In Term 3 the Year 7 cohort worked in groups of 4 to 5 and were tasked with redesigning a chosen area of Fremantle Port to be more livable. The original project was to design a utopian society, although right before the term started in one of the three-way interviews, Mrs Lockwood stated that her company would like to take part in the project. She also claimed that the government is planning to move the Port of Fremantle is to moved to Kwinana in 2030. This caused us to instead of just creating a utopian society we could actually design in a real place, Fremantle Port. The idea of a utopian society was introduced to us through the novel we were studying in English, ‘The Giver.’ We also started geography in HASS, which allowed us to study and research other ports that were transformed from a port to a part of a city for example Toronto Waterfront, Hafen City and Hunter’s Point Park. I was grouped with Kereen, Ariana and Stephanie. We all worked together to form the idea of a relaxing, cultural, greenspace. We also designed a cultural tree which is like the Singapore supertrees, although we have aboriginal art on the sides of the trees instead of plants.
While doing Project Utopia it was clear that we needed to communicate and synergize. We had to listen to each other and the ideas we each brought. The first task that we were had to do was brainstorm, we had to create as many ideas as possible then give reasons to why the idea would impact the port in a better way. My group worked really well together and came up with many ideas and helped each other with reasons for the ideas and how they would help the port become a better place.
ASC CAPABILITIES
The ASC Capabilities was given to us by the teachers and was explained to be helpful in a lot of school work and projects in the future and all students should aim for it. A few of the goals sections on the wheel are Collaboration, Communication, Organisations well in many of these goals. For example, Organisation was one that my group had to focus a lot on because we allocated different things to research and had to share this information with each other. So we created a shared word document that we could all work on. This helped a lot when we had to find certain things like, the type of paint that we had to use for it to last the longest or the type of material that we were going to make the cultural trees out of. Collaboration was something I deffinately improved on when doing this project. I learnt how to collaborate with other people I wouldn’t normally be in groups with.
SUSTAINABILITY AND LIVEABILITY
In HASS lessons while we were doing the Utopia Project, we learnt about Geography and livability. Which included the liveability factors, climate, infrastructure and environmental quality just to name a few. The livability of a place is the level of how enjoyable the place is to live in and can be measured by the different factors. Sustainability and liveability were very important factors that we were required to think about while designing our project.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
For the project, we had to make a speech and present it to the class then to the parents and special guests. Personally, public speaking was one of the most challenging things I had to do for this whole project. Although, I think that I was able to overcome my fear of messing up in front of other people. While we were writing the script my group work together to help each other. This helped me learn the importance of the synergizing.
UN GLOBAL GOALS
The Utopia Project required us to research some of the Global Goals and incorporate them into the redesign. The Global Goals that my group incorporated into our design included reduced inequalities, climate action and affordable and clean energy. We had information on the Close the Gap campaign and aboriginal art on the cultural trees. in the area which helped with reduced inequalities. For climate action, we have a park area which is a large area with trees, plants, benches and is a place for people to relax. This helps lower the carbon dioxide levels and the environment. And finally affordable and clean energy, we have solar panels on top of the cultural trees that power the area.
FREMANTLE PORT TOUR
During Term 3, the whole Year 7 cohort went to Fremantle Port. We were put into groups to collect information from different parts of Fremantle Port. some groups went into the port while others stayed outside. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to go inside Fremantle Port. There were a lot of interesting things that I saw at Fremantle Port including a lighthouse, mosaics and electronic bins.
Overall, I think that the Utopia Project is a very valuable experience that taught us how to collaborate and communicate better and be more organised. It was a very enjoyable experience and I am sure that everyone learnt something important out of it.