Capstone Project Proposal Draft

Name of student: Isabelle Nukpezah

Date: 02/27/23
Teacher: Ms. Lacroix
Capstone strand I have chosen is Project strand
Proposed title for my project: Ghanaian cuisine cookbook

What is your inquiry question that interests you for further research? It should be a question that
connects with a purpose, passion or personalized area of interest for you. This is a question that
you cannot just google an answer for. Please see examples from your Capstone booklet.
My inquiry question is:

How do different cultures and foods bring people together?

Rationale/context: Detail your reasons for choosing this inquiry question. Explain WHY you are
choosing to investigate this topic as a major area of focus. How does this area of inquiry connect
to your passion(s), purpose? Why is it of personal interest to you?

I chose this inquiry question because as a first generation Canadian I take pride in my culture
as a daughter to Ghanaian parents. The thought of sharing that culture and the delicious food
that comes with it gives me much joy. It connects to my passions as I enjoy cooking and food
and sharing that with others.

Background: What background knowledge/connections/prior learning do you have in this

area of inquiry?

Growing up my mom often made Ghanaian dishes, so I know a little bit about Ghanaian
dishes and the importance of food within our culture. As well I enjoy helping my mom cook
and learning how to make certain dishes.

Career connections: What is your intended career area at this point in time? What
connections does this inquiry question have to your life, academic and/ or career goals?

As of right now I am kind of leaning towards working in the medical field. This inquiry connects
to my life as it is a cookbook on Ghanaian foods, and I am Ghanaian and want to explore this
more.

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Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections: What subject areas and core
competencies will be connected with your project? Outline and explain the connections.

Personal Awareness and Responsibility

Strengths:
1. “I take personal responsibility for my choices and actions.”
During semester one this year I was in anatomy and physiology. During that time, I knew it
was my responsibility to prepare for myself for tests that were coming up. If I wasn’t fully
prepared for a unit test, I knew it was on me because I chose not to prepare for the test, or I did
not try hard enough to review the material before the test. By being aware of my action and
choices I understand that when I do something wrong or do not do good on an assignment or
test that’s on me and no one else. I was able to demonstrate personal responsibility for my
choices and actions when it came to how I use my time outside school.
2. “I am learning to take care of myself.”
To stay healthy and out of the hospital I do what I need to do to help myself. I do this by
drinking enough water so that I do not end up have a sickle cell crisis (that when my sickled
cells clump together). To prevent this, I drink water and do other things to help me. Along with
this I take medication that helps me not have crises as much. By doing these things I am
demonstrating that am I able to take care of myself
Weakness:
1. “I am personally responsible, self-motivated, and can advocate for myself.”
When it comes to doing homework, I find it difficult to buckle down and get my work done
especially when I am not interested in the subject, I find myself procrastinating. It is very hard
for me to motivate myself to get work done for school. To be more specific when I was bio and
had to study for unit tests, I found myself putting studying off to last moment instead of just
doing it and getting out of way. Since I did not feel motivated to do the work, I would not do
the work. Moving forward I will try to put the more important stuff first and find ways to make
my work more interesting so that I don’t lose focus or motivation quickly.
Social Responsibility
Strengths:
1. “I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate
strategies to resolve problems.”
Within the world I understand that there are different perspectives on certain issues. Even
within the school I know my classmates and teachers all have different perspective from me
and each other. By being able to identify different perspectives I am capable of listening to
other sides on issues and taking them into account. For example, my sister and I may have
different perspectives on something and instead dismissing it I ponder over what she says and
even accept what she has said. Being able look and different perspectives on issues and
appreciating can help me resolve problems by understanding that since everyone has their
perspectives on certain things that what I think isn’t always correct.
2. “I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.”
When I interact with people that older, I am very respectful toward them and address them in a
respectful manner. When talking with my mom dad or any family member that is older than
me, I am polite and understanding. Although I am not that much of people person, I try my best
to interact well my peers by being kind and getting along with them. Apart from older people
and peers I get along well with kids and people that are younger than me, I tend to show

