The task for this project was to create some type of device or method to help solve some of the world's major problems. Next, we presented and advertised our ideas to the rest of the class. There were all kinds problems that were developed, such as gang activity, lack of clean water, and split ends in your hair! Our problem that we decided to research was sports injuries, specifically the knee, and how to prevent them. After identifying our problem, we spent about three days researching the problem. on the internet, we looked up the top ten most common injuries, and the knee was at the top. So, we decided to focus on the knee and what it is made of. We discovered that collagen (connective tissue) is a main part of the knee. T his protein increases elasticity and resilience in the knee. We then learned more about collagen and if there were any ways to increase it's amount. After doing some searching, we found out that there are many types of healthy fruits and vegetables that contain and strengthen your collagen. Our final product ended up being a pill that you took more doses of as you aged, to increase your collagen.
While we did this project, we followed specific steps called the Engineering Design Cycle. The steps are: 1. Identify the need ~We had to do a lot of brainstorming before we could start this project. We started by all individually thinking of problems that were major in the modern world. We came up with many ideas, such as global warming, money for education, and stress in teens. After sharing all of our ideas, we finally decided on the idea of sports injuries, since we could all relate to the problem. 2. Research the problem ~A lot of research went into this problem. We had to figure out what the knee is made of, which parts of it get injured the most, and what methods can be used to heal it. We learned a lot about collagen, which is the connective tissue on the knee, and what can be used to strengthen it, to prevent from it being torn, ripped, stretched, ect. We discovered that there are many foods that you can eat to increase the amount of collagen in your body. Some of them include avocado, nuts, beets, salmon, leafy greens, and much much more. We then had to figure out how much of the specific food you would have to eat to significantly affect your collagen levels in your body. We also researched a lot about sports injuries and how they are caused, prevented, the statistics, the ages at which they most commonly occur, ect. 3. Develop Possible Solutions ~Our next step was to try to brainstorm ideas that could easily and efficiently stop this problem. We had to try to think of something that anyone could access and use at any time that would still work well. We thought of a few ideas, such as an kind of a special brace, a drink, and a pill. 4. Select The Most Promising Solution ~After weighing all of our different options and thinking about the pros and cons to each solution, we finally decided on a pill as our final product. We knew braces wouldn't be that efficient, as each of us had learned from past experiences, and the drink would be too hard to distribute. So, we decided that the pill would be the best option. It would be made out of small amounts of the foods that contain collagen, and because collagen amounts decrease as you get older, we figured out that your dosage would have to slightly increase as you got older. 5. Construct A Prototype ~Due to our lack or work time, we ended up making a smoothie that represented the pill. We blended up several ingredients that contain collagen, such as almonds, spinach, and pineapple. We then froze the smoothie into ice cube form, and then brought them into class to present. The frozen smoothie was a success, but it didn't taste as good as we would have liked! To go a little more into detail, we also got an empty pill bottle from a local pharmacy and printed out our homemade label with our dosage info and side effects and then glued it on the bottle. 6. Test And Evaluate The Prototype ~We could not do this step for this specific project. 7. Communicate The Design ~For this step we made a power point (as you can see above) that talked all about everything we did in our project. We have a chart that talks about the top ten sports injuries, a page about collagen, what strengthens it, the ingredients in our smoothie, and why the pill/smoothie will help you. This power point would have been presented to our distributor to provide them with more information about our prototype. 8. Redesign ~We were not required to redesign our solution. 9. Repeat ~Not applicable for his project.
Reflection
One of the things I liked about this project was the research that went into it. It was very interesting to learn all about collagen and injuries since it is applicable to my own life. I also like how we focused on real world problems and what we could do to help solve them. There are so many problems right now and it is nice to try to be able to make a difference. Although I had a very productive group that worked well together, we had a few pits. One of them was our researching strategies. All of us were looking up the same thing, which was insufficient, although it made for more information. Another pit was our lack of time, which was obviously out of our control, but it made it more difficult to come out with a pill as our actual final product. I had many peaks in this group. Citlalli, Olivia, Sally, and I worked very well together. Everyone was very cooperative, and there were no arguments or disagreements at all. Another peak I felt we had was our time management. This is a very big accomplishment, especially because our work time was cut two days short. We all researched a lot of information, which made it very easy for us to make our presentation. I felt like the work load was spread out evenly as well. We were all also very helpful towards each other whenever we needed it. It was very nice to have extra time in the end to do things such as make final tweaks and practice the presentation, instead of rushing like I normally am. Some life skills I learned were taking advantage of the extra time I had to improve the project even more. I also learned that if everyone talks about what they are going to work on prior to beginning the project, the process goes a lot smoother. Overall, I enjoyed this project very much and it was a great success.