Shorr 2024-25 PLTW EDD-Per 5 Assignments

Reflections Topics:
Elements A-C: Research
How were you successful in this phase? What pitfalls did you fall into? What would you have done differently knowing what you know now? Include any issues regarding time management, group size and dynamics, or anything else that might help next year's students avoid problems you may have had.


Elements D-F: Design
How were you successful in this phase? What pitfalls did you fall into? What would you have done differently knowing what you know now? What took up too much time and how would you avoid that if you had to do it again?

Was your design detailed enough when you started your build phase or did you have to do a lot more design while building?

Elements G-I: Build & Testing
How were you successful in this phase? What pitfalls did you fall into?

What would you have done differently knowing what you know now?  Discuss the time management of the research and design phases and what impact it had on your build and testing phases. Did your expectations for how long each part of the build & test phase would take match up with reality? Discuss any other things you wish you had known prior to starting elements G-I.

A narrative, chronological description of your build phase, including pictures, screenshots, etc. Subsystems testing should be detailed. Include dead ends, redesigns, and other obstacles you had to overcome.

Tentatively due near the end of April. Perhaps a progress one due in March.

It will be on Wednesday 5/28 (the first odd day after memorial day and the last odd day of the school year).

Be prepared to do the following when guests arrive at your station:
Present your problem statement
Describe your customer requirements
Describe how you built your project
Describe what tests you were able to complete and their results, along with how you would complete the other tests given your time and resources.
Describe how you would proceed with a revised version of the project, or if you think a different approach or other existing solutions might simply be better.
It is okay that if your result is that you wouldn't pursue this further. The process is what's important, and the process can sometimes lead to something that doesn't work in the end.

Range of dates covered:

April 16 through May 23.

Leave your notebooks with me on Wednesday May 28th.

Element H - Testing plans
Number your tests so that you can refer to them again in the Element I section.
Test plans should cover the extent of your customer requirements from element C
Tests that you may not be able to actually perform (such as larger surveys, lack of materials, or time constraints) should still be included.
Follow the format from the sample test post for each. The instructions should be clear such that someone unfamiliar with the project would be able to read them and follow them.


Element I - Testing
For the tests you are able to complete, describe the results of the tests, including any data (qualitative or quantitative) you took. Include any pictures you took during the process and explain whether it met your passing criteria, and why.
Make sure you refer to the tests by the numbers you set in Element H.

Submit a screenshot (one per group) of your current, up to date, planning board (either the Gantt Chart, Github Project Board, Trello, etc).

Range of dates covered:

Mid February through the Mon Apr 21.

Keep your notebooks up to date and ready to go.

Submit a screenshot (one per group) of your current, up to date, planning board (either the Gantt Chart, Github Project Board, Trello, etc).

Range of dates covered:

Start of the semester through Feb 5.

Just keep your notebooks up to date and ready to go.

Submit a screenshot (one per group) of your current, up to date, planning board (either the Gantt Chart, Github Project Board, Trello, etc).

This is to be in a single google doc that can be joined with the other elements of your portfolio.

Element D Section
Screenshots or photos of your groups preliminary designs with one sentence descriptions for each
The more detailed designs you narrowed down for the presentations including the following for each: a visual, description of the design and how it works, what technology is used and materials it would be made of, and how it would address your customer requirements
decision matrix like you did with the prior solutions but include your solutions
explain the result of the matrix as well as why you chose various 1, 3, 9 values
Element F Section

1. If your highest rated design is viable, explain why you think you have the means, skills, technology, and materials to build it.
2. If not, explain why it isn't viable.

Drop down to the next highest rated design and repeat those two steps above until you have something you will build in element G.

Soft deadline is Wednesday, January 15th.

You left your notebooks here in class on Tuesday 12/17. This is the assignment so I can put the grades in using the rubric.

Dates covered
11/12 - 12/17

Not sure when we are going to be delivering this presentations yet but it will likely be sometime in November.

