burden of getting things done on time is easing off.  Only 2 more block schedule days, 2 monday schedules, and a Final day and we're off! Yay!

In class yesterday we discussed as a group that we will work on our final paper and the PowerPoint to get it finished up.  Since I have the PowerPoint on my laptop, I will be finalizing it and adding all the pictures, information, and transitions of the slide in order so that by next Friday, it will be good for our presentation!  We are almost finished with this project and we're so happy! I think we're going to be stoked after we finish presenting on Friday.  Even though we were super bummed that we couldn't deploy our project on time, we are happy that we know it will be fixed in the future. Hopefully we don't get too much point deducted from that part of the project because we worked really hard on trying to get it finished and we did all we could to put it out there.

Putting it all together

Since today was the final day to have our final project deployed and we couldn't deploy ours, we decided to just have a simple work day in class to put all our work together.  Half of us worked on the paper and the other half of us worked on our PowerPoint.  We had to collect all the pictures that we had taken previously to put into the PowerPoint and the paper to show the process of what we had to go through.  After working on these two things in class, our group talked about what we will be doing for next weeks' classes to finalize this project and put it to an end!

Final Paper Time!

Today in class we spent the entire time working on our final paper and keynote. Mel and Kawai are working on the keynote. Cory and I are working on the final paper. But we are all collaborating on what to put in each of the two things. We’re kind of worried on how we’re going to make the final report 15 pages long. Looking at our final paper though, it’s taking shape. I don’t think we’re too worried about the oral presentation. If anything we’re more so worried about making the time for that.

Working

Yesterday we continued to work on our presentation and final paper. We are still sad from learning that we are unable to have a solution to our problem. I saw the group’s sign for lunch and I was jealous that they were able to have something implemented before Friday. It would be my luck to have our project being taken to a higher authority. I just hope it doesn’t affect my grade too much. Yesterday we also took pictures with all the people we interviewed. That was fun because we got to update them on our progress and the whole projects progress.

Bad Luck

Today in class Kawai received an email from Mrs. Cook and unfortunately our project has been submitted as a request through KS’ capital program to have metal nosings installed. In other words, our project is out of our hands and will not be implemented this school year or even this year probably. Metal nosings are sturdier because they can withstand Hawai’i and Kapālama weather. The adhesive strips peel off after moisture gets beneath the adhesive part of the strip. They also noticed that because they lose their moisture, they tend to curl up and become even more hazardous due the strips curling upward. It is really unfortunate that we are not able to have a project implemented out in the open but at least we tried.

Almost there!

Today we are still waiting on a response from the department head of the grounds people because our project is due Friday. Tomorrow we’ll probably either email her again or call to see what’s the status on the approval of our project. We also have to work on a post-test for our project. We don’t want to make a survey if we can’t go through with are project though. Also we have to find a way to be able to do a monthly subscription to use surveymonkey in order to be able to see more than 100 responses of data.

This week

This week we are hoping to get more done on our oral presentation and our final report. We are expecting to hear back from Mrs. Cook soon if not this week then hopefully early next week. We need the adhesive grip tape on the stairs because we still have to get more data from possibly another survey we will give to the students. If we don't have enough data then our project won't seem as reliable and may not seem to have made any change on this Kamehameha campus. We really need to get this done otherwise we won't get the data we need by the time we really need it. 

Doing work

In class we did a physics test so we did not have time to talk to each other about the progression of our project this weekend. So, we have decided to continue working on our final report that is due in the next two weeks. At first we were afraid that we wouldn't have enough to say to fill up 15 pages worth of words. But, we figured that talking about all the trial and errors we went through would be a good thing to do. We have had many good ideas most of which didn't work for this project. Hopefully including those in the final report will make our end result better. Right now we don't have much to talk about besides that because we haven't been able to actually get the adhesive tape on to the stairs yet. We are expecting to get a final decision very soon. 

Due Dates

Because due dates are approaching and we have not gotten verification from Mrs. Cook, we thought that it would be a good idea to begin on our oral presentation and final report that are due in the next two weeks. We will not have a lot of class time to do much of it, so we started more GoogleDocs to begin the process of finishing our project. I created another GoogleDoc for our final report and also a Google Presentation for our oral presentation. It is much easier to make these because all group members are able to work on the composition of each assignment. We have gotten started on the oral presentation; however, we were not able to do very much because we have not gotten verification from the people that we need to in order to get the adhesive grips put onto the stairs. Until we get notification, we will most likely not be able to do much to the presentation. 

