After considering my options, I settled on using a survey, conducted through Microsoft Forms. On my excel spreadsheet, I ideated potential feedback questions about the product, pricing and demographics. I decided to only use the essential questions, as I didn’t want the human to lose interest and thus provide me with inaccurate data. I then chose to proceed with the key questions, pertaining to:
age group, name & gender – for target audience demographics and pre-order mailing list.
the desired price for laser cut cards – so I could get as much profit as possible
Rating of each design – in case one was significantly more liked (helps to avoid opportunity cost)
who the cards are sent to – so I could choose appropriate designs for the target audience
The ideating of my potential questions.
If you would like, this can be viewed at: https://forms.office.com/r/gmwijbe7GN
While I think that my questions are relevant, and provided useful granular data, I believe that the form took an unnecessarily long time to complete. The average time was 6:06 minutes, but this may have been due to the form being run on an iPad. On my computer, the average was around 1 minute. I don’t believe I’ll be running too many forms in the future, but next time, if any, I would run it on my computer so people can type with more ease. Either that or I would limit “typing” questions so it is easier to complete. Next time, I should use empathy (the cognitive type) to see what difficulties they might have in filling out my form.
The 2 potential ads I designed (without template). I used the one on the right, which proved to be effective.
I also created advertisements to draw people in. At first, I was slightly concerned about the effect of the early timing on the quality of my feedback. As Christmas cards or even cards don’t cross people’s mind’s in September, (unless you are a choral singer : ), I thought that most people would walk by my stall without a second glance. To counter this, I used sweets to lure people on the day so they would give me feedback. This turned out to be a useful tactic, as many (36) were willing to stop by, if only for a mint.
The feedback results with sensitive information removed.
The product validation provided many insights. Apart from learning about how to bait potential customers, I was able to gain a rough idea about pricing, as well as who my target audience was. I deduced that people thought highly of my product, which was equal across demographics, and design, and that my target audience was mainly girls, specifically those in Junior School.
A lot of Year 4-7 Children
A lot of female Year 4-7 children
This was probably due to them being impulsive customers, as their eyes are caught by colourful items, and their age means they don’t understand the value of money and are willing to spend on products. I will endeavour to use this information to my advantage, so I might ensnare even more customers on the day.
Ratings of my product
In the process, I experienced the importance of peer feedback and extrinsic motivation (to bait others). All things considered, I have benefitted from this course and gained valuable feedback.
On the day, to give my audience an idea of what I had envisioned, I decided to produce prototypes of each design. I debated on producing new designs, but in the end, I did not. This was because I already had functioning, in-demand designs and too much variety could cause more opportunity cost.
The email correspondence about booking the laser cutter.
I first had to email Mr Scotti about whether there was any spray adhesive available. Although there was none in the E6 workshop, I managed to procure some by borrowing from Ms Brookland (Art Dept.)
After loading my designs onto a USB, I made my way to the laser cutter. I first went to the Hangar workshop, then had to make my way over to E6. I ended up wasting 20 minutes, but admittedly I should have clarified the exact place beforehand. To improve, I must communicate with other humans more effectively online, and not assume information.
Once I had located said teacher and machine, a few of my designs were printed. I already had the general gist of placement and specific settings, so I used this again successfully.
Inside Designs I had in mind
In the finishing room, I used spray adhesive to assemble the cards. This was to seal the inside decorative card in between the laser-cut card and the writing surface. This was a simple case of following instructions, so this turned out well. I also tested which designs would look most appealing by prototyping them on spare paper. I learnt that specific patterns would not look very appealing behind the laser-cut stencil. This included dark colours or patterns with artificial glitter. After creating my prototypes, I gathered different inside designs and put them onto a grid. This would help later on with preorders. In the finishing room, the cards tended to fly around due to the large exhaust. Next time, I would bring in something to hold the cards down to ensure a smooth production process.