These are the questions that serve as the lenses to look at your presentations through.
Did they describe a real problem and adequately justify its existence?
Do their customer requirements follow from their research into prior and existing solutions?
Are their product specifications concrete, measurable, and are they supported by their research?
Will those product specifications be able to adequately guide their design of a solution to the problem?

Presentation ideal max timing in minutes:

3.5 element A
Engineering problem statement
Your top 2 or 3 best sources of evidence to support the existence of said problem.

3.5 element C
go through the customer requirements and product specs
explain what it means to meet, fail to meet, or exceed each spec.

Make a google slides deck and follow the good practices of presentations that we talked about before (no walls of text, etc).

Note:
We have skipped Element B in the presentations because we need to shorten them to fit into one class period. In explaining some of the customer requirements from Element C, you could say something like "this was influenced by existing products x, y, and z because they did or failed to do ______".

So, max time for the presentations will be 7 minutes. Split it roughly evenly between A & C.

Every person should fill the form out for every group they aren't in. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQfG5USLge4SF4p3-7G23_2YSau8vpxWMF4cnG3wfhwMxKbA/viewform

I'll start looking at them on Thursday. Range of dates covered:

10/4 - 11/12

Make sure your notebooks are up to date and ready to go at the start of class Thursday 11/14

If it doesn't have one, that's fine. Say that. One per group can answer.

Requirements:

List of customer requirements with explanation of how each was derived from the pros and cons. Should have coverage of the Eight Fundamental Design Criteria from the Element C powerpoint.
List of product specifications (concrete, measurable) with an explanation for why those metrics were chosen (ideally with support from external sources, not just your own speculation or made-up values).
Similar Solution Matrix consisting of your Element B solutions judged against your customer requirements using a 1-3-9 scale.  1 = doesn't meet requirement. 3 = meets requirement. 9 = exceeds requirements. Should have some brief explanation about why the various solutions received the scores they did. You can take a screenshot of this spreadsheet and put it directly into the google doc. Also separately link the sheets document.
Mosquitos: Good customer requirements and breakdown for what 1/3/9 represents. Some product specs not actually concrete.

Coyotes: No breakdown of what 1/3/9 categories are, but good explanations as to why each product in the matrix got 1/3/9. Appearance customer requirement incomplete. Some product specs not concrete. Great citations.

Doors: Good customer requirements. Some product specs are concrete but lack support for the values selected. Generally good breakdown as to why element B products got 1/3/9 ratings. Don't need to duplicate the 1/3/9 scale for both requirements and specs. Just do it for the specs.

Reminders:
Support your product specs with citations. Have reasons for the values you choose.

Make sure the product specs are concrete!

One member of your group should submit the google doc containing your Element B. It can be part of the same document as Element A as long as you use appropriate Header styles.

Element B portfolio sample 5 was an excellent past example: they found a variety of attempts at solving the problem from different angles, analyzed the pros and cons, and cited research supporting those classifications. The only thing they didn't do was provide links for all of the actual products/patents (some were cited). Lastly, the outline format isn't needed. They could have just used h2 subheaders for each solution they evaluated and h3 subheaders for pros & cons.

The similar solution matrix will be done as part of Element C


Summary of what's needed for each solution you find:


Product Name
Product Picture
Description
Website of where you found it
Pros/Cons (preference: bullet pointed)
Analysis: short sentence or two summing up the strengths & weaknesses, citations as necessary

Find a wide variety of products, look for alternative solutions, alternative competitors

Don't forget to search the app stores (google, apple)

Likely sometime next week. Range of dates covered:

9/10 - 9/30

Make sure your notebooks are up to date and ready to go at the start of class Wednesday 10/2

Due Friday 9/20 end of class  -- Only one person per group should submit it. Everyone else mark it complete once a member has submitted.


You'll make a single google doc for your project portfolio. I'll show you how to use headers and other styles to make generating a table of contents super easy. 


