Finally Pau!!

    We are finally done with our project for Physics!!! I think we did a wonderful job and made a difference at Kamehameha with this project. So this blog was made to finally wrap it up.
   This project went very well. We did not encounter a time when we had serious trouble with our project. We keep within our budget, we did everything on time, and we worked together as a group. Things that did not go as planned is that we kept adding on more solutions to our problem. Our original idea was not good enough by itself so we had to add on posters to draw more awareness to what we were trying to accomplish. Another problem we encountered was the school schedule. I think the inconsistency of the schedule during this fourth quarter had affected the outcome of our project. I think if we had a consistent schedule then our data could be more accurate.
   I learned many a things from this project. The first thing I learned was how much food we waste at Kamehameha. Another thing I learned was that trying to prevent food from being wasted made me more conscious about the people around me and how much they take. This project also showed me that physics is everywhere and in everything we do. The last and most important lesson I learned was to be able to work with others, others who I did not know very well. In the end we got to know each other much better.
   One thing that I would do to make this activity better is to encourage students to pick "failed" projects and to improve them. I think that this project brings out many ideas in students, and some ideas won't work within the given time frame. For example, Jenai, Tati, and Ian's idea of a senior lounge is great, but they were not able to get it done within the time frame. I think getting students to pick up and continue these ideas will really help to improve the school.
  Throughout most of the project I was not thinking about science. Although we were working with physics everyday, I did not realize how much physics things we were actually doing. For example, being in the spc and creating posters is all physics related things. Not only is creating the posters have to do with physics but hanging it also deals with physics. I think one thing we could have done better with our powerpoint is talk more about the physics, if we were allotted more time.
     This project was lots of fun, it expanded my circle of friends, and it also showed me the connection to physics in everyday problems. Now, all that is left to do is the Peer Evaluations, it should be easy to fill out because I had an awesome group that was always focused, when I wasn't.

Project Reflection

Overall, I thought that this quarter’s project was an interesting experience and I preferred it to the course’s more traditional curriculum. Although I normally prefer individual work to group work, I did not mind working with my group since the parts that they contributed to the project were quite helpful. When we implemented the carousel poster, we received some positive comments about it. Another aspect that I appreciate is the fact that we conducted our presentation competently and within the accepted time limits. However, our numerical results of the project do not fully indicate the true effectiveness of what we did. Our project involved many changes before we reached a more satisfactory solution, so I wish that we collected more information about our better improvements. I also wish that we had actual pictures of our display signs instead of just the draft that we featured on the presentation. Before this quarter, I knew about ‘Akahi’s food waste but I did not discover the horridness of the situation until this project brought the issue directly to me. In order to make this project better I think that some of the criteria could have been clearer, such as the grade for the working prototype. I did not think of this project as being a physics assignment in the traditional sense. Although anything could pertain to the scientific method, this project’s connections to it are not as obvious as regular lessons. 

Final blog

So here, viewers, is my final blog. Both for this project, and for physics class in general. As you know, we had the project presentation last week friday, which ended up finishing closer to 9pm. It was interesting to see all of the different projects/ bugs that other groups of students were trying to fix on campus. Some of them implemented things that I didn't even notice, but now that I know, I think they were very good ideas.
Some of these included the bag hooks that are now conveniently placed near the bathroom stalls, and the bag hooks that are located on some of the chairs in Akahi Dining Hall.

ANYWAYS, my overall thoughts on the project are that it's a great project. It's better than having an actual exam about physics because we're actually applying what we learned (in some cases, not in all projects) and we get to try to do good deeds and make lasting differences on campus.
I really liked getting to work with Amber, Allie, and Kalamaku. I think we made a FANTASTIC group and we were able to get along very easily and bring multiple perspectives and talents to help with our project. Because of this, we were able to coordinate and plan effectively.

Perhaps the only thing that did not go as planned was that we didn't get as big of a response to our food waste attack as we hoped for. Yes, there was some waste reduction, but I was hoping for a significant difference.

I don't think that there's very much that needs to be changed for this activity in the future. I think it's a great idea!!!
Honestly, I don't think i was doing science AT ALL for this project. Well, I mean, of course there were sciencey things if I really dug down and searched for it. I could talk about the friction of the tape needed to keep the poster on the wall, but other than that, my intentions moved more towards trying to reduce food waste rather than reduce food waste VIA science.

