Overall I think our project went really well. I feel like we really did a lot of work, considering how big our topic was. Our group worked really well together, which always makes things easier in big group projects like this one. I think some things that went well were how we worked together, our idea in general, and the end result of our project. We worked very well together, and were very helpful with each other. We really got along well as a group, which made it so much easier. I also think our idea was a really good one, even though it was quite a large undertaking to go forward with it. Just because it is a difficult problem, doesn't mean it is not important and shouldn't be tried to solve. Our final outcome is something that can be worked on and continued in the future to make it even better. Some things that didn't go as planned were blog posts... For the most part we were really good at staying up to date on them, but every once in a while we got backed up a few days and were in a rush to finish them. Another thing that didn't go as planned was the obvious problem of how do we even start working on a project this big. We struggled with ways of finding usable data for our report. I learned how important communication and organization is when it comes to group projects. I also learned that even though some big projects are hard to get started, it is better to just try instead of put it off. I can't think of how to change this to become a better activity. It is a very independent project, which although is difficult because we are used to constant guidance from teachers and adults, is important for us to learn for the future. This was a challenging, but really good project. I think we did do science in this project. Science being the study of the natural world through observation and experimentation. Although this wasn't like "normal science" we were making observations of things such as land division and sustainability. When it comes down to it, pretty much everything is science.
Overall this project was difficult, but I thought that it was a good push for our class. We spent a lot of the year finding a purpose for ourselves, and trying to find a way to put the things that we were learning and all the knowledge that was being shared with us about sustainability into action. For me the project was a good way to broaden my perspective on sustainable actions and the things that can be done to help even if it is just a small step to a big process. I think that something that went well was our outcome. The beginning when my group started with our idea it was shakey because our idea was so HUGE it definitely something that was a lot different from what all the other groups were doing. We had a rough start because with a project so huge, we had to find a place to start. However, once we kind of got started and started to make some progress in things it became a lot easier and the group gained a lot more interest in the idea. We didn’t plan on doing a project that was so broad with such a long process, but with that being the only idea we came up with we had to just go with it. The start was the most difficult part for us. But I am very proud of my group and the work that we did. It took a lot to get our project to the place that its at. I learned a lot mostly from having to work in a group. Its difficult to work with a group because everyone has to always do their part. I learned that communicating with each other was the key to success. We had to make sure that all of us were on the same page with things in order for us to be able to find success in our project. I don’t think that anything for this particular project needs to be changed. It was a good push for us to get our ideas out and for us to do something to start to make a difference on our own with out having to be lead by Coach Chris through it. It was a good way for us to put into work the ideas we have been discussing all year. I didn’t feel like we were doing science. It felt more of us taking care of our kuleana as students of Kamehameha and as Hawaiians in trying to make our school a better and more sustainable place. The satisfaction that I felt from completely just this first step to this big project idea felt amazing, and I hope that future malama honua students decide to take on our project, continue the push we have started, and build on it.
Overall I feel that our group did really well with this project. It seemed like we had the strangest project and probably the hardest one to pull off. I don't disagree with that for one second. It was a very difficult topic that required a lot of time to be put into it in order to move on a new part of the project. There were a few things that went well like the fact that we were able to work together and discuss openly about what we wanted to say. Everyone was diligent with the tasks that were assigned to them and the whole group made sure that we stayed on top of things. If one person one falling behind, the other two would be there to nudge them forward a bit. A few that didn't go well were how we hoping to receive our data. When we compiled a list of questions, it was with hopes that the data would be statistics so that we could make charts and graphs to be able to show our points in a more visual way. Another thing that didn't work was our entire first few days because we kept coming up with ideas which were almost dropped instantly. It took us a little while to finally settle on the idea of policy and land assets. I learned a lot about businesses choose not to be sustainable because it doesn't benefit them. That's honestly just the world that we live in. However, throughout the entire experience from this project, I was able to learn about different sustainable means and I feel that I know a better, personal, definition of sustainability that will benefit me as a person. In order to make this a better activity, I think that students should take advantage of all the class time that they have together. It would be beneficial to the group and to the project. It was good how we were able to go to Ka'ūpūlehu and be able to experience sustainability in a level that is past just recycling, however I think that in order to really benefit from this project, students need to be aware of how sustainable they are in general without being aware. It would make the impact greater. Lastly, I honestly didnʻt feel like it was a science kind of thing for me but I enjoyed it none the less. This project has helped me in many different ways on both a personal and educational level and I hope that others can receive that same satisfaction when they continue this project.
