HASS+ Progress Update 2

Chili Cheese Nachos - i am baker

Our project will dive into whether nachos have been culturally appropriated or whether it is simply appreciation as part of the topic of Geography in the HASS+ Project.

Since the last progress update, we have taken the feedback into consideration and have moved forward in our project, finishing our research and sourcing the materials needed to create our globe, giant nacho, and the nacho samples. We have also prioritised our production tasks. Our priorities are as follows:

  1. Create the globe
  2. Create the massive nacho
  3. Nacho timeline
  4. Nacho samples
  5. Exhibition stand

We are quite far behind our original timeline but we are now ready to begin production. Our original timeline allowed for lots of production time as well as flexibility with more emphasis on planning, but due to setbacks during the school holidays, we have had to improvise and adapt our plan. However, we are still on schedule to complete our project by the deadline. Our original timeline is shown below.

In terms of the capabilities that the college is training us to use, we have had the opportunity to exercise and grow in the following capabilities:

  • Communication – to be able to communicate effectively and achieve goals
  • Self Awareness – to be able to be accountable for your work
  • Organisation – to be able to meet deadlines
  • Creativity – to be able to create an interesting and engaging presentation
  • Problem Solving – to be able to find solutions as problems arise
  • Collaboration – to be able to work in a team effectively
  • Ethics – to be able to philosophically evaluate the ethical considerations around cultural appropriation, specifically the nacho
Project Utopia Design Portfolio – All Saints' College Portfolios

HASS Project Update 1

Marlon and I are exploring the origins, history, and different interpretations of the nachos. We are investigating cultural appropriation and how the traditional Mexican food has been Americanised over time.

While many people started with brainstorming their ideas, we already had an idea in mind. A unique but interesting idea. Nachos. We actually started at the end, brainstorming what our final stall would look like. We settled on a taco stand with a nacho timeline, a massive nacho with an abundance of information on it, and a globe with flaps on the different countries who have their own interpretations of nachos, among other things. This would allow us to visualise how we were going to display our information and from there we were able to gaze at how much information we would need to display, giving us an idea of how to structure our research.

We then filled in the large A3 planning sheet to better understand the different components of the project. The capabilities wheel actually taught us a lot in terms of what skills we were going to need to complete this project effectively but also to have fun while doing it. It also allowed us to discover what capabilities were our strengths and which ones were our weaknesses. This would allow us to understand how to approach the project and how we were going to work on improving our weaker capabilities.

After that, we drew out a timeline to keep ourselves on track and split the research half and half. The timeline went from Week 9 all the way to term 4, week 5 when the project was due. This gave us a look at the bigger picture so we were always working towards the final goal. I researched the ethical side of cultural appropriation while Marlon researched more into the history of nachos and the definition of cultural appropriation including how to identify it and how to avoid. This allowed us to cover all bases without overlap which ensured maximum effectiveness but it also allowed us to apply our newfound knowledge to the other person’s research, therefore increasing our understanding as well.

From there, we have just been conducting our own research, taking notes, and cross-checking with the other person to ensure that our information can apply to the other’s research but also to our project overall. We then wrote our annotated bibliography which further allowed us to gain a deeper understanding into the meaning and purpose of our sources as we had to summarise their main points in our own words.

In the two and a bit weeks we’ve had so far, we have both planned the beginning and the end of our project which provides us with a good structure throughout the project. We have been effective with our research and have kept in constant contact to ensure that we were accountable for our own designated part.

Our Great Barrier Reef

Recently for a school project I wrote a letter addressed to the Australian parliament in regards to the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is facing something worse than ever before, death. Our reef is an Australian icon and is essential to our economy and tourism industry, not to mention the thousands of animals who call it home. I also created an online petition to try and get support for this cause, and hopefully one day make a difference. According to experts, soon our Great Barrier Reef will be beyond repair. I encourage you to check out my petition, maybe even sign and share it!

Here is the link:

http://chng.it/k7jTDrsP

Lana