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interest in those that I younger than me. For example, in 2019 I went to Amsterdam and went
to a gathering. A little girl I barely new was introduced to me by cousin and the whole night
she was just hangout with me, and I was okay with it, because I enjoy the company of people
that are younger than me. This is how I show that I have positive peer and intergenerational
relationships.
Weakness
1. “I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and
collaboratively for the benefit of others.”
Although I am able to do I feel that there is still I can improve on this. When it comes to caring
to the community and environment, I can do better at caring for the environment and
community I can do more to benefit the community and environment. I can also work harder at
working with other or independently to benefit others. For example, I can be more willing to
put myself out there and help the community, and environment. To get better in this area I will
try and be more willing to see where I can help.
Critical Thinking
Strengths:
1. “I can analyze and critique my work and learning.”
When working on a paper for a class I can look over the work and see what needs fixing and
what works. By being able to do this it helps me to better my learning and understanding of
things. For example, when doing chores, I’m able to see what I did wrong and correct for the
next time so that I do not make the same mistake as I did before. I am able show that I can
analyze and critique my work through these things.
2. “I can assess my progress.”
When being told by teachers that I have to assess how I am doing in the class I am able to
display that I am capable of doing so by grading myself and I where I sit within the class.
When I was law last semester, I was asked how I think I did in the class, and I was able to
answer truthfully how was doing in the class. And at the end of the class I was able to recall
what learned in class and I think I did in that and how I think I did in the class overall.

Weakness:
1. “I can ask good quality questions, gather relevant information, and come up with well-
developed conclusions.”
I am not that great at asking questions in class or outside of class for that matter I tend to try
and figure it out on my own instead of trying to ask for help. In general, I am not that deep of
thinker and just take things as it is, so when it comes thinking of well-developed conclusions, I
struggle with that. I find it difficult to take information I have and come up with conclusions.
This most likely has to with the confidence I have which is not a lot. Going forward I can help
myself by being more confident in asking questions that will further my learning, as well think
outside the box.
Creative Thinking
Strengths:
1. “I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious mind to
generate new ideas.”
I can use others and their idea to add on to and make a new idea. Although, when it comes to
generating new ideas from the environment and my own mind, I struggle with that. I tend to
work better with others than by myself. When I work with others, I generate ideas better.
2. “I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.”
When doing work sometimes I don’t get the outcome I expect, and I know and understand that

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its okay, since learning requires that we fail sometimes. For example, last semester in law I did
not to so well on an assignment and at first, I was discouraged but then that helped me to work
harder. Knowing that failure is important in learning can help me to learn from those mistakes
and not make the same ones again.
Weakness:
1. “I can create new and unique ideas that provide new perspectives that influence how
people think about topics.”
I am not that great at forming new ideas especially unique I tend to look and things and take
them as they are I don’t go into depth about my work or do. My thinking is very straight
forward. When doing working I always find the easiest ways to do things instead of trying to
find new ways to do things, I enjoy simplicity and finding the easy way out. To help better
myself in this area I will try harder to think outside the box and ask more questions to help
myself come up with new ideas.
Communication
Strengths:
1. “I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider
different perspectives and build consensus.”
When I am class, and we are having a class discussion, I do well to listen to others’ ideas and
what they have to say and contribute when appropriate. When collaborating with others I can
agree with their ideas without argument and see their side of things. When discussing topics
with peer I can listen to them and ad on to what they have to say. I am very good at listening to
others and respecting their idea as well coming to an agreement with other. This is how I can
demonstrate listening and considering other perspectives.
2. “I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.”
When I am put with others to work on a project, I can work with them to plan out idea for the
work that we have been given to do. Although I am not a very vocal person, I find ways to
voice my opinions on things and what we as group can do to improve what we are working on.
When problems arise, I can work the people around me to figure out a way to solve them. Last
semester in English class I was put in group for a group project, and I was able to work with
people in group to come with plan for what we wanted to do and when we found ourselves
stumped, we were able to solve the problem together.
Weakness:
1. “I can engage in deep meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes and audiences.”
For human geography last year, I was tasked with coming up with an inquiry question for that
class and at first I struggled to think of one because I was not sure what I wanted do and was
not able think deeply about what I wanted that inquiry question to be. Eventually I was able to
think of something to do but it took me while to get an idea that was good. Going forward I
will try harder to be more creative and find ways to express my ideas.
Personal & Cultural Identity
Strengths:
1. “I understand that culture is a broad concept that includes things like my geographic
region, nationality, sex/gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, language and religion.”
Within my daily life I understand what my culture is as well my cultural background. For
example, even though I was born a Canadian citizen I understand that my nationality and
ethnicity is Ghanaian. Culture is very important to me, and I feel its important that it shares
with others so they can embrace it as well. In Canada alone there are so many different cultures
that are to be celebrated and recognized. I demonstrate that I understand that culture is a broad
concept my appreciating my culture as well as others.

