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Day: March 14, 2024

DI-ing to Get it Done (Destination Imagination Regionals)

DI-ing to Get it Done (Destination Imagination Regionals)

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Skiing in the arctic, falling through a tree well, an underground society, a spirit from the past, an old engraved vase, a finding that changed the world, these were just some of the things I did on my Saturday afternoon. 

Why was I on this crazy adventure you ask? I preformed all of these things as a part of my solution for Destination Imagination at the regionals tournament.

What is Destination Imagination?

Destination Imagination (DI) is a global academic competition. Teams of all ages develop solutions to challenges and present them live at tournaments. This year we had a choice of 4 challenges, technical, fine arts, engineering, and scientific (my challenge).

My Challenge (Scientific) 

My Solution 

“Luke! Didn’t take you all the way to the arctic just for you to sit and do your little science hobby! Be a real man and come skiing with me” This was the sentence that led to Luke’s great adventure. 

A nerdy boy named Luke goes on a ski trip with his father who doesn’t accept his love for science. While skiing Luke falls through a tree well into a preserved underground city. While exploring, a beautifully engraved vase catches his eye and a spirt from the past floats out of it  to tell him the rich history of the new world Luke has discovered. While trying to leave he hits his head and wakes up outside thinking it was all a dream until he sees the beautiful vase in his hand. Him and his scientist mentor research the vase using relative dating and they find out about the societies matriarchy and how they treated people of all genders equally. This new found information gave woman all over the world motivation that they can do something great, and taught Luke that he didn’t need his dads acceptance for him to feel complete because he has so many other people who fill that void.

 

The video

The Puppet

Our spirit from the past was a princess in soobrooktooth, she was awakened from her vase in which she was trapped in up until Luke found it. Our puppet is manipulated using the traditional rod and arm puppet style, its arm is made from wooden dowels with nails drilled in and string tied in between them to move.  It uses structural engineering to function.

The Artifact

Our ancient embellished vase was discovered in an underground abandoned city in the arctic. We made it out of chicken wire, paper mache and then we finished it off by painting it with a layer of sparkly silver paint.

The Archeological Investigation 

We use relative dating when trying to find out the approxamet  age of our artifact. We used style which is a type of relative dating that studies the different techniques used to create the artifact and compares it to other artifacts and determines if it is older or younger. 

The Day

When the day rolled around i was more stressed than i ever thought i could be. We all met up in the morning, did a few dress rehearsals and then it was our turn. My main stress going into this day was the timing of our presentation. It had to be maximum 8 minutes, but every dress rehearsal we did was largely exceeding that time limit. However, it all worked out in the end when we presented with hardly any mistakes and an almost perfect time. 

What Went Well

I am very proud of the end presentation, our team had very well done props, we worked very hard on them, they didn’t break and they looked exactly how I envisioned them. We were also very well prepared, none of us messed up our lines, we all knew where to be, what to say, and when to say it. 

Fails (First Attempts in Learning)

Nothing anyone has ever done is perfect, there is always somthing to revise and work on. In our solution,  there was some parts of it where you couldn’t tell where Luke was or what he was doing.  Also, we had no way to stand up our puppet, so it was very hard to manoeuvre.

What Did I Learn 

Through this journey I learned a lot about teamwork, collaboration with peers, science, and critical thinking. One thing our team lacked at the beginning of the project was teamwork, we had struggles with all doing an equal amount of work and doing our parts. However, we worked through these struggles, we learned how to communicate our troubles and came through with valuable teamwork skills. Another thing I learned about was science, going into this project i had no knowledge of archeology whatsoever. Destination Imagination compelled me to research about different archeological investigations which made me come through this with lots of new science knowledge. Lastly, I gained lots of new skills in critical thinking, we had problems with the script being too long, the props breaking, the backdrops not hanging, etc, but we worked through all of them. I learned how to problem solve and revise things that needed a second draft.

Destination imagination was made so much better having the team I had, Check out their blogs:

Elsa- https://www.blog44.ca/elsaw/

Aiden- https://www.blog44.ca/kieral/

Chloe- https://www.blog44.ca/chloer/

Finnley- https://www.blog44.ca/finnleyl/

Look out for more blog posts in April as we go into the Provincial Tournament. Thankyou for reading!

Bon Voyage!

Bon Voyage!

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Melty, gooey cheese with sweet tomato sauce on a soft warm crust. Can you even imagine your life without pizza?! If European exploration never happened you would have never felt this amazing burst of flavour touch your tounge.

This past month I have been learning all about European exploration, and the cause and consequence of it. 

My Exploration Production

For this project, I was assigned with creating a story about European exploration and the cause and consequence of it, making illustrations to go with it, and then putting them together on an app called AR Makr all following the driving question, How can we use storytelling to investigate what sparked global exploration and understand its impact?

My Answer to the Driving Question

Almost all knowledge that has been passed around has once been from someone’s word of mouth, we learn lessons from stories and people. I fully understand what sparked global exploration and its impact, therefore communicating it through storytelling is an easy and effective method. 

What Lead me to my Conclusion

Before writing my story and creating my video, I needed to learn about exploration and the causes and consequences of it, these are some things that really helped me develop an understanding.

Cause and Consequence Padlets

We used a website called Padlet to brainstorm all the different cause and consequences of exploration, we were asked the questions: 

Why did Europeans explore? Why were they able to get to the Americas? Why would more Europeans choose to go to the Americas? What were the results of Europeans coming to the Americas? Consider different perspectives. Consequences can be good and bad.

Making the Padlets really helped me gain a better understanding because it forced me to really think about the questions, and then spill everything in my brain out onto an organized board. I could then go back and read my brainstorm for inspiration. 

 

Web of Cause and Consequence 

The web of cause and consequence was another thing that helped me answer the driving question. We had to make a web about the Europeans arriving in the americas, and list the underlying factors, human agency, immediate consequences, and long term consequences of it. This was a really helpful activity because after this I really got what I need to get in order to make my story. 

Using AR Makr

Figuring out AR Makr was probably the most difficult and frustrating part of the project because it is such a hard app to use. This app allows you to put drawings and images into real life, however, it is super glitchy, buggy and impossible. We first got introduced to this app when we were asked to create a practice story about a pirate or explorer and then make a video using the app. This was a very hard experience because it took me way longer than I thought it should and it got me very frustrating, however, creating this story helped me gain more skills with AR Makr and made it 100 times easier when it was time to make my final draft. Watch my first draft:

 

What I Learned 

Through this project I learned new tech skills, critical thinking, and a lot about European exploration and the causes and consequences of it. I learned new tech skills while using AR Makr. I used critical thinking when I had to solve problems and learn the app. Also,  I learned so much about exploration, why it happened, and what it lead to. 

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