Science Engineering Project
Share and Communicate:
- Representation of the project:
In the Earth and Space curriculum for this year, we were tasked with creating a structure made out of spaghetti and blu-tack. Given a budget of $60, the structure needed to be designed and built in such a way as to be able to survive two types of seismic waves: P-waves and S-waves. Then, after surviving the different waves, the next step was to test how much weight the structures we created could hold. Once we completed both these tasks, we were required to create an e-portfolio page, reflecting on our collaboration and process.
- Overview of the engineering process:
The process that we followed in order to complete this task was first to research current best practices architects use to maximise a building’s capacity to withstand earthquakes. There were many examples that we were able to draw on to determine how architects and engineers design buildings to minimise the impacts of earthquakes.
The next step was to draft an image of a building (made of spaghetti and blu-tack) that encompassed our research. After that, the job was to build the structure. It took quite a long time, due to it falling down at inconvenient moments. We didn’t end up finishing the first building because of how unstable it was. However, given the time limitations, we needed to continue.
The next task was redesigning the building to take into account all of the flaws uncovered in the previous stage, and then repeating the building process. This time, the structure was much stronger. This allowed us to test it against the ‘earthquakes’. The changes that I would make to the process would be to allow more time for building and researching. These two stages would have allowed our first tower to have been able to be tested, rather than just falling down. The time pressure that we put on ourselves near the end made us move quicker, but it made the structure less reliable. I believe that in most projects, research should be given a lot of time to complete. If research is done properly, it can significantly benefit the group. They can learn from others’ mistakes and successes, which can ultimately save a lot of time.
Teamwork and collaboration:
- Collaboration:
Unfortunately, due to other tests and year 8 events, I was limited in what I could do. However, I remained in contact with the group to stay informed of any steps I missed. Everyone in our group completed every task together, rather than splitting the load and doing it separately, other than me. As I was away for the majority of lessons during this project, I ended up doing most of the Stile by myself at home, while they did it together at school. I contributed somewhat to the building of the structure, but again, I was away for most of those lessons as well. Due to my absences, I wasn’t able to see how the strengths of each group member contributed to this challenge but we used emails and Teams to ensure we stayed in contact. However, while I recognise collaboration can work well to bring together ideas and strengths of different team members, it can be a challenge when team members aren’t able to come together due to external factors, placing additional pressures on the group to complete the task.