Prototype

Because we cannot really do a prototype by this Friday, we asked Mr. Blake if making a survey would be a good idea. Thankfully he said that it was a good idea to make a pre survey and get some data before we actually place the adhesive grips on the stairs. So, a couple of days ago one of our group members, Melody, created a survey on survey monkey and posted the link on their Junior Class page on Facebook. After she posted it on Facebook, she received may 60-70 responses from students. We thought that we would need a lot more than that so I took the link and posted it on Facebook as well on the Senior Class page. To our surprise, the number of responses went up to 395. That is a good number of responses however, we are only able to see 100 of them because of the restriction that Survey Monkey has. Therefore, we are going to have to purchase a months worth of Survey Monkey so we are able to see all of the responses and also be able to create a post-survey when the project is completed.

Making Progress

Today we had a very short class period. We were not able to do very much especially because we were let out early to go down and eat our delicious hawaiian food that was being served at the Akahi Dining Hall. However, with our limited time that we spent in the classroom, I was able to respond to Ms. Cook's email. She spoke with Mr. Blake this morning at our assembly and asked if the deadline was too hard to complete the project. Mr. Blake told her that the actual deadline is next week and not this week. Therefore, I responded and thanked her for all the work that they are going through to help us complete this project and that we as a group really appreciate what they have to go through to help us. She said she would let us know when they will be able to work on the stairs and if it will be before the deadline.

Emailing the right people.

Today was a short class period. Unfortunately we were not able to do very much. However, we did email Ms. Wendy Cook. She is a very important person in our process of getting this project deployed on the campus. She is involved in a lot of the activities that go on our campus. Therefore, it is obvious that she is a very busy person and may not be able to help us as much as we would like. However, we did email her introducing ourselves and our project. We also attached our proposal to that email so that she really got the just of what we really want to accomplish in this project for Kamehameha. We have not heard back from her yet; but, we are hoping that she is able to help us with what we need to do for the rest of this project. Besides emailing Ms. Cook, we began on our Keynote presentation for the final presentation day in the Auditorium. We thought that it would be a good idea, just in case we ended up not having enough time to make it presentable to the rest of the Physics students.

Approved!

Last class (Friday), we got a response from Mr. Blake that Mrs. Martin had approved our project. Now that we got the first step done, we now need to contact the physical resource people to get their approval to do the project. Once we do that then we are finally able to move on to the actual buying and applying of the grip tapes. So far we have had many trials and errors on a couple of ideas, but after a few weeks we are finally back on track and ready to move on. We sent them an e-mail last class and we are just waiting for a response to move on.

Survey

Today we are waiting for Mrs. Martin's approval on our proposal. Right now we are finding ways to collect data for the stair case problem. We are thinking of making a survey to give to people at tech building. We are now in the process of making the survey on surveymonkey.com. Another problem we are facing is that we need to find out from Mrs. Martin if we can apply the grip tape by ourselves or do we need to have some one do it for us. We are also not sure how or when we are going to get the approval or disapproval from her, since we just put the proposal in her box.

Safety First!

Yesterday we came up with another plan. This would be plan c after the first two failed project ideas. Our idea this time is to improve safety. We are planning on putting grip tape on the stair cases going down to tech building. There are four sets of stairs with ten stairs in each set. The grip tape costs about twenty- seven dollars per sixty feet. So far our estimated total comes out to be ninety dollars. Yesterday our group got the chance to talk to Mrs. Martin about our new project idea. She said it was a good idea and now we just need to turn in the proposal to her and our project can possibly be approved. We are still looking for new ideas just in case this plan does not pull through.

Today we came out with the idea that we were going to add grip tape to the stairs by the performing arts building. So first we went on the internet to find the approximate cost of grip tape for the stairs. We then too a meter stick and measured the length of the stairs. And then we went to The Performing Arts room and surveyed the teachers on what they think of our project. When we talked to Mr. Blake about it he said it was a good idea but we should still look for more ideas in lower campus just in case this idea does not work out.

Back To Square One

Yesterday we came back from talking to mama fuj and Mrs. Martin. The conclusion we got from both of them is that our project idea is not possible. So at the end of the day we were back to square one and had nothing to work with. So we then got a little advice from Mr. Blake and he said that we should look at lower campus problems because a lot of the problems in upper campus is already resolved. So now we are in the process of getting more ideas from more teachers and students in lower campus.

