Activity: Exploring Bangkok on Foot

cascoordinatorActivity

Summary of CAS Experience: 

For winter break my family went to Bangkok. We only had a few days in Bangkok and we had a lot to do. We wanted to visit Madam Tussauds, the Sea World, we also had to buy groceries to bring back to Colombo, buy clothes, and each person had specific things to get, all around Bangkok. We decided to complete everything that day, and except for a single metro ride, everything was done by walking. We left the hotel at 9 am, to walk to sea world and Madame Tussauds. At 1 we walked to one of our favourite restaurants, Hemingway’s. At 2 pm we walked to the first mall (I forgot the names of the malls). 3 pm was the second mall, about 5 km away. At 5 pm we went to the final mall. At 6 pm we headed home, and we were home at around 7 pm. In total my watch recorded 28,000 steps that day, not quite my personal record which is 32,000 in Vietnam, but still a lot for one day. For reference 5-10,000 steps are the recommended amount. While Bangkok is a hectic city, side streets, and the sky walk-path make walking around the city more convenient than taking a taxi or tuk. 

 

Learning Outcomes:

#3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

#4 Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

 

Photos:

Seahorse at Sea World
Otters at Sea World
Lunch at Hemmingway’s
Walking to mall #3
Inside mall #3
Cool cat on motorbike, seen while walking back to the hotel
View from hotel when we arrived back

Green Flag Application

cascoordinatorService

Recently OSC received the Eco-Schools green flag. In order to receive the green flag, several services including Recycling and Sustainability presented to 3 executive members of the Eco-Schools association. Huirong and I, being the leaders of R & S, are members of the Eco-Schools committee, and presented the projects, challenges, and progress R&S has made to achieving Eco-School’s objectives. I focused on the biogas project and our recycling initiatives. This whole presentation was about 2 hours. And about 12 students and 4 teachers participated in this presentation. In addition to the 12 students, a student who used to be at OSC used zoom in order to join the presentation. Huirong and I took about half an hour since we had many initiatives to discuss. After the presentation, the 3 judges asked in-depth questions, directed at the ecological initiatives undertaken at OSC, and in our community. 

After waiting a week, we received an email from the council that confirmed our green flag acquisition. OSC is the first school in Sri Lanka to receive an Eco-Schools Green Flag. The email had several suggestions that OSC could follow in order to remain on track. 

Learning Outcomes: 

#1 Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

#4 Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

#6 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

 

Creativity: Nerf Turret

cascoordinatorCreativity

Recently I developed a 3D-printed nerf dart Turret, documented in an earlier post. However I wanted to improve my design, so I developed a new turret. Unlike the original turret, this one would have an improved firing rate, a cooling system, a battery power supply, a larger ROM, a 300m RC range, brighter lights and less dart jamming. 

I designed this turret on Fusion 360, and the parts were 3D printed out in PLA. Some parts had to be redesigned to work more efficiently. Most of the turret has been printed out, over the span of several weeks. There are some parts that have yet to be designed such as the dart feeding system. However, right now the turret is approximately 60% complete. I hope to finish this project before 2023

Learning Outcomes: 

#1 Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

#2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

#4 Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

French B: UN Day Presentations

cascoordinatorFrench B

UN Day Reflection:
Chaque année, l’école organise une journée des Nations Unies, où les élèves s’habillent avec leurs vêtements nationaux. Pour la journée de l’ONU, les élèves français ont préparé une présentation sur la culture française aux élèves du primaire. J’étais dans un groupe de deux, moi et Saisindu, et nous devions enseigner aux élèves du primaire une danse bretagne.

Nous avons préparé un diaporama. J’ai préparé trois pages sur le pays de France, et quelques informations sur la France. Sasindu préparait ses pages en bretagne, et la danse en bretagne. Nous avons enseigné cette danse à un groupe de 6 enfants. Cela a pris environ 10 minutes et tous les enfants étaient très heureux et amusants de faire la danse avec nous. Dans l’ensemble, c’était une expérience amusante et les enfants ont appris un nouveau mot français “l’hexagone”.