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 2. “I understand how what I value had and will shape my choices.”
The values that I have, have a great impact on a interact with others at school, works and other
places. A value that is important to me is respect so, wherever I go I try my best to be
respectful to people around me especially teachers because the deserve respect. I mainly have
the mindset because of my parent who have instilled this in me, so I carry that with me by that
way I talk to people and the choices I make through. For example, in any class I have I try my
best to be polite and respectful to those around me and to considerate of them.
Weakness:
1. “I understand how to use my strengths and abilities to my advantage, and I can explain
how I use them to contribute to my community.”
When given I was given assignments in law class, I found it difficult to use the strengths and
abilities I have to my advantage and find innovate ways to complete the task that given to me.
A lot of the time the I would fine the work to be difficult and have the feeling of giving up,
and since I didn’t know use my abilities to help myself do the work. Going forward I will try to
use the strengths and abilities that I possess to my advantage.

Capstone Presentation medium: select one or more project mediums you wish to use to
present your project. Outline and give details about how you will present your project once
completed. You may use a combination of mediums.
o Electronic portfolio: Prezi or PPT
o Physical portfolio
o Website
o imovie presentation
o YouTube channel

For my presentation i will be using ppt to present my project. On each slide i will talk about the
importance of the dish to me and my family. I will also give a brief explanation what these
foods are commonly eaten with. Website

Description of my Capstone project. Specific Project Details of the Capstone Project: what
will you research, create, study, produce, solve, investigate? What product will be produced
at the end of this project for evaluation. Write a one-page description outlining your
proposal.

For my capstone I will be making a cookbook that has different Ghanaian dishes in them
including lunch, and dinners. I will have a small blurb about why this dish is important to me

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 and how we share that with others. For each recipe I will have a picture of the food and the
ingredients needed to make it, the steps, and a small blurb of the importance of the dish to
me. I plan on making this cookbook with at least 5-8 recipes. I will be making these on my own
or with help of my mom. I will try my best to make the recipes as accurate as possible
although that might not be the easiest this since within my household, we don’t really use
measurements we almost always eyeball things and add things if it’s needed. For this project I
will be researching how food affects certain cultures and the importance it has on bringing
people together. I will plan on creating a cookbook that will help people make Ghanaian
dishes as I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn how to make these
amazing dishes. I plan on looking into the importance of different dishes and that help people
connect on a deeper level. The final product will be cookbook with Ghanaian dishes as well
the reasons why the dishes are important to me. I also feel this cookbook will help others see
another part of me and better understand my culture.

Resources/ Technology/Skills: Make an assessment of the resources, technology and

skills you will need to be able to complete this project. What is your plan to be able to
access/learn all of the resources necessary to achieve completion of this project? Detail
your plans.

I will need a laptop to type up the recipes for the cookbook and camera or phone to takes
photo of the foods. For the pictures for my cookbook I can ask for sister for help for help with
that and my mom van help me with recipes.

Mentors/Community Connections: What types of mentor(s)/community connections will

you need to help you complete your capstone project? How will your mentor(s) help you?
What is your plan to access the mentorship/community connections necessary for this
project?

Since this is a cookbook on Ghanaian cuisine I will mainly be getting help from my mom on
ideas for dishes and the ingredients needed to make certain dishes. Besides my mother i
could ask other Ghanaians if they are able to help me.

Project limitations: What are some project limitations and potential obstacles that you foresee
that might affect progress with your Capstone Project?

Some limitations I might is the layout of the cookbook as it might be hard to do on word, as
well the recipes and how to execute. Especially because when it comes cooking in my
household, we don’t use measurement so it will be difficult for me to give precise

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 measurements and cook times.

Other considerations: List and detail any other related information/ considerations about
your project that you feel should be included in your project proposal.

References:

Attach a REFERENCE LIST. Your list should be written using correct APA formatting.
An example is provided on page 21 of your Capstone booklet.

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