This activity was to meet people in the class by doing games. These different games were designed to help each of us bond to each other. It also helped us meet each other.

This activity had us take apart many toys made for children. This was done in a team and we had to make a presentation at the end of class about how our particular toy operated. This taught us how intricate many seemingly simple things can be and how to work as a team and present as a team.

 

This was a personality test that we took in class. It helped us learn about ourselves and helped us look at our personalities objectively. It also helped to make teams for future projects so we did not all have one type of person on a team.

 

These labs were designed to teach us how to use IronCAD on a basic level. I felt at the end of the labs that I could produce basic CAD drawings and possibly somewhat complex ones as well.

 

In this activity we were to design a structure that could hold all four group member's using only some tape and 40 pieces of newspaper. The first day we were to design out the structure. The second day we were to build a structure of someone else's design. I learned a great deal about the design process from this activity. I learned that it is often hard to properly convey your design as well as it is hard to interpret someone else's design without being able to ask them what they meant by certain things.

Cardboard Cube:

In this activity we were to make a "perfect" cube out of cardboard provided for us. This proved to be quite difficult and required great precision in the cutting of the cardboard so that it would all line up correctly. I learned that to do it correctly you had to go very slowly and make sure you checked everything twice.

 

Silly Consumer Products:

For this activity our group was to design a consumer product that was very stupid. We decided to design a shoe that held both of your feet and had built in socks. This was for people who were too lazy to put on socks and too lazy to put on two shoes. This way they only had to slip on one shoe. I learned a lot about creative thinking and working as a group and brainstorming new ideas together.

Playing With Food:

For this activity we made many different kinds of food using unconventional methods. The one I enjoyed the most was making the ice cream. We mixed the milk sugar and vanilla in a bag and then placed this bag inside of a larger bag filled with ice and salt. We then shook up the bag by throwing it to each other until the ice cream solidified. I learned that it was actually fairly simple to make many food items that seem out of the ordinary such as gummy worms.

 

Design Build 2:

This was the same activity as design build 1 except that we had half of the time to complete it as well as half of the material. The second time around it was much easier to construct as well as design the newspaper structures. Almost everyone made the same type of structure this time around because everyone saw what worked and didn't work the first time around. I learned that it is important to do a trial run and find out what works and doesn't work in he real world. Once this has been done designing and building things becomes much much easier.

 

 

Making Presentations:

This is the part of the class that I dreaded the most. But in a lot of ways it was the most beneficial part of the class for me. It helped learn how to make presentations in front of an audience. It also helped me look objectively at how I act in front of an audience and how I can improve there understanding when I watched the videos of my presentations.

Jornada Experiment:

Midway throughout the semester we were giving pocket computers called jornadas to use. I found them of very little use except to check my e-mail instead of paying attention in class. Although they were definitely cool and made my life easier in some ways I thought that in general they wee a waste of time.