 

Ce que j’ai appris

  • Faire un plan 
  • Travailler en collaboration, partager des idées et faire des compromis
  • J’ai également développé mon français (langue) et mes connaissances sur la culture du pays

CAS Learning Outcomes:
#3 “Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.” For this experience Sasindu and I had to create a plan on how to teach primary school students about French culture, in a fun and informative way.

#5 “Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively” For this experience, Sasindu and I had to collaborate to prepare a presentation targeted at primary students. We divided the work, and aided each other on certain parts of the presentation.

Creativity: Using CAD Skills to Design and Create a Nerf-Ball Shooting Turret

cascoordinatorCreativity

3D CAD is one of the skills I have been trying to improve over several years. Not only do I find CAD interesting and rewarding, but I will also be using similar software (Fusion 360, Blender) for university or design-related jobs. I also like to challenge myself with complex projects that I haven’t attempted before. One of the main ways I develop my skills in CAD is with large projects, and my most recent project is a 3D designed and printed nerf turret. The turret moves in 2 degrees of freedom and shoots using a remote control.

I designed the project using fusion 360, all of the designs are my own, and took a while to develop.

I 3D printed each of the individual parts and assembled each part. I did some basic electrical wiring, connecting the motors so that the turret could move, and shoot using a remote.

 

Video of the turret shooting: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fuMkmRXtW61fJW4TnsGquRL6jNt9JgC9?usp=sharing

 

Learning Outcomes:

“Identify your strengths and develop areas for personal growth” With this project I was able to identify the skills within CAD that I was comfortable with, and skills I wanted to further develop.

“Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience” This project took several months of on-and-off work, I had to develop a plan on how I was going to achieve my goal of producing a functioning nerf turret.

Service: Recycling; Cardboard, Paper, and Scrap Metal

cascoordinatorService

Last Thursday, during our usual service time slot, we had the ambitious goal of clearing the cluttered and disorganized recycling room and taking the recycling materials down to the scrap dealer. Despite us missing a few of our service members, we were able to achieve the goal. We cleared the entire recycling room, which was full about a foot high with paper, cardboard, and non-recycling items. We took all of the paper we could down to the scrap dealer.

Huirong, Vansh, and I helped unload the truckload of recycling material to be weighed by the scrap dealer. It took about half an hour from when we started clearing the recycling room, to when we had unloaded all the material down at the scrap dealer.

We made about 2000 rupees from the scrap material alone. We added it to our service fund, which we plan on using for a future service project, such as an upgrade to the recycling room, or possibly an addition to the biogas plant.

The main learning outcomes achieved were:
“Demonstrate how to internal and plan a CAS experience” We created an action plan on how we were going to clear the recycling room, and we split it up into jobs to optimize the process and make sure that everyone was contributing a sufficient amount of effort.

“Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance” the act of cleaning out the recycling room, and sending our cardboard and paper to a scrap deal demonstrates that we were engaging with the global issue of pollution, and waste.

Bike Ride Around Colombo for Cat Food

cascoordinatorActivity

My primary source of activity is biking around Colombo. While Colombo is not often the most bike-friendly, I use smaller roads, and roads that I know have adequate space for biking. I usually take a path around the borders of Colombo 7 and Colombo 3, however last weekend I took a different path. This change in the path was because I was tasked with finding cat food, and cooking cream, this was because all the usual shops we normally use for these items ran out, and most of our cuisine uses cooking cream, and we also have a cat to feed.

I was unfortunately unsuccessful in finding cooking cream, however, I did find cat food, at Pet Vet close so Asiri hospital. The total length of the bike ride was only about 14km, but since I went through new routes, and I had to lock and unlock my bike at each stop, it took me significantly longer than usual.

The main learning outcome was: “Demonstraight how to initiate and plan a CAS experience” I planned out a route with the most likely places I could find either cooking cream or cat food. While I did not achieve my goal of finding cooking cream, I did however find cat food, which is a ½ success rate.

