Final Capstone Reflection Journal Entry

While working on my Capstone, what I learned about my subject were a lot of different
things. I learned about the difference between a battery and a motor generator by myself. When
the battery is under high amounts of current, it will get hot, but when a generator is under high
amounts of current, it will get harder to spin,. I then researched this phenomenon afterwards and
it turned out to be true, I was right. In my skill set I learned how to use a handsaw to cut wood. I
also had a better understanding of circuits and how gear ratios work. About myself, I learned a
lot too. I learned that you should never forget skills even if they may seem useless at the moment
because they could be needed later on unexpectedly. This is referring to my academic
achievement.
This project is relevant to me because I like preparing for emergencies and I also love
working with circuits. This project is an amazing combination of both which is why its relevant
to me. This can have relevance to the community because in the future I can refine and sell these
generators. I also want to send these to third world countries and areas without light. This could
help boost the education because children in those parts can do their school work and homework
when its dark. In the long term this can help boost the economy of the third world country
because a generation will be more educated. This is the big optimistic idea I have for the world
and community at large. Its relevance to the school is that my electronics teacher is my mentor,
and he can integrate topics about generators into the curriculum and teach about it in his class.
The impact my Capstone had was great. My family was happy when I showed the
generator to them and that made me happy too. Same with friends. This can have a bigger impact
in the future still when they can be available for purchase and be shipped out to area without
electricity. The Capstone assignments also made me think deeply about myself and core
competencies which made me learn a bit more about myself and how I think.
With my finished product, I am most happy about the generator and the joy it brought my
family when I first showed it around. I am also proud of having a unique capstone as I could not
find anyone with anything similar to mine. During the process I am proud of how strategic I was
with picking parts for the project. I have no regrets or anything I would want to change with my
physical project. Lastly, I am proud of my ability to craft because the model came out almost
exactly how I had imagined it in my mind.
In the beginning, the only difficulty I had was finding a job to job shadow for my other
strand. This was because the job hours were the same as my school hours and I had to be at
school. So, I didn’t do that. I did end up switching early on, so it wasn’t that hard. The switch to
project capstone definitely had a positive impact and I am happy I did switch. Switching showed
me what I am capable of making with my hands and imagination, and how much precision I had
with the project. After switching, a minor difficulty I had was cutting wood for my project. I had
never cut wood before and needed to. I got a handsaw and tried using it. I cut my finger 3 times
but still managed to get my pieces. At the end it was a learning moment for me as I learned the
technique to cut wood all by myself and was able to do it comfortably towards the end pieces.
 There is nothing I would change with my finished product. This is because I chose the
best parts and can’t see anything ne replaced with anything better. With the assignments though,
I would make some changes. I would want to change when I submitted the assignments. I had
some late assignments and would change that so they would have been on time. I also wish that I
had started uploading to the website in the beginning. I did get it all done though, but it would
have been a bit easier if I had done it at the moment instead of waiting.
Advice I would give to a student who will be completing their Capstone next year is that
it is not as hard as it may seem. If they keep that mentality it will actually be easier for them. I
would also advise them to not procrastinate and do their website and uploads on time, it will
make everything easier towards the end. Lastly I would say to choose a topic you like and are
happy to be working on because it can be fun.
I used no online source for my capstone model. Everything I knew was from my prior
knowledge. Youtube I believe would have been a good source because you can find examples of
almost anything. Youtube covers a large range of every topic and can help a lot. Other than that I
would make general searches on google to find more information about any questions I may
have had.
One thing I wished I changed about my approach to my project was to have chosen the
project strand to make the generator earlier. Before I had chosen the occupation strand so that I
can job shadow, but I didn’t think ahead and found out the heard way that the work hours
coincided and that I couldn’t be at 2 places at one time because I have to attend school too and
sites aren’t open for work over the weekend. I did loose some time in the start, but fortunately I
made the switch early on and didn’t fall behind much. Other than that I wouldn’t change much.