The successful prototypes together
I was quite pleased with the production of my prototype due to how the cards came out with the new type of paper. However, next time I would clarify the exact time & place, so as to avoid wasted time or confusion, and to be more prepared with spare items (in this case, something to weigh the cards down). While designing and creating a prototype, I experienced the importance of effective communication (specifically through online means like email), organization (by staying on track to meet set deadlines), and the importance of being proactive (as I am the only person running my business and so cannot rely on others as much).
(Please note that the images are having issues loading, and those below are notmeant to be Maslow’s Hierarchy.)
The Leadership & Innovation course is designed to be flexible and work around the participants’ various skills and interests. This proved to be true; the class was given the opportunity to run a “side hustle”. I chose to combine this with my Passion Project as I enjoy the side hustle, and also because it maximized the time I was given.
Fuelled by success from selling previously, I was keen to continue my greeting card business. This year, however, the start up cost was $50, which meant more flexibility, but most importantly, more stock.
Receiving the $50 Loan
In order to determine whether there was demand, I needed validation. This would minimize unnecessary spending and allow me to connect with my audience. Additionally, I would also get real-world data so I could tailor my product accordingly. Hence, before selling at the larger Wanju Community Christmas Market, the class used the September Runway Market as a product validation. In particular, I wanted feedback on my pricing. Before the outdoor market, I got a vague idea about what people thought by asking my class.
To organize ourselves for this, the class was introduced to the Microsoft Planner. Bearing similarities to Trello, the planner was like an online scrum. I used it to track task completion.
My Planner
At the validation, I needed a prototype and a means to obtain feedback. Before I could make a prototype, I needed materials. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to maximise my loan, finding the most valuable material options. This was eventually whittled down to a few key materials. Utilizing the school’s laser cutter and spray adhesive, I successfully created 2 prototypes, one of each design.
The bauble and reindeer cards
I was inclined to use the same materials from last year, since I knew them to be reliable. I had bought my paper from Spotlight, and inside paper from Kmart. With my $50 this year, I wanted to produce more cards. For convenience sake, I decided to purchase all my materials from Spotlight.
The different material options
Before finalizing any purchases, I gathered different options for various papers. For the inside card, I was going to use Kmart, however, I thought it would be more worthwhile to buy specific patterned packs from Spotlight. This was because I wasn’t going to use all the paper, and it wouldn’t be as high quality. As it turned out, Spotlight sold the paper I desired, but for voluminous prices, and in copious amounts. There for, to maximize my profit I decided to print out the inside decorative card on stiff card. To not compromise on quality, I used a specific print setting – so that the colour wouldn’t fade afterwards. When I prototyped my cards, this turned out quite well, and the cards were still just as sturdy.
My final shopping list & projected profit
While sorting out my finances, I also projected my profit with my previous prices. Last year, the product was sold for $5 (laser cut) and $1.50 (printed). This year, I wanted to sell my product for a price that people would be willing to pay, but that I would also be happy to accept.
A major part of the relaunch of Greet Yourself was the finances. This involved planning the shopping of materials and projecting profit. The Finance Process was reasonably executed, as I first researched the different options to find the most worthwhile option. Overall, I am pleased with how this process unfolded. I have experienced the importance of researching different options on the market before making a final decision.
The Leadership & Innovation course is designed to be flexible and work around the participants’ various skills and interests. This proved to be true; the class was given the opportunity to run a “side hustle”. I chose to combine this with my Passion Project as I enjoy the side hustle, and also because it maximized the time I was given.
Fuelled by success from selling previously, I was keen to continue my greeting card business. This year, however, the start up cost was $50, which meant more flexibility, but most importantly, more stock.
Receiving the $50 loan.
In order to determine whether there was demand, I needed validation. This would minimize unnecessary spending and allow me to connect with my audience. Additionally, I would also get real-world data so I could tailor my product accordingly. Hence, before selling at the larger Wanju Community Christmas Market, the class decided to use the September Runway Market as a product validation. In particular, I wanted feedback on my pricing. Before the outdoor market, I got a vague idea about what people thought through asking my class.
To organize ourselves for this, the class was introduced to the Microsoft Planner. Bearing similarities to Trello, the planner was like an online scrum. I used it to track task completion.