I DIDN'T REALLY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TO POST FOR A PICTURE, AND THIS MADE ME LAUGH JUST NOW SO I HOPE YOU LAUGH TOO. 

Pau Hanz

Group 4 <3 <3 <3

My overall thoughts of this project is that I appreciated that it was a very real life situation. The group setting, collaboration, communication and presentation were all a part of what each of us may and will most likely do in the future with our education and careers. I enjoyed working with a hard working, well spoken and motivated group. Things that went well with this project is that each of our group members were very hard workers and we all got a long. Everyone was open to sharing their ideas and executing them. We did not have many things go unplanned, however, after our initial experiment, we did add parts to make it better. When our first solution didn't seem to be working, we implemented more ideas that would help in making our project a success. What I learned from this project is that solving real life problems are actually fun and it's a good feeling to see when a difference is actually being made. I also learned that the make up of a group can make the process really smooth or the opposite. I wouldn't change anything in this activity. I did think I was doing science, but it did not seem like as much science as the other physics classes. But, I am sure that I enjoyed doing this project way more than I would've a traditional 4th quarter.

Final Paper

 This weekend was a much needed weekend because we are reaching the end of the school year! And one of the last things we need to do before we are done is the final paper for our project. All of us have been working hard on this project for this last month or so; and I for one am ready for it to be done. Luckily there isn't much to add to the paper because we have been keeping up with it throughout the project. All we really have to do is review and edit it so we don't make any grammar or spelling mistakes. 

  Here is a preview of the cover page of our paper.

Thumbs Up All Around

This picture is of everyone on their way out after the completion of everyone's presentations. Not that I didn't expect everyone to do well, but I was really happily surprised that so many groups did REALLY well. Many groups took their projects over the top by using skits and recorded video productions to relay their ideas. We are all proud of each other as group members, but also of our peers in other groups. It was really impressive to see the processes that each group went through in order to obtain their ultimate goals. Many groups had small successes but those will definitely lead to bigger and better plans in the future, thanks to their planning. It is exciting to see how far some of these projects may go, and it is obvious that some projects will do much good for the future of Kamehameha Schools, which was the goal and intention of this project.

Presentation Eve

Today is the last day before our presentations. During class today we analyzed the data we received and worked on the powerpoint presentation. The Akahi Food Services Staff has been awesome in helping us with our project. Yesterday they sent us the data we need to make comparisons of the amount of food wasted. We compared the amount of food wasted while our project was implemented to food items that have been used before. For example, we compared the amount of chili wasted while our project was implemented, to the previous times that chili was served. After we had created our own charts from the data we received, we added it to our powerpoint. The powerpoint is almost done, it needs a little bit more refining and we will be set. All we have left to do now is do our presentation tomorrow!
     Here is a photo of a calendar we made today to show when our project was implemented and what meals were being served on this day. (Click it to enlarge)

Final Data Is In!

So as the previous post mentioned, we are doing quite well with the progress of our projects. We've had a few weeks of being able to implement the experiment, and the only thing left for us to do was collect some data from the akahi staff to know how much food waste there was. I emailed Mr. Morris yesterday, asking if Kalamaku could come meet with him today after rehearsals because we both have 5th period free, in order to gather the data personally, because Allie's attempts to email him were unsuccessful.
Fortunately, my attempts were, and he emailed me the data today. We asked for the data from the last food cycle, and the data from this food cycle, so that we can compare the amount of waste to see if there was any changes.

We are now ready to finish our conclusions and powerpoints for a successful presentation!! :D

Project Almost Pau

In preparation for our presentation on Friday, our group continued work on our powerpoint presentation. We worked out certain details such as making the decision to go with many slides with few words. Specifically, we decided that we will have a process, solution and result portion for every solution that we tried. This will help the audience to know exactly what we tried, how we attacked it and if it was successful or not. Now, the only, yet key thing that we need is to get the data from 'Akahi to determine whether our project worked or not. Mahea emailed Mr. Morris again because I still did not get a reply and she also offered to meet with him. Hopefully we will get our data soon so we can finish this quarter long journey!

Presentation: Coming Soon

Today our group did not meet in class due to the schedule. As of now the PowerPoint is a Google presentation but we are considering transferring the information to Keynote since that application offers more choices. We want our presentation to contain enough words where we can describe our tactics without burdening the audience with text and enough pictures that illustrate what we observed and did during the course of this project. We still need to get the data from Akahi but hopefully our contact person will send that information to us by tomorrow. Our final grade depends on our presentation and we will need to stay focused in order to achieve the best outcome.

