Creative Engineering Design
Project History:
This STEM project was a little different from the rest. In previous projects, we had been told to create something particular, such as a Rube Goldberg Machine. This time, however, the end result of our project was our decision. We were given the task of choosing a problem to find a solution for ourselves. The first step we took was to brainstorm a list of some of the problems we encounter in the world as a class. Then as individuals we picked the top few brainstormed problems we were personally interested in finding a solution to. We then found classmates who had similar or the same interests and formed new groups.
My group and I decided to try and create some for of solution for the huge problems of depression and anxiety. We immediately recognized that depression and anxiety do not have a "cure". We couldn't simply rid the world of depression and anxiety, but we decided that we wanted to create something that could hopefully help some people who are suffering from depression and/or anxiety out a little,
Instead of immediately deciding on our solution (I will be referring to our end product as our solution to depression and anxiety because it is faster to write. I know that our end product is not a true solution to the entire project) we first did research into what depression and anxiety really are and how they affect people as well as society.
Our research included the different types of depression and some statistics about depression rates. The main types of depression are: major depressive disorder, catonic depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), dysthymia (chronic depression), atypical depression, and melancholic depression. Some statistics include: 80% of people with symptoms of clinical depression are not receiving specific treatment; 60-80% of all depression cases can be treated with psychotherapy and antidepressants; about 11% of adolescents have depressive disorder by age 18.
Next we took the information we learned and took notes on and thought up ways that we could possible help create a solution. Then we realized, as we had been researching, we had found studies indicating that sharing emotions helps people to deal with them, and that in order to fix something, one must first understand what the problem really is. We decided that what we needed was a way to give people access to information about depression and anxiety and a way to talk, think, and help deal with their symptoms. So what did we decide to create? A website!
This is the URL to the website my group was creating: http://app.imcreator.com/static/0CD3B521E4B84133918C57CAC59F57DA/tell-your-story
Unfortunately, we were unable to create a finished end project because school was canceled for two days because of flooding and power outages. The next week was finals, so there was no time to finish then either, and one of the best things about STEM class is the fact that there are many interesting projects to complete, so we needed to move on from this project.
If we had had more time, my group's next step would have been to continue adding information about depression and anxiety, add pictures and messages to the webpages, as well as publishing the completed version of our website.
This project was also different from previous ones because we did not implement any new physics concepts or equations to create our website. However, we did use the Engineering Design Cycle when creating our project.
This STEM project was a little different from the rest. In previous projects, we had been told to create something particular, such as a Rube Goldberg Machine. This time, however, the end result of our project was our decision. We were given the task of choosing a problem to find a solution for ourselves. The first step we took was to brainstorm a list of some of the problems we encounter in the world as a class. Then as individuals we picked the top few brainstormed problems we were personally interested in finding a solution to. We then found classmates who had similar or the same interests and formed new groups.
My group and I decided to try and create some for of solution for the huge problems of depression and anxiety. We immediately recognized that depression and anxiety do not have a "cure". We couldn't simply rid the world of depression and anxiety, but we decided that we wanted to create something that could hopefully help some people who are suffering from depression and/or anxiety out a little,
Instead of immediately deciding on our solution (I will be referring to our end product as our solution to depression and anxiety because it is faster to write. I know that our end product is not a true solution to the entire project) we first did research into what depression and anxiety really are and how they affect people as well as society.
Our research included the different types of depression and some statistics about depression rates. The main types of depression are: major depressive disorder, catonic depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), dysthymia (chronic depression), atypical depression, and melancholic depression. Some statistics include: 80% of people with symptoms of clinical depression are not receiving specific treatment; 60-80% of all depression cases can be treated with psychotherapy and antidepressants; about 11% of adolescents have depressive disorder by age 18.
Next we took the information we learned and took notes on and thought up ways that we could possible help create a solution. Then we realized, as we had been researching, we had found studies indicating that sharing emotions helps people to deal with them, and that in order to fix something, one must first understand what the problem really is. We decided that what we needed was a way to give people access to information about depression and anxiety and a way to talk, think, and help deal with their symptoms. So what did we decide to create? A website!
This is the URL to the website my group was creating: http://app.imcreator.com/static/0CD3B521E4B84133918C57CAC59F57DA/tell-your-story
Unfortunately, we were unable to create a finished end project because school was canceled for two days because of flooding and power outages. The next week was finals, so there was no time to finish then either, and one of the best things about STEM class is the fact that there are many interesting projects to complete, so we needed to move on from this project.
If we had had more time, my group's next step would have been to continue adding information about depression and anxiety, add pictures and messages to the webpages, as well as publishing the completed version of our website.
This project was also different from previous ones because we did not implement any new physics concepts or equations to create our website. However, we did use the Engineering Design Cycle when creating our project.
My Reflection:
A highlight for me while doing this project would be working together with my group, because we worked well together and were able to create nice end product. I also really like seeing other groups presentations. It was fascinating and entertaining (in some cases) to see what other groups' solutions were to their problems.
A low light to this project would be that we were unable to finish our website completely, and also I found that it was difficult to work on our project all at the same time. We ended up having to have one person in charge of putting information on the webiste, and the other group members sending them information they find or wrote because we could not edit the website on two different devices. Another low light was the fact that we were unable to finish our website. However, even though our product was unfinished, I learned a lot about depression, anxiety, and how to deal with life in general.
Things I will remember for future projects would be that doing research first really helps you to come up with an appropriate solution and that working well together makes a project more enjoyable. I really enjoyed working on this project and seeing other groups' products.
Two things I learned about myself during the course of this project was that I work well when I am interested in the material and also that it is always possible to be working on something that's useful to the group. I will remember these things and apply them when working on a new project in the future.
A highlight for me while doing this project would be working together with my group, because we worked well together and were able to create nice end product. I also really like seeing other groups presentations. It was fascinating and entertaining (in some cases) to see what other groups' solutions were to their problems.
A low light to this project would be that we were unable to finish our website completely, and also I found that it was difficult to work on our project all at the same time. We ended up having to have one person in charge of putting information on the webiste, and the other group members sending them information they find or wrote because we could not edit the website on two different devices. Another low light was the fact that we were unable to finish our website. However, even though our product was unfinished, I learned a lot about depression, anxiety, and how to deal with life in general.
Things I will remember for future projects would be that doing research first really helps you to come up with an appropriate solution and that working well together makes a project more enjoyable. I really enjoyed working on this project and seeing other groups' products.
Two things I learned about myself during the course of this project was that I work well when I am interested in the material and also that it is always possible to be working on something that's useful to the group. I will remember these things and apply them when working on a new project in the future.