Solving The World's Issues One Grippy Grabber At a Time

In Design and Engineering , our class learned about simple machines. We learned how to find volume, surface area and area of different shapes.The purpose of this action project is to create an ergonomic gardening tool for senior citizens because most tools aren’t fit for their weaker bodies. My customer in my mind is a senior citizen who needs to grab things when gardening or for everyday life, but cannot because of their weak bones and joints. By creating an ergonomic grabber, it will make their life easier. In class we also learned about empathy, which is putting yourself in someone else's shoes to understand what they’re going through. When creating a tool for senior citizens, I must imagine myself as a senior to create something that I think would be best for them. Before creating our tool, we had to interview a gardener. My interviewee informed me about gardening. Some of the best advice she told me was, your hands are your best tools because it is the most consistent and easiest, that planting takes time and effort, and that before you plant you must plan. My partner's interviewee told him,”if I could make my own tool, I’d make a device that lessens work for the elderly when bending down and getting up. Something that moves and can elevate or descend.” We tried to take both of the gardeners’ advice and create a perfect tool that is easier for senior citizens to use. We also researched examples of other grabbers and noticed the main things that people change were how long it is, the type of lever, and how the claw open and closes. My partner and I took some of these ideas and created our own tool called the Grippy Grabber.

The Grippy Grabber is used to grab things that are far or unreachable. It grabs things with a clamp that opens and closes with a gradual switch. As you slide the switch the clamp closes at the same speed. This helps you choose how wide you want the clamp to open. The parts included are the switch, the extendable arm/pole inside, a button to press so the arm is able to extend, and the changeable slips and blades. We included the switch because senior citizens’ finger joints and muscles are weaker, and it is much easier to slide something instead of exerting force by holding down a lever. The extendable arm is to reach things that are further away and the button makes it easier to extend. The changeable slips and blades are for customers who want to grab all types of things, as only having one material(rubber) is limiting. The changeable blades are to get a better grip onto the object you are trying to pick up. The Grippy Grabber is a great tool because it uses an ergonomic switch that makes grabbing things easier and comfortable for everyone. It’s an example of a lever because when the senior citizen slides the switch the clamp closes. The Grippy Grabber includes using a fulcrum, a fulcrum is the point the lever is supported on. The persons hands are being used as a fulcrum in this case because the customer must support the Grippy Grabber when using.


height=36in

diameter=4in

Volume: v= 3.14(r^2)(h)

3.14(2^2)(36)

Volume = 452.16in^3

Surface Area: 2(3.14)(r)(h) + 2(3.14)(r^2)

452.16+25.12= 476.28in ^2

  

Imagine A World Where Everyone is Represented in TV shows and Movies

In Unit 1 in Rhetoric ,we learned about rhetorical devices and persuasive speeches. For this Action Project , I had to create a question that involved political importance and answer with persuasion using ethos ,pathos and logos. The purpose of this action project is to answer the question you've created with persuasion in 2 minutes. After finishing my first action project I am proud of getting the video done in at exactly 2 minutes and choosing a topic that I can talk about from experience. This AP made me realize how hard it is to persuade someone in the most effective way using all three methods and, how much logos matter when trying to get your audience to receive your message.

The question I chose to answer is ,"how does lack of representation in the entertainment industry affect how children grow up to view themselves and others?"I chose this question because I felt as if minorities were not being represented as much as white people are . It causes self-esteem issues, lack of confidence and changes the way society views people. People ignore this problem, I wanted to shed light onto it and persuade my audience that it is an issue and affects our society.

For my first action project I am proud of getting the video done in at exactly 2 minutes and for choosing a topic that I can talk about from experience. In part of my speech ,I talked about how lack of representation affected me. I wanted to get my audience to feel as if they could trust me by sharing my experience. I knew that not only me has been affected by lack of representation. I am also proud that my video ends at 2 minutes, I thought I would have trouble trimming some of my speech out, but I got to say everything in the time frame.

This AP made me realize how hard it is to persuade someone in the most effective way using all three methods( pathos,logos,ethos), and made me realize how much logos matter when trying to get a message across. While editing my videos , I learned how to add watermarks and a logo on a video. When I typed out my speech , I found it was difficult to use ethos, but found pathos and logos easy to use. When using only 2 methods, a speech isn't as effective as it could be if someone would use all 3. When making my logo, I wanted to make something that went with my message , I decided to create a different skin tones raising their hand in a television to show diversity.

This Unit 1 AP was a good learning experience, I learned about rhetoric and rhetoric devices(pathos,egos and logos). I got to know the process of creating a persuasive speech, by putting together statistics, knowing who your audience is , using emotional appeal and establishing credibility.

Below is my Action Project speech.

Script:
Lack of representation in the entertainment industry has a negative effect on children who are minorities and results in self esteem issues .Hollywood and big name productions in the industry are known for casting majority white actors. When casting roles for minorities they assign a specific role or a role that is stereotypical, this is called type casting.

For example African Americans are usually cast for slave movies, or thug related roles.
Asians are usually cast to act as an ethnicity that they are not.Indians/ or middle easterners are cast to act as terrorist and talk with a stereotypical accent. Mexicans are cast for thug related roles and as cholos.

Children begin watching tv and movies around the age of 2 or 3 , the age when their minds are starting to develop opinions . When they don’t see themselves represented in tv shows and movies they begin to look for themselves in other races. If they do see themselves represented ,but in a stereotypical way, it will have a negative effect on how they view themselves.When minorities see white children act in main roles continuously, they start to put white people on a pedestal and demean their own race or culture.

When i was younger i used to watch disney channel, most shows had a white main character except for one show, That's so Raven. watching white main characters, I couldn't relate to them. Watching a main character that was an african american girl helped my self esteem because i looked like her and could relate to her issues.

In 2015 and 2016 all oscar nominees were white this caused backlash from the viewers. The angered viewers created a hashtag that depicted the lack of diversity in hollywood.In politics, when choosing who to vote for the president , people tend to vote for the candidate whom they think will help the country the most.But race influences that decision. In 2008, african -american candidate Obama was running for president, some racist voters decided to vote for his opponent John Mccain simply because he was white. Growing up and seeing african american roles as slaves and thugs, that mentality stays with you as you get older. But because Obama was elected president he has been dismissing those negative stereotype toward blacks.