One Furlong to Go!

    Wow! We have been working on this project for quite some time now and we are almost pau. This project has taken a lot of time and effort to get it to where  we are now. All that is left for us to do is to collect and analyze data, complete our paper, and finish the powerpoint presentation. We have been lucky that Aunty Kat has been collecting data for quite some time. We are going to use the data collected from start of the project and compare the amount wasted to previously collected data. We plan to compare the amount wasted of the meals that were served during our project. i.e. we will compare the amount of chili wasted from previous data to amount of chili wasted from when our project was implemented. After analyzing data we need to add that information to our paper, along with our conclusion. Before we finish our paper we need to complete our powerpoint, which is on google docs, because we present on Fryday!!
    Now, you may be wondering why the blog is titled "One Furlong to Go!". Well in horse racing the track is measured in furlongs, similar to how our track is measured in meters. When horse race commentators say "One Furlong to Go!" it means that the horses have reached the last leg of their race and are almost to the finish. Like how we are close to end of our project. You learn something new everyday!
   This is what a furlong looks like.

Y U WASTE FOOD!?!?!?!?! --Day after

So today was the first day after we put up our new sign, "Y U Waste Food?" with the rage faces on. I know that the past few blogs have been about the making and posting of this sign, however, I think it's important to say that today at lunch, I saw that a lot of people noticed the sign. Students were pointing it out, laughing at it (in this case, the laughter is a good thing) and some of the teachers were asking one of the main Akahi Aunties about it. She looked quite amused about it, and somewhat happy/proud that students are taking it upon themselves to make others aware of the current situation regarding foodwaste. If you look at the bottom picture, you'll see that another student, Allyson Ontai, posted a photo of the banner on a popular social site, Instagram, yesterday. There was already 142 likes on the photo, which shows that it brought about awareness as well.

We are currently working on our powerpoint presentation and final paper.

Implementation Day

     YAY! Today is the first day that we officially have to implement our project. Since our project has been implemented for quite some time now, we decided to once again improve it. So today we finished our poster. We started to create this poster on Monday in the SPC. We wanted to make the poster recognizable to students, something to catch their attention. We decided on a rage comic meme. We chose to use the rage face that is associated with a "y u no..." phrase. We changed it for "y u no..." to "y u..." and added "waste food" to get "Y U Waste Food?" This poster was mounted above the carousel so everyone can see it. Hopefully it will help to prevent students from wasting their food.
    The picture above is of our group hanging the poster we made. The picture on the right depicts the teamwork we had making the poster.

Y U NO?!?

This is the "Y u no" face that is popular in internet memes. Today, I had a "y u no" feeling. It was in the SPC when Amber and I were trying to complete our banner to put up in 'Akahi. My exact feelings were, "SPC computers, y u no open photoshop when I need you most?" We needed to use the SPC computer to print to the printer that would create larger images for our poster, however, the computer wasn't working. So, tomorrow we will try again during our physics period to get the sign down to 'Akahi and put up above the carousel. Hopefully all goes as planned. Oh, I forgot to mention, this face is going to be on the poster. Okay bye. 

Keep Calm and Curry On

Today's lunch was hamburger curry, which inspired the punny yet accurate nature of this blog's title. The reason why we have to maintain composure and move forward is due to the tasks that we still need to do. Class began with an announcement of the numerous assignments that need to be completed, most of them due next week. We went to the SPC in order to work on our banner. It features the words "Y u waste food?" in blue letters and a "rage" face, which is a known meme on the internet. Our final version of the project is going to be done this week. This school year will be finished in less than three weeks and we have even less time to complete everything. As long as we contribute together, we will be able to get everything done.

More Awareness

This picture is just of something I found while exploring the 'Akahi website. Who knew that you could sign up to get the lunch texted to you daily! What cool features we are offered. I'm sure most students are not aware of this feature, as I was not, but they would be if they were informed. This is our philosophy for decreasing waste. We will make students aware in order to create a change. We did not have class today, but our group did do some discussion on Facebook. We have decided that along with having the new signs that tell kids to only take what we are going to eat, we are going to make a banner to put about the carousel at lunch. This will be a reinforcement to make the students aware that waste is not okay. We still have not created the banner yet, but we will do so tomorrow in class. Once we get approval, this will hopefully make a difference in our quest for less waste.

