Reflection Questions: To be answered in thoughtful, clear, thorough sentences.

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving:

My group used problem solving and critical thinking pretty often. We solved
the problem of not having enough time to finish the inflatable by staying after
school to finish it. We also fixed our calculations when they were incorrect at
first. When we had to start building the inflatable we didn’t know how to cut out
straight lines but we used critical thinking to draw lines to guide us when we
cut out the pieces of the inflatable.
2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence:
In my group three of us contributed to bringing in supplies. I brought in tape,
Andres brought in a clear shower curtain, and Brice brought in our box fan.
Something that we should have done differently was getting the resources
quicker because if we had had the tape earlier then we could have started
building our inflatable quicker. We were also unable to make everything that
we wanted to be clear clear because we didn’t have enough of the clear
material. Our group was not able to share our resources with other groups
because we were scared that we would run out of them.
3. Agility and Adaptability:
When we were running out of time, we quickly adapted to working fast and
trying to get as much done was we could. We also spread out the work more
through the group so that everyone was doing something and contributing. It
was also challenging to envision how each piece would fit together in the end
while we were cutting them out, so the flat pattern was often referred back to.
Lastly, we were flexible when we found out that we didn’t have as much clear
material as we needed, so we made that section out of yellow material.
4. Initiative and Entrepreneurship:
My group was very self directed in the sense that we didn’t need a teacher,
but when it came to us as individuals being self directed, we didn’t do that
very well. Some people in my group would wait for me to ask them to do
something before they would help with anything. I felt like I had to give them
specific directions so that they would actually contribute to the group. My job
as the project facilitator was very difficult because not everyone contributed to
the group equally. My job was to make sure everyone helped equally, but
some people definitely did more work than others. Once I realized that
everyone was not working the same amount I tried to give people specific task
so that we could get more work done. Lastly, I think I did a good job of
documenting the whole process.
5. Effective Oral and Written Communication:
I feel that our website clearly communicates our project and all the different
aspects of it. We did our best to explain the flat pattern and the scale model
so that people would understand. When we were presenting on inflate Day I
think that having the scale model with us definitely helped us explain the
entirety of the project. We explained to people what we learned by telling them
the challenges that we faced such as time management.
6. Accessing and Analyzing Information:
My group decided to do the first design that we through of: a school bus. Our
inspiration was that Magic school bus. We decided on this design because it
isn’t to complicated but at the same time it wasn’t too simple. We also decided
to put a walkway through the middle of the bus so that it could be an
interactive experience. We used math when we were calculating our surface
area and volume. It was very important that our overall surface area was less
than 48,000 square inches because that was the total amount of material that
we had to use. We did this well because we made our object just under
48,000 square feet in surface area.
7. Curiosity and Imagination:
Curiosity played a roll in our inflatable through the hall way. When I came up
with the idea I partially wanted to do it because I wanted to see if it was
possible. I also was excited to see what it would turn out looking like.
Imagination was effective in our process because we had to imagine what our
overall inflatable would look like in order to piece it all together.
8. Overall Reflection:
One thing I enjoyed about the project was the satisfaction of actually making a
tangible creation and it looking (for the most part) what we intended it to look
like. Something I would do differently next time would be to spend less time on
the scale model and flat pattern and give myself more time to actually build
the inflatable. Some advice I would give to the next group of students is to try
your hardest to work well with your group and evenly divide up all the work
because it’s not okay for 1 or 2 people to be doing the majority of the work. I
would also tell them create a simple but really creative object that looks cool
but isn’t too difficult to build.