Category: Projects

The Christmas market is an opportunity where students start a business and make a product. They are to then sell their products at the annual Year 7 Christmas market. Not only did we learn lots about economics and business, we also learnt several ASC capabilities. I was in a group with Asha, Emily H and Domi. We made laser-cut bookmarks which were based off traditional Chinese bookmarks and handmade stickers with designs which we did ourselves.

What I learnt

Effective communication: Being in a group of 4 is hard because everyone has different ideas so we had trouble agreeing on things and it was hard to make sure that everyone knew what they were doing. There was also some miscommunication and last minute plans. Effective communication was a key part of this project and was something that I learnt.

Collaboration: Since I had a larger group, We found it harder to spread tasks out evenly and easily. Some people were doing tonnes of work and some were doing nothing. I learnt a lot about collaboration and spreading out the workload. I learnt to make a plan and to stick with it and to check in often to see if someone needs help.

Creativity: Although this task is in a casual environment, it is also quite competitive. The teachers wouldn’t invest us if your design was un-original. We had to think of creative products and market strategies. We also had to use our creativity when we hit a roadblock. We had to put our heads together and think of a creative solution.

Problem solving: We faced a lot of challenges along the way and we had to find a way to get around them. One of them included the art shop. We bought paint and superglue from an art shop but we found cheaper and higher quality products in another shop. We tried to get a refund but they only did exchanges. Not only did this take a lot out of our budget but we ended up not using the stuff we bought. We had to find a solution since we only had a couple of dollars left for other things. We learnt a strong lesson about problem solving and looking around for a better price.

Overall, I think the Christmas market was fun and I learnt so much about economics and I learnt important ASC capabilities and I grew as a person.

Throughout Term 2 and Term 3, The Year 7s embarked on a journey known as Project Utopia. In this project, we had to build a utopia that was livable, sustainable and compatible with the UN’s Global Goals. The project went across several subjects including English, Humanities, Science and Innovat[ED].

During Term 2, We learnt about what makes a Utopia. We read The Giver, a book about the faults in a supposedly perfect world. We learnt about the livability factors and what makes a place desirable to live. We learnt about the geographical concepts which is tied to livability and we did individual planning and research. All of this would help us make our Utopia better.

Model and CoSpace

One of the first important decisions Domi (My partner) and I had to make was whether to do a physical model or to do a CoSpace. At first we were going to make a physical model but then we lost weeks worth of work when our plan got scrapped. Time seemed to be running out. Our facilitator expressed his concern for us and suggested we use CoSpaces. In the end, we managed to achieve both. It required a lot of divide and conquer and work at home but we pulled it off. I learnt were how to use technology I hadn’t used much before (CoSpaces). I learnt the importance of time management and I learnt how to be more organized. I also learnt how to problem solve.

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Accreditation

Accreditation is when a teacher or facilitator recognizes that you have found a suitable solution to a problem. Domi and I gained accreditation in 3 of the global goals. Goal 3, Good Health and Wellbeing. Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 13, Climate Action. We spent a long time thinking up a good solution and only get a few accreditations rather then rushing through with less detailed answers and gaining lots of accreditations. I learnt that sometimes you need to wing it. When getting accredited, there were lots of questions that we weren’t expecting so we had to wing it. It was okay though because some ideas we made up, we built on them further and used them.

Oral presentation/Public speaking

In English class, we had to write a speech to give to the parents and guests on showcase night. We presented it to the class to get feedback before we presented it at the night. We tried to share out the work load evenly so I wrote most of the speech and recorded the fly through to accompany it. I learnt  problem solving skills since this was apart of our divide and conquer plan, Collaboration skills and how to use technology I hadn’t used much before (Loom).

Constitution

In humanities, we learnt about democracy and government systems. We needed to find a way to run our community and to write a constitution. We decided to invent a new type of government which was a communist/democracy hybrid. It is a committee that decides everything but it is made up from members of the public. It included separation of powers, voting and more. As a part of our share the work out plan, Domi wrote most of the constitution. I still contributed though, mostly ideas. Our constitution was a success as it was shown to other classes and sent to the ASC head of marketing. I learnt Creativity by creating a new system of government, Collaboration since we had to agree to things and input ideas and Problem solving since this was apart of the share the workload plan.

Overall, the Utopia Project was an amazing opportunity to learn and show skills. I learnt collaboration since Domi and I have different Ideas and we had to agree on things. I learnt problem solving skills because there were things that didn’t go our way but we were able to make according changes and get the job done. We learnt organisation because time wasn’t on our side so we needed to divide and conquer and do lots of work in our own time. We learnt creativity because our design was pretty basic but by adding interesting features such as camel milk instead of cows, you can find some interesting and effective solutions to a problem. I enjoyed the Utopia Project and it helped me grow as a person.