CINCO DE MAYOOOOOOOO weekend ;)

This weekend really wasn't that productive as far as the project goes. This is mostly because I had an Economic Summit Convention all day on friday with Mrs. Fale (*dun-dun-dun <insert terrified scream>) Nah, Fale's cool. Sorta.

ANYWAYS. this means that I missed the physics test-thing that Amber posted about, and I missed any new developements/discussions that my group may have had (if there was time for that on friday.) However, I'll just recap on our project.
We've created the new signs, and I've noticed that the Akahi workers really like them and have taken it upon themselves to set it up each day. For all we know, perhaps they use it at breakfast and dinner for borders too. I think that'd be pretty cool if they did. So hopefully, the signs have caught peoples attention if the plates haven't been. Hopefully this coming week will be productive as well.

This is a pic I took at the Economic summit. That was the LONGEST day of my life. Even though school ended at 2:30 we had to stay til 3

Physics "Con"test

Today was an unusual day for our team because we could not work on our project during class. Instead, we had to take physics exams, which none of us have studied in depth for a while. Those who can get more than 30 correct can get a bonus on their multipliers. I only answered 29 questions, so even if I got them all correct I will not get any extra points. However, I doubt that I got 14 incorrect answers, so at least my multiplier will not be penalized by this single assessment. During this weekend we may add more to our finalized report in terms of what we have learned so far from the project. We will also need to figure out how we will present our project since the deadline for the first draft is approaching.

New Tray-day Thursday

   Today, our group, continued working on our project to better Kamehameha Schools. During 6th period we went to the SPC and created 2 posters for the Akahi food lines. We designed the information part of the posters on Friday and had them approved this past Tuesday by Mr. Morris of Akahi. At the SPC we created them. We created the posters with a yellow background because we thought it would be more noticeable. To make them more attractive we created small boarders around the edge of the paper. We also laminated the posters so that the Akahi staff could keep them and use them multiple times. If these posters prove to help reduce waste then we are going to create a few more so they can have some for the back lines. Once we finished the posters we went straight to Akahi.

    When we got to Akahi today we found that there were no more plates! They have been replaced with trays! This, fortunately, works in our favor. The trays have multiple sections that limit the amount of food that can be placed in each section. These trays will help students to take proper portions because of the sectioning. Hopefully it will also help to reduce food waste as well as its intended goal to reduce water waste.
    A few things we noticed today while in the dinning hall were that some students are starting to notice what we are doing, but some students are disregarding it. As I was serving myself lunch, a sophomore girl asked one of her friends if they had to take one hot dog or if they could take more. This goes to show that some students are actually seeing the displays we put up, unfortunately she had not noticed the sign or had not comprehended its words because it said to take only what you can eat and if you are not sure then take the proper portion (i.e. what is on the display). I also noticed today that there were a couple of male sophomore students who had 4 hot dogs on each of their trays. I was not around to see if they wasted any of them but I thought about watching them and seeing if they wasted them.

Continued Experimentation

These images are from lunch today. Sloppy joes and fries are the high waste items but I was told to put some veggies on the plate just for good measure. Mahea took the picture on the right of the waste today. It is clear that there is still a lot of waste. This is from the senior lunch and I saw the same during our junior lunch. However, we will not know for sure the exact amount of waste and if it has decreased until we get the numbers from the 'Akahi staff. Meanwhile, we are continuing to get posters approved to put up in 'Akahi as another means of reducing the waste.

May Day Deliciousness= ZERO to NO waste today (probably)

Today is May Day and today for lunch we had Hawaiian food. Of course, I seriously doubt that there will be any food waste today. If anything, they may run out of food before the last period lunch!
ANYWAYS, as mentioned in Amber's previous blog post, I emailed Mr. Morris, the akahi food director, asking for permission to display signs around the dining hall that will alert the students of our project and to be aware of the amount of food that they take. We were thinking about also making some of them funny and memorable, such as using the rage faces that are very popular among students and the internet world. Along with my email, I attached a draft of the poster we intend to display. I checked my email this morning and Mr. Morris said that the signs are okay but that we just have to make sure they they don't interfere with food safety.

We should have the signs done by the end of this week, and ready to be posted! :)