Project Utopia was a task to create a ‘Utopia’ (or protopia as such). It stretched across many learning areas, consisting of English, Science, HASS, InnovatED and many more. We worked in groups alongside our facilitators and special guests, to assist us throughout the project.

I believe that in this project, our group worked productively and cooperatively. There were some struggles along the way, either being obstacles to work around in our Utopia itself, or how we worked as a team. Some areas we found quite challenging, such as building our physical model at times, or our ‘behind the scenes’ learning and tasks. Overall, our group worked very efficiently, and at the end we finished with our final product.

THE PROCESS

The Utopia Project was a journey, which had begun in term 2 during the ASC@HOME learning. It was a vast process over 2 terms. It began in the subject of English, where we discovered about what a ‘Utopia’ is, and the pros and cons of the Utopia in the book ‘The Giver’. Then in Science, we learned about all different components of Sustainability, with our Sustainable House Project. It was then the different liveability factors in HASS. This was all about measuring how livable a city was, and which elements of the place would benefit a city’s livability score. Some of these factors are climate, environmental quality, infrastructure and more. Then in HASS and InnovatED, we looked at the global goals, and how different goals would link to different ideas for a ‘Utopia’. Based on this, after all our ideas for our ‘Utopia’, we finally began the creation section of the process. This involved our physical model, as well as our presentation and constitution, in the subjects English and HASS. And finally, all of this work over 2 terms on the Project Utopia night, which took place on the 18^th September. 

We also followed the Design Thinking Process. This followed 5 different stages throughout the project. It began with Empathise. This was to decide what the priorities would consist of in our Utopia, and how the community would be benefited. It was then Define. This was all about how we would represent the priorities throughout the community. Then it was Ideate. This section was to ensure that we did a terrific job, and to plan out our work for the following time of the project. Then there was prototype. This was to design different systems and build the Utopia. Finally, was test, where we would pitch our ideas, and receive feedback, to boost the level of our work, and finally come out with an outstanding piece of work.

MY SKILLS THROUGHOUT

This project has boosted our skills academically. But it was also to enhance our skills including public speaking, organisation, and time management. This was to have a good influence on our future lives, and the rest of our time in school.

We were able to improve in many areas academically, as they were all connected, and all were useful in this project. Science was one of the biggest improvements for me, as sustainability and how to use it was to improve our ‘Utopia’ largely. Not only this, but it was an area which could benefit our lives outside of school. We could use the different systems and arrangements in our own time, and this could have a major impact on the world around us.

There were also many different opportunities to boost our different skills not only academically. We were able to benefit using our English Presentation, to improve our public speaking. This is a skill which not only can be used in a school basis, but also having the ability to talk to other people. But this also can benefit the skill of advancing through uncomfortable or nervous moments. This also can assist us outside of school, as having these proficiencies will help in the future. There was also an opportunity to improve on time management. We had approximately five weeks to put together our entire ‘Utopia’, so if we did not have a plan or timeline to combat this, many issues would have come up. Time management and using a plan can support us in future projects or tasks.

All these different skills largely supported us throughout this project and will in the future also.

CONNECTIONS

Many different learning areas were connected through this project. A total of 5 different subjects were all connected and effective in this project. They all benefited this project one way or another, through the very begging stages to the final product. These consisted of HASS, Science, English, InnovatED and Digital ICT.

HASS, I believe was the main topic in this project. It consisted of the Constitutions for each Utopia, the Liveability Factors, the global goals and a first creating our own Utopia. But all others were linked through science and more. This project was really to connect all topics in school, to produce one final product, which showed a part of every subject.

Project Utopia was an overall incredibly beneficial project, and it allowed many different factors. This was improving our working capabilities, our group work, but most importantly the improve our creative side of our learning. This project was full of opportunity and learning, and it was an amazing experience for all.