Maryland Heights: Are you Meeting Needs and Wants of Our Community?

Maryland Heights: 

Are you Meeting Needs and Wants of Our Community?

Problem:
Is our city meeting all of the needs of its residents?


In the beginning:
Students brainstormed needs of people. The list was extensive (I forgot to take a picture of it! ugh!)

Then we searched the online business pages to see if Maryland Heights has businesses to address all of our needs. We used Google Docs to work together. This is what we discovered:

Students brainstormed businesses they had heard of that could address our needs.

We are on a roll!:
Next, students selected the type of business in which to send letters. Students decided it was best to stick to one type of business so that they could write similar letters.

Students brainstormed what to include in their letters to encourage businesses to look at Maryland Heights as a future business location. We looked at Maryland Heights' population for daytime and evening/weekends, available real estate, and building codes. Students also thought mentioning the very little competition they would have since the purpose of our project was to identify needs and wants not being met by our city.

Here is a sample letter:

Getting so close to finishing!:

Students wrote letters to their businesses.  Addresses were found on the Internet. All letters were mailed off by winter break.

Responses!!!:
Wow! The responses have been coming in! Diego's response came in first, within seven days of sending out the first round of letters. Businesses are impressed with the type of information provided in our letters. They are in awe with the fact that the students knew to think about daytime population and building codes. Overall, I believe many of the businesses leaders we contacted found our letters inspiring to consider Maryland Heights for future business endeavors. 

Diego received a $10 gift card to Half Price Books!

Daniel received a lot of goodies from Wendy's.

Lion's Choice sent coupons to Daniel.  Lion's Choice also said they would visit our classroom and that they would host a fund raiser for our school, program or classroom.

Results:

All businesses were impressed with the letters to students wrote. Some businesses are unable to open businesses in Maryland Heights due to proximity to their other stores.  However, businesses such as Half Price Books,  Payless Shoes, Olive Garden, and Michaels indicated that they will forward our request to the department in charge of selected new sites in the future.

One business, Lion's Choice, offered to have a fund raiser at one of their locations, and, to visit our classroom to talk about what it takes to open a business!  We will be contacting them soon!

Who will we hear from next?

PEGS Ponders Recycling....

Landfill Contraptions:

Solutions to Reclaiming Useful Disposed Resources

What's the Problem?:
PEGS students gave a lot of thought the recycling and trash.  We reviewed an interview about the activities that occur at a landfill. Students witnessed how different forms of trash are separated and collected for either landfill or recycling purposes. Some landfills are not equipped to separate.

The problem was posed to them to create a contraption that could sort trash and reclaim a usable resource (or more than one).

We reviewed circuits and batteries to make sure students were familiar with how electricity could be used. 


First:
First, the students designed their contraptions on paper. Each student designed their own.

Second:
Designs were displayed throughout the room. Students walked around with post it notes, leaving comments and questions for the designer to consider. 

Students then reviewed those comments, clarified drawings, and made revisions. A few students actual redrew their ideas into a new, more developed idea.


Third:

Then in groups they discussed their ideas. As a group, they took the best ideas from each person and made a new design.

Fourth:
Finally, as a group, they created their contraptions. Here are their results. Dr. Furjes came to our classroom to view the two group contraptions.  He asked many questions, clarifying questions.  He was quite impressed with what they made from our makerspace area!  One contraption was a conveyor belt made from a skateboard, fan blades, sewing machine motor and pedal to control speed (found on the side of the road, none the less!), and a lot of other miscellaneous parts.


System #1:
This system separates magnetic items from trash. As the magnet collects items, the robotic arm moves over and drops the items on the yellow plate. 

System #2:
This system separates several items: magnetic, plastic, paper and the rest fell down into a bucket. The box contains the fan that blows the paper into a catcher. The fan is controlled by a sewing machine motor which has a pedal that can control speed!  The conveyor belt was manual controlled. The students tried a few motors and were having difficulties.

Reflection:

Working as a group:
Students discussed with me the benefits and difficulties working in a group on this kind of project. Benefits included how one person's ideas help you develop your own ideas.  However, it is difficult to decide which ideas to use because sometimes you really like your ideas and you really do think some of your ideas are better.  In the end, however, your group invention usually comes out better and more detailed when you work with others. 

Making contraptions:
Students mentioned the difficulty of drawing their ideas on paper. They also mentioned that when designing with items, the end result may not look like the idea on paper.  Sometimes ideas on paper CAN'T be made into the actual model.  Making models can be dangerous and wearing safety goggles is important. Also, moving parts, like fan blades, need to be in enclosed spaces such as a box.

Sharing:
Our contraptions were demonstrated to staff members.  Community members viewed contraptions. All provided thoughtful questions for the students to ponder. Overall, the audience members were impressed with the designs and didn't have much else to ask.