My Planner
At the validation, I needed a prototype and a means to obtain feedback. Before I could make a prototype, I needed materials. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to maximise my loan, finding the most valuable material options. This was eventually whittled down to a few key materials. Utilizing the school’s laser cutter and spray adhesive, I successfully created 2 prototypes, one of each design.
While sorting out my finances, I also projected my profit with my previous prices. Last year, the product was sold for $5 (laser cut) and $1.50 (printed). This year, I wanted to sell my product for a price that people would be willing to pay, but that I would also be happy to accept.
After considering my options, I settled on using a survey, conducted through Microsoft Forms. I also created advertisements to draw people in. On the day, I used sweets to lure people so they would give me feedback. This turned out to be a useful tactic, as many were willing to stop by, if only for a mint.
The 2 sides of my Poster Board. On the day, it was face up on the Free Candy side.
The product validation provided many insights. Apart from learning about how to bait potential customers, I was able to gain a rough idea about pricing, as well as who my target audience was. I deduced that people thought highly of my product and that my target audience was mainly girls, specifically those in Junior School. In the process, I experienced the importance of peer feedback. All things considered, I have benefitted from this course and gained valuable feedback.
Below is a selection of some of my work. These include posters, videos, logos and other photos. Please note that this work is original, and to be imitated. However, feel free to look around the rest of my ePortfolio, there are additional pieces that may not be shown below.
Posters
123456Posters
Posters 1 to 3 were the winning poster(s) for the Clean Up ASC Poster Competition held earlier this year, in 2022. I received a Wanju voucher for these entries, and the posters were used to promote the cause. Poster 4 was designed for the Class of 2025 End of Transition Celebration. I volunteered for this as part of my role as Class Representative. It was sent to the parents in an email informing them of the event. Posters 5 and 6 were designed solely for enjoyment, to be stuck up in the Math Extension classroom. They were intended as parodies of vintage ads.
Above are the posters for the 2023 theme, Be More You, which I was selected to design after submitting a page of my work. These have been displayed around the College in hard copy, as well as online in assemblies, the Courier, and Eucharist.
I designed both of the above images for a Design Challenge but didn’t submit them due to age constraints. They belong together as a pair, and the stimulus was icecream. I decided to interpret this in an unusual manner, and chosen to use icecream as snow, or mountains. 1 is called “Meeting at Mount Icecream”, and 2 is called “Reaching the Summit.”
Supported by our experience in previous markets and driven by the ambition to further improve, our group had a clear vision of what we wanted.
Previously, our group had sold soy candles, and while we agreed that it was successful, there would be increased competition with the onset of other candle groups as well as little creative freedom due to a rigid structure to follow when one made the candles.
In line with the upcoming Christmas season, we decided to produce laser cut Christmas cards under the name “GreetYourself”, a memorable play on the notable words “treat yourself.” At the market itself, we produced a large amount of revenue, more than four of our previous, selling out in the first 45 minutes. We were also much more organized and creative in the process and had a highly successful outcome. Something that was quite intriguing was that unlike candles and notebooks (our previous products), the cards were not overly labour intensive, as the laser cutter was tasked with the most laborious work of carving the designs that we had previously transferred to Adobe. With this, we all gained valuable skills, most significant were our newly polished Adobe skills and our ability to work the laser-cutter.
This terms journey was an intentional one, with organization, problem-solving and innovation being the backbone of it all.
Our table set up. To improve, I would perhaps prepare some sort of mount before, so as to appear polished and professional.
As per our unofficial goal, we were certainly more organized, slotting in specific bookings with the school’s laser cutter to carve our cards and most importantly, formatting the designs for the cutter before then.
Once our cards were carved, we had to problem-solve to find a way to incorporate colour and a clean writing spot. The method shall not be disclosed, however, they did make for a sleek, unique, innovative finished design, that, when displayed upon our well-set table, attracted many eager buyers, with one even buying up to 10+ cards.