This is general description for a 5 on Element A: 
The problem is clearly and objectively identified and defined with considerable
depth, and it is well elaborated with specific detail; the justification of
the problem highlights the concerns of many primary stakeholders and is based on comprehensive,
timely, and consistently credible sources; it offers consistently objective
detail from which multiple measurable design requirements can be determined.


Example Commentary:
1. Would have been full credit if the problem statement were included. A wealth of research is provided to justify that bad posture is a problem. Although only 2 attack paths were included (health & safety and economic), the abundance of relevant citations for each makes up for not finding a 3rd path. Bibliography is complete and superscript citations are included for every statement drawn from a source.

2. A full credit paper if the following corrections were addressed: Remove the hyperbole in several sections. The evidence is persuasive without exaggeration (e.g. "Defective sunglass companies will find a way to cut corners in every aspect of their product."). Some citations are unclear--did NASA say the reflected light issue from snow also extends to water and sand? If not, that's an assertion without evidence. It's easy to show that water reflects light, but it should be sourced. General simplification of some awkward language construct (e.g. "The problem we have when it comes to sunglasses and eye protection in general is how poorly made modern day sunglasses are, due to the risks that come with wearing them." could have been "Some modern day sunglasses are poorly made and fail to sufficiently protect against sun damage to the eyes."). Be direct.

3. A full credit paper with some minor flaws: A few awkward sentence structures and a bit of exaggeration in the final graph interpretation in section III. 

4. A good example of how market research can be used to justify a problem. I have my comments directly in the pdf. I believe it earned an A- or B+. I had warned them prior that they should disambiguate some of the data in order to better support the problem but they never did. The problem statement also made an assertion that wasn't supported by the evidence (that the new player base was being turned away).

Summary: Start with your problem statement and then spend a couple paragraphs elaborating on it. Support your problem statement with lines of evidence and cite all your sources. Do so in narrative form.

More details about making a good slideshow will be discussed as we get closer to this date.

You'll be presenting your problem statement to the class along with at least 3 lines of supporting evidence.

Each group will have 5 minutes to present and there will be 3 minutes for questions.

Each member should speak.

Google slides don't have to be elaborate. Five or six slides will do:
Slide 1: Group Name and Team Member Names (group name doesn't have to be what I called you--you get to choose your own)
Slide 2: Problem Statement. This will be the only wall of text allowed in a presentation.
Slide 3: Supporting Evidence #1: use bullet points and only write the key ideas. Do not read word for word from the slide.
Slide 4: Supporting Evidence #2: use bullet points and only write the key ideas. Do not read word for word from the slide.
Slide 5: Supporting Evidence #3: use bullet points and only write the key ideas. Do not read word for word from the slide.
(and if you have more than 3 solid pieces of evidence, continue the above pattern for the rest)

Submit your google slides--Only 1 per group.

Range of dates covered:

8/15 - 9/5

Submit a google doc with peer-grading of each category and a reflection on what you need to do to improve for next time.

Due end of class Monday:

Submit your group norms on a google doc with digital signatures of each member. Only one submission per group is needed.

Group Norms should at least address:

timeliness and responsibility
fair division of labor
conflict resolution
modes of communication
handling absences
general attitudes

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1h9l9kXm2cJ27ojOaxH9RpnTbaTEs5WxBl-kl-ksTGUw/edit?usp=sharing
We want to do these presentations first thing on Thursday.
Edit *ONLY* your 3 slides with your favorite 3 problems from your brainstorming (you must be logged onto your school email account to access and edit the slides)
Remember, delete the questions when you answer them on your slides. That will save space and make what you write much more visible in the back. For example, do not make your slide look like this:

What is your problem?
I hate it when people write too much on google slides presentations
Why is it a problem?
It's just a wall of text and it's hard to read. The text is small because there's too much redundant stuff on the slides.
Instead make it like:
I hate it when people write too much on google slides presentations
Wall of text -- Hard to Read
Text too small, redundant text

Paper copies coming on Friday. Please return them signed on Tuesday 8/20.

Complete the attached survey and mark this assignment complete when you are done.