5/16 We just finished our projects last night to literally sevens of people. I feel that our idea came across well and that we had so much information that there was no way that we would fit the time limit. I personally think that it is a good thing that we went over the limit, because it shows just how much information we researched, time we put into our project and how much we cared about the topic that we were working on. I (speaking on behalf of myself only) think that the project was a success whether we made it in the time limit or not. All that is left is to finish the next steps and continue on with making Kamehameha a better place.
5/17 Next steps are always difficult. The hardest part about ours is probably going to be following through with the plans. Making a mock contract is easy, but it is very difficult to want to present it to a board of people that have a significant amount of power. It seems to be nerve wrecking and I feel that it might be something that slows us down a bit. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in order to complete the project because there is still more information that needs to be gathered. We have hopes that someone will read this and see it and know that it’s the right thing to do and be able to give it to the people that really need to see this. We are all hoping for that one student that will help us to continue what we have laid a foundation for. Today was the day of our presentations. I thought that our group did really well. While talking about our project I felt very professional. Our project was very big from the beginning, and we knew from the start that it would be a difficult task for us to take on. However, I am very proud of our group and the things that we accomplished. We worked very hard to get our idea out there and start the push to a more sustainable future for Kamehameha lands. I really do hope that people are able to see the work that we had put into all of this and choose to continue what we have started. This push could do big things for the schools lands and eventually do big things for the school if we do things the right way. Im very proud of our presentation that we gave today!
Our projects are coming to an end, and today was an important final workday. Today our final draft and presentation slideshow for tomorrows symposium are were due, so that is what we spend our entire class time finishing up. We were able to talk to Mr. Blake today and get some really good feedback on our first rough draft and ways he thinks we could improve upon our final draft. Talking with him made us feel more confident about our paper. I feel like we got a lot of things accomplished today. We submitted our completed final draft and presentation, and now we are just preparing to present our projects tomorrow night.
Today, we didnʻt have class but the year is coming to a close. We are finalizing our rough draft tonight and our presentation. Unlike the other group projects, ours really doesnʻt have much to do with the students directly. The thing about our group is that we think bigger. It doesnʻt automatically mean that itʻs a bad project, but it does mean that we have to take a step farther to most groups. I think that we have done a lot of research and have a created a good mock contract and maybe our contract will be taken up by someone looking at our websites and they will modify it and really take it to the next step. We hope that everyone looks at this and sees the work that we put into our project.
Today in class we worked on our projects. We are presenting this week so its definitely crunch time for us and we seriously need to get it all together. The presentation was roughly put together. The only changes that needed to be made was to take words off and add on the video about punaluu that we are hoping to get. We also shared our rough draft, which was fairly good as well. All we have left to fix is to add minor details into the writing to make it more informative for when we present our entire thing this Friday.
Today was used to finish our project rough draft and presentation. This wasn’t very hard to do, but while we were doing it we noticed some problems with our project. The main issue we have, and Mr. Blake brought that up to us, is that we are lacking in data. Our data isn’t real measurable data, because our topic is somewhat impossible to collect data on… that’s not good. But its too late to change that now. All we have in our data section is the responses from an interview we conducted with someone from Land Assets. It’s something, but calling it “data” is a stretch. We need to work on that
5/9: I (Kaʻuhane) just finished my meeting with the land assets representatives yesterday. I took some notes from the meeting and we were using the notes as data for our rough draft. Hopefully through a little more communication with them, we can receive more data that we can use for a final draft. The best information that we received is how businessmen perceive businesses like Monsanto and Royal Hawaiian to be okay and not need to use sustainable practices. It all comes down to the profit, which was one of our final conclusions. Hopefully, we can think of a way to convince them otherwise.
5/10: Mother’s day is today so it was kinda hard to feel sustainable. My family actually seemed to be unsustainable. We ate seafood, but that doesnʻt make us sustainable. Just because things come from the ocean, doesnʻt mean that it is a sustainable option. I think that by taking this class, we are figuring things out like this. A big question that I have is: If we donʻt even know that much about sustainability in our homes, how can we expect companies trying to make a profit to be sustainable. I feel that in order to understand how to help these companies, we need to help ourselves first. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Question_mark_blue.png |
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May 2015
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