Plan B

Today we went to Mrs. Martin office to talk to her about our project about Midkiff. We told her that we wanted to refurbish the furniture in Midkiff. Her response to that was that it would cost too much money, but there is a warehouse that has extra furniture. So we went to talk to mama fuj in Midkiff. When we talked to her, we mentioned reorganizing Midkiff so that it would cost less money and still be efficient.

She then told us that the men that would move the furniture were busy so there would be no time to move anything by the time we needed it buy.

Edited Proposal

This weekend we did not really do much.  We keep discussing how we are going to plan out our design for the project, how we are going to collect data, and our appointment scheduling with Mrs. Martina and other administrative faculty.  This weekend, we finished editing our proposal since we change our idea from the bathroom locks to Midkiff cubicles.  We are hoping to speak with Mrs. Martin tomorrow some time so that we can run our idea by her and see if she will approve or not or if she has any other thoughts on this.  The days our getting smaller until our plan needs to be set into motion!! We are quickly running out of time! We need to finish this work and get things done.

Midkiff Cubicles

Today we had class, but Mr. Blake was not in class.  We knew our detailed design was also due today, but we needed to change our proposal.  Kawai and I tackled changing our proposal, and Shawnie and Cory took on the challenge of forming our detailed design.  Since we haven't gotten much approved yet and we haven't fully committed to a certain plan, it was difficult for us to form our detailed design.  As we were on google docs, we had the chance to chat with Mr. Blake about our plan and what we were doing in class today.  He told us that we should just commit to one plan, even if it doesn't work out in the end, or to think of a Plan C.  We decided on committing to our Plan B: Midkiff Cubicles.  We need to immediately need to schedule and appointment with Mrs. Martin so we can swing this idea past her and get her approval.

The Detailed Design

Today, we did not have class again.  We talked a little bit more about the two plans that we have been contemplating and how exactly we would set either plan into action, how much it would cost, how we would collect data, and how it will benefit Kamehameha.  We still have not found a better solution to collecting data for Plan A.  Plan B seems to be a more efficient problem to tackle and it seems to cost less too!  Tomorrow our detailed design is suppose to be due.  We hope that Mrs. Martin will check her email and get back to us so that we can meet with her and introduce our 2 problems and see which she would approve of or what her thoughts our on what we have come up with!  We haven't quite yet started on our detailed design because of the setback of Plan A's data collecting issue.  As soon as we meet with Mrs. Martin, our detailed design will be worked on and finished.

Possible Change of Plans

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liltree/408572701/

Today we were trying to figure out if we should just go with our original plan or change it up.  Since Mrs. Martin hasn't emailed us back yet, we decided to think of a Plan B incase that we are unable to come up with a way to collect data for Plan A.  Our Plan B is to rearrange the tables and cubicles in Midkiff so that it can become a better studying environment for more group projects.  We were either just planning on rearranging the tables or buying a couple rectangle tables in replacement of the cubicles.  We don't plan on shifting every cubicle in Midkiff, but in the areas that more kids usually occupy.  We talked to Mama Fug today and she said she was all for the idea.  She suggested that we should just save the money and not buy anything but if we can think of a plan of rearranging the seating area then that would be perfect! So we basically need to sketch an outline of how we would like Midkiff to look and we need to get Mrs. Martin's approval.

Data Collection

Today in class, we met with Mr. Blake and talked about our proposal.  He warned us that the asking permission part of our plan might be difficult because it must go through many people to get approved.  After he let us know about this he also wanted us to try figure out how we are going to collect the data.  The data and approval are an extremely huge part of this project.  We need the approval to set our plan in action, but we also need to data to prove that this problem we are trying to fix is beneficial.  After we talked to Mr. Blake, we discussed what we will be doing for the rest of the week.  We also discussed how we will be getting our data.  Cory brought up the idea of some type of counter for the number of people that go into the bathroom.  We thought this might be a somewhat good idea, but that would only collect the data of how much people use the bathroom.  We need to figure out an idea that we can use to have more efficient data of how this problem (after it is fixed) is beneficial.  We rethought our ideas and we also came up with rearranging the cubicles and table setup in Midkiff.  We need to talk to Mama Fug about this first though. This is going to be tough.