Service- Making Popcorn with bio gas for the PSGA

cascoordinatorService

As a leader of the service group: Recycling and Sustainability, I have to ensure that the whole school is making an active effort to reduce OSC’s ecological footprint. One of the major contributions to OSC’s ecological footprint is food waste. The way that our service group is combatting the food waste issue is with the use of a biogas plant. We put in food waste and in return, we get cooking gas. 

 

However, we had two problems, firstly was getting food waste from the canteen into the biogas machine, and raising school awareness about food waste. We tackled part of the issue with an announcement in the daily bulletin, however, I wanted to involve the primary school as well. So I met with Mrs Leblanc, the teacher leader of the PSGA, the primary school government association, and proposed a plan. The following Tuesday with the PSGA meeting, I brought all 20 members ranging from first grade to fifth grade to the biogas plant. 

To demonstrate how important it is that we put the food waste into the plant, we cooked popcorn and made hot chocolate using the cooking gas created. The PSGA were excited about the popcorn, however, they thought the hot chocolate was a bit bitter. Either way, they proposed that the PSGA collect the food waste created during the primary lunchtime, to be placed into the biogas plant. The event ended up on the school’s facebook page, and in the gecko times. 

Learning Outcomes: 

 

3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

I initiated this cas experience myself, I also arranged all the material required and created a plan.

 

4: Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences. 

I missed parts of my economics class, which I had to catch up on later so that I could participate in this CAS experience. I also had to organize materials and resources outside of school time. 

 

CAS Goals

cascoordinatorGoals / Reflections

CAS Goals:

 

Service: I have several goals for service this year. Since this is my senior year, I want to achieve a lot within my service, recycling and sustainability. Currently there are alot of bottlenecks within our process, slowing us down and preventing us from achieving new things. I aim to optimize the recycling room and prevent dumping of non recyclable materials. I want to utilize the biogas plant more frequently, involving more people.  

 

Activity: Currently my main activity is a bi-weekly day hike I have with my family. However during the week, apart from a daily 6km walk around our local park, I do not have another type of activity. This year I want to expand the scope of my activity by implementing a new form of activity, such as volleyball. 

 

My goals for creativity is to continue with my 3D modeling. Since I plan on doing some form of arts/ design for university, my AutoCAD skills will help me greatly within those courses. I want to also increase my knowledge within mechanical design, utilizing more simulation programs, and different design softwares. 

Creativity: Watch Charging Stand

cascoordinatorCreativity

Summary:

Recently I was fortunate enough to get a smartwatch as a gift. However, there was an issue I encountered with it. The simple magnetic puck type charger that the watch came with was very finicky. It was a challenge to connect the watch with the charger consistently. I looked online for a solution and saw several magnetic wireless charging stands for watches, however, they were priced 50$ and upward. I decided to make my charger stand instead. 

 

Design Process: 

I opened up Fusion 360, my 3d modelling software of choice, and designed a charging stand I found appealing. I went with an angular design, to contrast the curved design of the watch. I measured the magnetic puck charger and created a hole for the charger to fit within the stand. I carved out channels for the charger cable so that it could be guided out in an orderly fashion. 

 

I printed out the charger in 3 different parts, all in a light blue. I used a bit of super glue to fuse the parts. I placed the puck charger within the slot, and it friction fit, without any issues. The magnet on the charger was relatively strong, so I decided to add a tilt on the platform where the watch rests. The tilt makes the design more visually apeling and makes the screen easier to read when it’s charging. 

 

Learning Outcomes: 

 

The first primary outcome was “demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process”. It was a challenge to design a functional yet visually appealing charger. Since the chargers I saw on the internet were not the aesthetic I was going for I did not have much reference material to make my charger. 

 

The second primary learning outcome was “Identify your strengths and develop areas for personal growth”. I had already had experience with the 3D design however I rarely make designs that have to function with preexisting electronics, so it was a new challenge for me. 

Photos: 

This is the 3D design of the charging stand