A thought-provoking aspect of GreetYourself was the price. Our products had to meet an equilibrium, not too low for the sake of profits and not too high for the customer. Curiously enough, our initial price was said by a/the facilitator to be too low, as “crafty” cards like ours sold up to double, even triple our proposed price. Heeding their advice, we did increase our price, however, next time, we should research the market and not involve our self-deprecating thoughts that “no one would want to pay ” et cetera.
The All Saints’ print ad.
Even though we used the markup formula, in retrospect, this shouldn’t have been the primary way for settling on the final price. It would have been more effectively used in conjunction with other methods, such as surveying our target audience for what they would pay vs what we would take as a profit, the equilibrium formula, cost-plus pricing and the one that we should have been less careless to overlook, market comparison.
Our product idea was innovative, timely and filled in a gap in our market. To improve, I would consider other unseen aspects and research thoroughly before making a decision. The process was fun, rewarding and gave us a plethora of new skills to add to our ever-growing collection, as well as an exciting profit.
$20Boss is an innovation and entrepreneurship program that was one of the Semester One options for InnovatED. I chose to do $20Boss as it seemed similar to the Christmas Market from year seven where we were also tasked with creating a business that sold a good or service. It started with a revisitation to the familiar Design Thinking Framework which included brainstorming words associated with Design Thinking and doing a Design Sprint with the assistance of other group members and a year nine student from the Leadership and Innovation elective. I and my group members earned a Design Sprint Certificate as seen HERE.
We were also introduced to the concept of a “scrum”, a physical to-do list following the To Do In Progress Done framework. We were also required to write a pitch with our chosen group and potential product, in order to gain a loan so that we might acquire $20 each to produce our product and sell it at the Runway Market Market, which took place on the 16th of June. My group decided on notebooks, and the idea was approved by our Facilitator after we pitched. Initially, this was because we wanted to customize stationery to make it personal to the user and more appealing for school-aged children to use during lessons; however, it was not just limited to school use, but also in leisure time for journalling etc. As we worked through the process of designing the notebooks, some aspects changed, such as the cover material and the method of binding them. Our final product was a notebook the size of half an A4 page, bound together with thread with a hard black cover, which could then be customised with a patterned paper of choice and, if desired, a word/ name written with a chosen font on the front.
ASC Capabilities
Throughout the process of the project, the ASC Capabilities were certainly all utilized, though in varying degrees for each group member.
Effective Communication
Effective communication is the method of human interaction where one does not merely exchange information, but develop meaning through symbols and emotions.
Following our Design Sprint, we had to form the groups that we would be with for the rest of the process. In my humble opinion, therein could have lay our potential pitfall. In retrospect, this could have been not entirely beneficial to our group because it could have made the group too large for comfortable discussion and effective decision making. However, despite our unnaturally large-sized group, I think that I generally exercised effective communication skills as we were able to discuss decisions and ideas in a civil manner, despite the fact that there was four of us. We first divided up the labour, assigning various tasks to each member so each human could meaningfully contribute. We were able to understand each other’s individual perspectives by speaking in turn, although this proved quite challenging due to our group size and the fact that there were four creative humans. To counter this, we also occasionally split the group into pairs to allow for further discussion within a more intimate setting. This was so each human’s ideas were heard and could be easily relayed back to the whole group. Out of hours, we utilized Microsoft Teams which proved to be advantageous as we could easily interact when the person(s) were needed.
Problem Solving
The process of uncovering and piecing together a relevant solution to an underlying, often complex problem.
As mentioned above, we had decided to produce notebooks. However, after research and examination of traditional bookbinding methods, we realized that they were complicated, requiring many materials and time-consuming. I used creativity to develop the method for producing our product with a fellow group member who understood sewing techniques and we also had to use problem-solving to figure out how to most effectively produce it. This included the binding of the individual leaves (of paper) and the attaching of the covers. This involved resilience when some of our concepts and strategies were not entirely suitable — finding a new way to do it. This was part of the “testing” part of the Design Process. This also required organization as there were only 2 of us that were proficient with the needle, and we had to be self-aware ( — knowing when we had enough/too little to do) to make sure that we were dividing the labour equally between the whole group — so that we all contributed to the overall work ethic and productivity.
