Archives: May 2017

Lemonade Economics

To start our project, we made a business model to provide a template of how things were supposed be and happen with our stands and lemonade. In the business model it asked questions on how we were going to set up our company( name) and our lemonade( flavor, color, sparkling or energy drink). The business model asked what kind of products we would be selling. For example, the lemonade and also extra snacks on the side such as pretzels or cookies.  The business model also had us come up with an age demographic our lemonade would be targeted too and plan how we are going to advertise our product(posters, signs). We also chose what our packaging would look like. In the business plan we also added what ingredients we needed for our lemonade and what they cost. Once we figured out the total cost of the ingredients, you have to figure out how many cups of lemonade you are making, and then divide the total cost by the number of cups to get how much one cup costs to make. Then, once you figure out the cost to make a cup, you have to choose how much your lemonade is going to cost.

 

During the process of the project, I made many choices, decisions, and changes to my lemonade and design. At first I wanted to make a blue lemonade to mimic pink lemonade, but that idea was boring so I decided to make strawberry lemonade that was blue colored.  I also made the decision that I wanted to sell cookies at my lemonade stand. I then created my company name. Since I had no idea what to name my company, one of my friends suggested blue lemon, so I chose that name. Next I figured out my pricing.  When I was figuring out the pricing I had to base it off the cost it takes make a cup. After changing it many times, I finally decided on having my price be $1.25 for my lemonade and 75¢ for a cookie. Once I decided on my pricing I made my logo and packaging. For my logo, I used a logo creator website and found a picture with a lemon being squeezed into a pitcher. I edited the lemon to be blue and then added my company name at the bottom. For my cup, I was just going to use a solo cup but then I decided to find blue solo cups and add my logo onto them. In conclusion, I made many choices, decisions, and changes during the process of creating my lemonade.

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Screen Time Effects on Adolescent Brain Evolution

In this project we learned how the brain evolves and develops. We then learned about the negative and positive effects of screen time. After we gathered our information, we decided whether the AAP should raise the recommended daily screen time from 2 hours to 4 hours. We decided that they should keep the recommended screen time to 2 hours. We created a trifold to show our findings on the negative effects of screen time and why they should keep the recommended time to 2 hours.  I learned that the prefrontal cortex is the control system for the brain. I also learned that video games have some positive effects such as increasing self-esteem, problem solving skills, and developing visual acuity. Even though there are some positive effects, video games also have many negative effects such as obesity, lack of social interaction, and a language delays in kids under 3. 

Works Cited

Desler, Margaret. “Guest Opinion: Step Away From the Screen.” Contra Costa Times n.d.: 15-16. Web. This article is about going screen-free for a weekend or a few days to spend more time with your family. Margaret Desler is a pediatrician at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Richmond, California who works on combating pediatric obesity.

Giedd, Jay N. “The Digital Revolution and Adolescent Brain Evolution.” Journal of Adolescent Health 51.2 (2012): 101-05. Web. This article is about how technology is effecting the evolution of the adolescent brain. Jay N Giedd is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a leading researcher on child and teen brain maturation and development.

The Online Educa Debate. By Aric Sigman. Perf. Aric Sigman. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 12. The article is about the effects and impacts technology has had on social interaction. Dr. Sigman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Master of Science in the Neurophysiological Basis of Behaviour, and a Ph.D.

Richtel, Matt. “Attached to Technology and Paying the Price.” n.d.: 17-25. Web. The article is about being too attached to technology and missing important events in life. Matt Richtel is an author and journalist for The New York Times.

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Climate Change Impacts Everything!

In this project, my group and I created a presentation using screencastify that symbolized a City Council presentation. In the presentation we talked about how climate change is impacting Fairview Park and the world. First, we researched what causes climate change and how do we now, the differences between weather and climate, what is the greenhouse effect, the effects of climate change, and how humans can impact climate change. We studied these topics independently, then put our knowledge into a presentation. Once we finished our presentation and it was approved by the teacher, we recorded our screencastify to make a mock-City Council presentation about climate change and it’s effects.

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Hey! Yes you! Is your backpack too heavy? Then try a Rollie Pack!

Do you have a super heavy backpack and do you ever get tired of lugging it around? For a school project, we had to create an invention that help or entertain others. Our invention was backpack to help with posture and to solve that problem of super heavy backpacks. call it The Rollie Pack. The Rollie Pack is a backpack with wheels that extend down to the ground to help support the weight from your backpack.

 

The design process is a series of steps taken to create a product or invention.  The design process we used was to Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product.

 

First, we found the problem. We found that backpacks are getting too heavy and we wanted to solve that problem. To ideate a solution, we thought about what could we do or add to a normal backpack to make the backpack lighter and easier to use. We decided we could have a backpack with wheels that extend down from the backpack from a standing position adding support and to aide the user in carrying the backpack.  When we patented our idea, to do this we searched for patents similar to ours. Since there were not any patents similar to ours, we sent a patent application to the teacher which she approved.  Next, we designed our backpack and logo by drawing them on paper. After we designed our idea, we tested our product by asking our classmates if our prototype would be useful to them and what they would add to it. We decided to remove the weight sensor that was original in our design after hearing people didn’t want one. After we tested, we made our product and packaging.    We made our product miniature  version of the backpack by using a pencil case. We then designed our packaging. We used an old pretzels container and decorated it with our logo and information about the Rollie Pack. Finally, we made a marketing video/ infomercial to try and sell our product.

 

In conclusion, we used the design process Empathize, Define the Problem, Ideate, Patent, Prototype and Test, Product and Packaging Design, Market and Share our product to create our invention and advertise our product. After doing so, we had our product, The Rollie Pack.

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