Start to a Busy Week!

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Today we did not have class.  As a group, we decided that we should make the appointment tomorrow in class.  We felt that it is better to explain what our project is and how we are going to change Kamehameha into a better place by changing the locks of these bathrooms to Mrs. Martin.  Today we just talked briefly about what we will be doing this upcoming week so that we can put our project into play and hopefully everything works out for the best! Also, tomorrow after we introduce our project to Mrs. Martin and ask for her permission, we also plan on talking over how we will get data, and if we have time, start collecting that data.

Appointment Time

After speaking with Mr. Blake about our project, he told us we have to talk to Mrs. Martin about what we’re trying to do. We probably have to make the appointment with her tomorrow considering that we don’t have much time till our project has to be out in the open and such. As a group I think we also need to decide how we are going to collect data. We’re probably going to end up having to sit in the bathroom during our free’s or something. But after talking with the other groups, like the automatic paper towel dispenser group, we’re not going to be the only ones camping the bathroom.

All Turned In!

Today the seniors went to their senior picnic meaning that Kawai isn’t here. That’s okay because we finished our Proposal yesterday in class. Today in class we turned in our Proposals both digitally and in card copy form to Mr. Blake. As a group, we hope that our proposal is accepted! We’re sure that the most our expenses would cost is $90, which is just under the budget that Pauahi gave to us. We are very thankful that we don’t have to pay for everything ourselves. We are not entirely sure though as to if we’re getting the locks from Home Depot, City Mill or if we’re ordering from a catalog like Mr. Blake said.

The Proposal

Today in class my group started and thankfully finished our Proposal on Google Docs. We separated and color coordinated the questions and we had brief discussions on them. After that we got to work and answered all of our questions. The most difficult question we had to answer would probably be the physics related one. We related our project to people flow or the efficiency of how the bathroom operates. We also researched prices and sizes of the bathroom locks but we still think we need to ask the custodial staff about what’s the correct one to use.  Everything is going well so far and we’re glad it’s going smoothly.

Bathroom Stalls

Today I went to go check out the Konia second floor bathroom to see how many stalls actually don’t lock properly as people gave me weird looks for going into every stall. Come to find out four out of the twelve stalls don’t lock. That’s a third of the stalls! From previous experience I know that the girl’s first floor bathroom’s in Konia don’t lock as well. In fact three out of the five stalls don’t lock, but they fixed 2 yesterday. -_- So in between classes when girls are trying to use the bathroom there is either a line or girls having to awkwardly open the door to the stall when someone’s using it. Actually looking at which stalls work and which don’t make me want to fix them even more so.

Presentation

Today in Physics class we all presented our ideas to the class and Mr. Blake. My group presented about the two interviews we had which was Bailey Matsuda and Kumu Kawika. They had many good ideas but not a lot of them were fixable, especially with the amount of money it would cost. I found it to be similar with the other groups interview results. I really enjoyed the group that shared about the automatic paper towel dispensers. I thought that was a really smart and fixable problem that would benefit a lot of people. I also enjoyed the group that was trying to get homestyle chicken back for us Kamehameha Students. That is much appreciated. 

Daily Blog 5

After our class on Thursday, we as a group planned to make a GoggleDoc for the composing of our proposal. We have figured out what we are going to be doing for our project as I explained in the last posting. Since we do not see each other very often and we have to finish this proposal by this week, we thought it would be the easiest and most efficient way to involve all of us in the making of this assignment. We each will have something to add to what needs to be said in the proposal and GoogleDoc is the best place for us to collaborate on what we have to say. Over the next few days we will have to be very diligent with what we are doing during our class period when we are actually able to speak with each other. 

Daily Blog 4

Today in class, our group finally decided on what we are going to do for this project. We are going to fix the locks on the bathroom stalls in all bathrooms. We came to the conclusion that it would make the most sense and be more reasonable than the other ideas that we came up with. Making the Akahi lunch line more efficient and less crowded was another idea of ours that we were considering; however, we thought that there may have been another group from either our class or period 6 that had already come up with that. Fixing the bathrooms also seems reasonable because of the budget that we have for this project. We think that it won't cost much to fix all the stalls that need to be fixed, which is about 2 or 3 per bathroom. Some of us also know of people that have experience with construction and fixing stuff up so we have people to ask for help and assistance. My uncles and papa know a lot about fixing things and construction. Shawnie also said that her dad knows a lot and has tools that we can use to fix the stalls. Overall, I think that we made a good decision on what we are going to do to make Kamehameha a better place. It will take a lot of teamwork and a lot of cooperation to get it done in the next 29 or 28 days, but I know we can do. Finally, I took pictures on my phone of some bathroom stalls that needed fixing but it wouldn't upload to my computer so I have the picture below instead. These are some of the tools that we will be using to fix the locks on the bathroom stalls.