Organization
The arrangement and systematic planning of a process, or part of, to most efficiently and effectively complete it.
Throughout the project, the organization of the group was of utmost importance for ensuring deadlines are met. Our group utilized this. We consistently ensured that each member was on the same line of communication so they knew what to do to balance the workload. This process was assisted by our scrum which was updated frequently. I would say that it would have been even better if we more rigidly plan our InnovatED time with very clearly defined tasks.
The stage of the design process that I think we did the best at was the prototype stage, as we produced a product with good quality to be our test. I would say that there is room for improvement for the Empathise stage as we needed a better understanding of what people wanted for the design of the notebooks– by being more thorough on this stage, we could have learnt more about what people would want, and we would have created notebooks to be immediately bought instead of focusing on the customisation of the notebooks as pre-orders were not as successful as we had anticipated.
In conclusion, the $20 boss project was good for further improving Capabilities and working on the Design process, as it was utilized through our Semester One, and it helped significantly with the production of the product. $20Boss was extremely enjoyable, informative that challenged us in many ways. While our group did not produce the most profit; we produced enough revenue to cover costs, plus surplus, this experience has offered me valuable learning points that I can use to further improve myself.
Feedback
Thank you so much for the lovely notebook, I really like it and think you guys have done a really good job.
The Synergy Solar Car Challenge is a program that is designed for year six and eight students to apply STEM skills in an engaging, real-life application. As the name suggests, I and several others in our team of 4 had to build a solar car out of a corflute (a type of corrugated plastic), axles, wheels, a motor, a switch and a solar panel which was attached to the circuit with various wires. We were provided 45 minutes to do this, which included testing time.
Skills needed:
Collaboration and Teamwork:
Because we were under time pressure to build a functional car, we had to collaborate so as to build it quickly and efficiently by dividing the labour.
Problem Solving:
As mentioned above, the 45 minutes we were given was inclusive of building and testing time. During one of our trial times, the switch came apart, and through usage of problem solving skills, our team managed to solve the problem and use a working switch.
Creativity:
The track that we were to use to race on was simply a wooden pole lain horizontally on the ground. We were given a mere two pins that we could use to align the car with the pole. This proved challenging due to the shape and height of the pins.
Overall, my team (All Saints’ One) finished third place.
Above: The All Saints’ College Design Thinking Process
Introduction:
The Christmas Market was a real life experience that connected what we learnt in various subjects to make what was a very valuable learning experience, a real-life market where we had the opportunity to sell our products to the wider college community. Each group started their own business which aimed to provide a product or service that would fulfil the needs and wants of the people at the Christmas Market and make the most profit. The Christmas Market allowed us to expand and use the College Capabilities to help us expand our comfort zones through team work and a shared goal of having something to sell at the Market.
Empathize:
During the Empathize stage of the Christmas Market, we had to interview various people, including some classmates and family and friends. This was so we could use these interviews as insight into what would make a good gift and the various traditions people had about Christmas. I learnt that is was important to be organized as there was a dead line that we had to have the interviews completed by and we couldn’t interview specific people, such as classmates, but we had to find a time to interview the person in a time that was suitable for both parties.
Define:
Next, in class, we spent time observing our 3 interviews to figure out what would make a good product by observing trends and making connections between the interviews.
Ideate:
During this time, we had to weight up all of our options and work together to improve on, or create a product that aligned with the trends we had previously observed. We worked in groups, and after much deliberation, we finally settled on making small, portable pouches. I think I improved my creativity, as in the beginning our group didn’t really have any ideas worthy of writing a pitch for. This taught me that it was important to have resilience as the majority of our ideas were incompetent as they already existed or weren’t extremely creative or innovative.
