As the last step in our capstone project, we organized everything we had done so far, and created materials we would use during the S.T.E.M. Senior Exhibition Night. These materials included the slideshow we created, a trifold poster, our design defense document, and an example blood pressure monitor. The exact requirements for our work can be found in Step 8 on our teacher's website, and all our work can be found below.
Our poster featured the detailed design blueprints we created for our ideal model, along with some 3D printed parts. It also contained an explanation of how our design would function, and what we did to test our model, as well as future plans.
Our design report was similar to what we put on our poster, but streamlined for a more intellectual reviewer, who would be interested in more than just what our device looked like. Once again, the specifics of what it had to contain can be located in Design Step 8.
Our prototype was, unfortunately, nothing like what we wanted our final device to be. It was more of a proof of concept than anything else, as all it was capable of was inflating and deflating a cuff, while reporting to a computer the pressure inside the cuff. It had no wireless capability or memory, but it was still somewhat impressive at the time.
Our presentation was displayed on a computer at our station, and helped present the same information in a more engaging manner.
Reflections:
While this was a year-long project, there are still a few notable accomplishments and failures that occurred throughout. One of my accomplishments, I believe, was being a somewhat effective leader. While I normally take a more passive role in group work, I was the one who seemed to know what they were doing most of the time in my capstone group, and consequently, I got to inform the rest of my group of what needed doing, which I performed acceptably at. Another important fact I learned through this project was that sometimes, effort is enough. Our end goal was wildly out of reach for a bunch of high schoolers, and I was aware of that fact from near the start, but we soldiered on, and did everything we could, and it paid off. Our device may not have been successful, but we learned all the lessons we were supposed to learn, and impressed people at the exhibition night with what we had been able to do. Sometimes, the journey is more important than the end destination.
There were a few failures, however. One of the biggest my group experienced was keeping on track. We had a Gantt chart set up, but tasks consistently took longer than anticipated, so we were constantly struggling to catch up. In the future, I will attempt to stick more strictly to my schedule, to avoid falling behind. A second failure of mine during this project was not trusting my teammates enough. Often, instead of delegating the work, I would just do most of it instead, reasoning that I could get it done both better and faster than the others. However, my group mates were able to accomplish any task I gave them, and likely could have done more if I had asked. Hopefully, I will be able to learn to share the burden equally in future projects.
While this was a year-long project, there are still a few notable accomplishments and failures that occurred throughout. One of my accomplishments, I believe, was being a somewhat effective leader. While I normally take a more passive role in group work, I was the one who seemed to know what they were doing most of the time in my capstone group, and consequently, I got to inform the rest of my group of what needed doing, which I performed acceptably at. Another important fact I learned through this project was that sometimes, effort is enough. Our end goal was wildly out of reach for a bunch of high schoolers, and I was aware of that fact from near the start, but we soldiered on, and did everything we could, and it paid off. Our device may not have been successful, but we learned all the lessons we were supposed to learn, and impressed people at the exhibition night with what we had been able to do. Sometimes, the journey is more important than the end destination.
There were a few failures, however. One of the biggest my group experienced was keeping on track. We had a Gantt chart set up, but tasks consistently took longer than anticipated, so we were constantly struggling to catch up. In the future, I will attempt to stick more strictly to my schedule, to avoid falling behind. A second failure of mine during this project was not trusting my teammates enough. Often, instead of delegating the work, I would just do most of it instead, reasoning that I could get it done both better and faster than the others. However, my group mates were able to accomplish any task I gave them, and likely could have done more if I had asked. Hopefully, I will be able to learn to share the burden equally in future projects.