http://www.fordf150.net/articles/idx.php/0/029/article/How-To-Replace-A-Power-Door-Lock-Actuator.html

Daily Blog 3

Today during our class period Shawnie, Cory and Melody decided it would be a good idea to go and interview Bailey about some ideas he might have to help us with our project. Some of the ideas that our members and Bailey came up with from the interview concerns the bathroom, shuttle bus schedules, vending machines, bell schedules, and Akahi lunch lines. We, as girls, noticed that there are a lot of doors in the bathroom with locks that don't work at all. The door doesn't stay closed so no one uses those stalls which makes less bathroom stalls for the girls to use. It doesn't make it very hard for our bathroom to be effective; however, it would help to have more stalls to use especially in bathrooms with fewer stalls. Catching the shuttle bus to get from class to class is sometimes a hassle for students because the teacher of the class that they are headed to is always on them for being late to class. Most of the time it isn't the students fault that the bus arrived at Konia late from Paki. We haven't figured out solutions for this problem and the others listed but we are narrowing down our ideas to a few that may be good to use. The past few days we figured that it would be easier if we made a schedule for our blog assignments. We thought that it would be easier to assign each member by week instead of doing a day to day assignment.

Daily Blog 2

Yesterday on April 3rd, I had an interesting conversation with Kumu Kawika. I wanted to ask him about his thoughts on what could be change to better Kamehameha Schools, particularly the high school campus. He told me some very interesting ideas on what he thought needed to be changed. I think that last year he was a part of the group of people that had the idea to make blue benches and put them in the Konia hallway to decrease the crowd that there is particularly in the morning and during lunch periods. I remember him walking through the halls last year and reminding students to keep their feet off of the benches. I liked that they came up with that idea because it really helped to lessen the build up that there was in the morning and instead of having to sit on the dirty ground, students were able to sit on a comfortable bench. This year Kumu Kawika had new ideas to better the campus. He thought that it would be a good idea to have some type of curtain or drape to cover the openings of first floor Konia. It would help to keep the sun out of the eyes of the students who sit on the benches and it would also keep the rain off of the benches so it will allow the students to sit even if it is raining. However, there is a problem because some students like to be able to see what is going on on Konia field and see the people passing by and be able to talk to them. Figuring out a way to still be able to see people on the field and have a covering for protection may be a challenge in doing this idea. Overall, Kumu Kawika was very helpful in giving ideas and suggestions to help us further our project.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8305377

Daily Blog

Today in class we went over our deadlines for the project and also covered the information in the packet we were given. We also had a few minutes afterwards to speak and discuss with our group. We talked about different ideas that each of us had for our bug list. Some ideas came up about making the system at lunch better at Akahi. Ideas about making the lunch line more efficient and making the dining hall less crowded. We also had ideas about making the student parking a bit better and maybe being able to have more parking if possible. The hard part about coming up with ideas is coming up with ideas that will possibly only cost as much as a hundred dollars because that is the budget that we were given. We haven't made our final decision on what we will be doing; however, we are going to be speaking to teachers today and tomorrow about things that they have that might need to be fixed or need to change. 

The Lorax

http://tearsforqueers.tumblr.com/post/19885135311

Today I saw The Lorax.  I thought it was a super good and cute movie!! Anyways, what stuck with me throughout the movie was the quote: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."  Dr. Seuss uses the quote many times in the movie.  This made me connect the movie to what we will be working on for the rest of the quarter in physics.  We need more people to understand the things we want to be fixed, and with the help of many, it can be done.  But, if you don't let others know what the problem is, then they will never know and won't care as much as you do, and then nothing will be accomplished.  I really like this quote because it is true, and for things to get better, it helps with more people putting in effort.  Like the boy in the movie, he let everyone know about trees and what good use it can be put to, and after letting everyone know, they all had a change in heart.  There are many problems out there.  We just need to find them and let people know about them so we can make a change and live in a better environment.