Left: The final product, which was a fully closable, hand and machine sewn pouch
Prototype:
We had to write a pitch which would persuade our potential investor (our Humanities teacher from All Saints’) to “invest” $30 in our product. This $30 was also our startup loan which we were to use to purchase any materials, which, for us consisted of fabric and press studs. Our pitch had to fully cover all aspects of out potential product. This included why the product was innovative, why people would want to buy it, the budgeting, our proposed selling price and whether or not we were actually capable of creating our product. This taught me organization as we had to find a suitable date to go and buy our materials that would suit both parties. The Prototype process also involved collaboration so both members of our group would be on the same page. An example of this is when we were sewing studs on and we had to make sure that each person was consistently putting the studs on in the right place.
Print Ad
In English, we had to carefully construct and then later analyse our product ad. This started with going through a powerpoint that taught us how to identify different types of ads, including product, lifestyle and not for profit ads, and the various aspects of what made a successful product ad.
Project Utopia was an integrated task that involved application of knowledge gained in Humanities, English and Science. The project started with a novel study of the book Giver, learning the liveability factors and researching and making our sustainable houses. The UN Global Goals for Sustainable development brought this project to life. They gave us perspective into the real world and tied the liveability factors, the geography concepts, the civics and citizenship concepts and the sustainability and put them into a realistic context. Further along Project Utopia, we learnt about the importance of the Constitution, and we later wrote our own Constitution for our utopian societies, which we could name. Project Utopia put us all out of our comfort zones, and by applying the ASC capabilities and skills we already had, we were able to present our work over the 2 terms at an exhibition held after school for the teachers, parents and guests such as Mr Anthony Spagnolo ( Liberal Candidate for Riverton).
Right: The All Saints’ Capabilities Wheel that shows the various skills used in our world, our community and in our selves.
ASC Capabilities: Effective Communication and Organization.
Effective Communication
During Project Utopia, we had to apply our ASC capabilities. Particularly, we had to develop effective communication skills as we were working with partners for the entire span of the project. I feel that my communication skills were not as effective in the beginning as our group was functioning as 2 people working on the same topic, but this later changed. An example of this is that in the beginning we were working at different rates at different times and since some decisions were group decisions, we would wait until our next lesson to discuss it, which decreased our overall productivity. Knowing that lack of communication was hindering our productivity, we started communicating out of hours via teams. Our group improved our communication skills by creating a Microsoft team. This taught me that communication is a vital part of being a functional team so all our group members were on the same page and knew what they had to do.
Organization
Through out this project, our group kept a detailed to do list that had the task, the due date, the person completing the task and any extra details to remember. During InnovatED when we were three quarters through the project, our group Onenote and all it’s pages was shown on the large wall in the Year 5/6 building for the whole year group to look at. Apparently we were the most organized group and the teacher proceeded to show everyone our pages. I learnt that it is important to note down what you want to do otherwise you could forget and therefore not complete it. We also shared the workload and assigned various tasks to each member.
Right: Going through the slides as a year group in the Occupied Stairs
UN Global Goals
As part of Project Utopia, we learnt about the United Nations Global Goals and had to research creative, innovative solutions to the problems such as Zero Hunger or No Poverty. The solutions were called accreditations and had to be approved by the facilitators. We were required to gain at least 2, but a lot of groups aspired to gained more. This linked to a well-known saying: Quality over quantity. It showed me that the quality of the solution, including the effectiveness of the research and how original the idea was, was more critical than the amount of accreditations gained. This changed our mindsets and allowed us to focus on our progress rather than how many we gained compared to others. Having this in mind, our group was able to round out our concepts with research and present thoroughly though out ideas such as compostable toilets and a hybrid No Currency system for managing needs and wants.
A quick overview of the toilets and No Currency System
Toilets
The compostable toilet system in our Utopia are considered an innovative solution to Global Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. We define Clean water and sanitation as having access to clean, affordable drinking water for all and a sanitary system for sewerage that is available to everyone. This means having a proper pipe/toilet and water recycling system. Currently, all the water shares the same pipe. They are treated if it’s grey water or pumped into the ocean if it’s black water. Black water is waste water and sewage from toilets. An open sewer looks like a bridge, but instead has pipes coming out of the bridge where sewerage comes out and then travels along the open pipe to be dumped in the ocean. Human waste production obviously isn’t something that you can eliminate or reduce the amount of so one must come up with something that doesn’t just involve dumping our waste where it apparently won’t affect us: the ocean. Instead of just pumping the waste into the ocean, which is harmful to the environment, compostable toilets “treat” the water onsite by turning your waste into compost which then can be used as normal compost. As we are a vegan society, our waste will have many good nutrients to help the plants thrive. This is because you can’t compost meat matter, but only organic plant matter. We won’t be able to manage the waste in an effective, eco manner. This eliminates pollutions, aids the life below waters and is over all a more eco option then dumping waste into oceans and rivers. Many diseases such as cholera will be eliminated.
This is a basic diagram of our Compostable Toilets and how they work to process human waste.
No Currency System
This No Currency System (more formally known as Managing Needs and Wants) is aimed at Global Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption. Responsible Production and Consumption is finding a way to satisfy human needs and wants without destroying the planet in the process. With natural resources decreasing and more environments being destroyed for our wants and needs, responsible production and consumption is finding a solution to these problems. It is finding a way to reduce waste, a more environmentally friendly food production that everyone has access to, limiting resources used in production of human wants and needs and other things to do with responsible consumption. In our Utopia we have decided to have no currency, a decision made to stop poverty, promote helping the community and to ensure responsible consumption. With this in place one can not simply go to the shop and buy things they do not really need. Although this may seem great it does mean that people only get their needs, not wants. To stop this but still have no currency, we have a system in place. This system is that when someone decides that they want something that they do not have, a meeting is called. The meeting consists of a representative (of around 5-10 families that they all select). Before the meeting, families are welcome to come up to a person and tell them their opinion which the representative must bring up in the meeting. The meeting discusses whether the object of choice is needed, will make things easier in the community or fulfilling certain desires. If it passes (majority of representatives think it should be in the community) the object is given to everyone in the community. This means that citizens (unlike us) are not just getting things for the sake of getting things, wasting precious resources. Instead, to get something they want they go through a process to see if they need it or not, limiting the number of products unnecessarily produced. A downside to this may be the fact that the one produce is produced for everyone, using a lot more resources then if just one person got it.
Constitution
As part of civics and citizenships, we were required to write our own Constitution for our utopias. The Constitution was required to establish a government outlining our reasoning behind our rights and responsibilities for elected officials and community members, participation, decision making process and how rules/policies can be amended. To do better next time, I would note down my research and list where I got my ideas as there was a part of the rubric that was about supporting evidence. The problem was not that I didn’t research it was that we didn’t note it down on our planning document. For example, for our No Currency system, it was a combination of communism and a representative democracy. We discussed this with each other and we agreed that while communism eliminates poverty, it doesn’t allow for satisfaction of one’s individual greed. However, this relies on the people not moving a toe out of the line, and is very restrictive. It leads to eventual chaos, as the wealth is redistributed to make the rulers rich, and the people poor. So we fused the two government systems together, so that the terms rich and poor were eliminated, and people were still satisfying their greed; although we aimed to change their mindsets about spending on a whim. We also tied in separation of powers as we wanted the people to have the power, and to have everyone’s views heard. However, we didn’t just focus on the majority, but also on the minority.
Conclusion
By applying knowledge from various subjects and our ASC Capabilities, I was able to complete Project Utopia to the best of my ability. The main thing I learned about myself while completing Project Utopia was that I need to be more proactive. This means not responding to something after something has happened but trying to take charge of the situation while it is happening. If I was to complete Project Utopia again, I would try to improve my communication and collaboration skills so our group is all on the same page and we are not just communicating in class. What I liked about this project was that it integrated English, Humanities and Science. This is because I felt that it all linked together and it allowed us to apply our knowledge from different school subjects outside a test/exam environment. It was also very enjoyable and informative to share and present our knowledge to a different audience, which wasn’t just our peers or teachers.
Presenting to some adults of the year group during the Project Utopia exhibition