The Lorax

The movie The Lorax relates to our project in many ways. In the movie, the Lorax left the Once-ler a word. The word was unless. That word symbolizes someone, just one person’s care for a problem. That person is Ted. The Once-ler said because Ted cared about the trees, the problem will get better. This relates to our project because, as a group, if we try and solve a problem at Kamehameha, the problem might not improve instantly but will get better. The Once-ler also said, “Unless someone like you cares an awful lot nothing is going to get better.” If Kamehameha students want things in our school to be better then we have to better those things ourselves. I thought I was not going to enjoy this movie but it turned out pretty alright. The movie has a good meaning behind it and once again Dr. Seuss is proven to be a genius.

Our Bug List

                                               http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2005/08/federal_appeals_1.php


Our school campus is a very special place and a lot of people know that it is. There are many opportunities for our group to make a difference on this campus. We have come up with this list of a few of our ideas. 


1. Make the benches and outdoor seating of Konia a bit longer. (make more space for people to sit and have less clutter)


2. Extend the covers of the stands at the track so that there will be more protection for the spectators of future track and field, football or soccer events. 


3. Create blinds/covers for the openings on first floor Konia for protection from the sun and the possible rain that we have on campus. (prevent from the benches getting wet and not enabling students to sit on them)


4. Create an efficient daily planner system to help students get more organized with not only their school work but also their extra activities and personal lives. (possibly digital)

The Lorax

I was not really expecting to enjoy the movie very much. But, while watching it I began to enjoy what the whole movie was essentially about. It was entertaining and very inspirational for everyone not just for the younger children. I think that the main point of all of us watching the movie is that we see how the movie relates to science. At first I didn't really understand why we had to watch the movie because I didn't think it had anything to do with physics or science in general. However, after watching the movie I now know that part of the reason why we were told to watch it is because of what is said and shown about ecosystems and trees mostly. From the movie I learned that if one important part of an ecosystem is destroyed or taken away, the system doesn't work as well or cannot function at all. For example, when the Once-ler cut down all the trees, the animals/creatures that once lived there were not able to live there anymore because they wouldn't be able to survive. I also think we were told to watch this movie to show us that it really does only take one person or a group of people to make a change that is needed. Maybe just like Ted, the boy in the movie, we will all find a good idea and become inspired by that certain idea to make Kamehameha a better place to be.  

http://www.biconews.com/2012/03/20/the-lorax-is-a-light-whimsical-commentary-on-environmental-preservation/

Just the other day I went to watch the Lorax. The film was not the best but it wasn't as bad as I though it was going to be. I though Dr. Seuss I had a very good meaning behind this story and that he was ahead of his time. The things he says very much applies to us today. In the story he talks about how trees went extinct and what life would be like if they were not there. I think he is talking about the enviroment in general and how we take care of it. If we don't change our ways who knows what life will be like later in life. Look at as now, now that we are depending on fossil fuels prices for gas just keep rising. Now that there is the invention of hybrid cars, the consumption of gas has gone down but we still rely on them to power our cars and use it for electricity for our houses. Unless someone really cares to make a difference dothing will change.

First Thoughts on the Project

Today in class, our group tried to think of a problem around campus that affects students.  We want to solve a problem that the students will appreciate in the future and that will make our learning environment a better place.  One of our first problems we thought of is lunch.  We feel that the lunch lines get way to long and around the area of food is very crowded and unpleasant with all those who cut.  The lines are so long that everyday the lines must form on the outsides of the turnstiles, causing areas near the lunch tables to become packed and overcrowded.  Another problem we thought us is fixing the roof to the stadium at Kuniakea.  When people come to watch football or soccer games on a rainy night, the roof has no use of cover the bleachers.  Although it may look nice, our school should have functional structures not just for looks.  The last problem we thought should be fixed is the staircase that leads to 'Akahi is constantly overcrowded during passing time (especially between lunch periods on block schedules).  All those that are walking down to 'Akahi take up the whole staircase, while those that are trying to make there way up cannot really get to their destination because these staircases are overly crowded.  This is a problem because students struggle in getting to the places they need to go and it also causes an unsafe environment, where at times, people push and shove their way through all those infront of them.  Only these 3 thoughts came to mind as our group began to think of what we should work on for this project during 4th quarter.  Hopefully by the end, we are able to solve whichever problem we decide to take on and be successful in it!