Force Connection 2

Force Connection 2

This week, we were asked to pick out 5 random items from a friend's bag and make a story out of them. The items I picked out from my friend's bag are:

- Passport

- Notebook

- Multiliner set

- Charcoal

- $500 Cash

Passport is a Chinese girl who can travel the world freely, but she wasn't happy that all she could do was just go overseas. She wanted to learn how to draw, she wanted to be an artist. However, she always went overseas without any money, she was always alone. One day, she went to Singapore and found SGD$500 cash on the floor. She picked up the cash and decided to take to money to herself. She then went to an arts school to apply for registration to learn how to draw. She paid the school fees and still had $420 left. She then went to the arts shop to buy some school items. She bought herself a notebook to write down some notes and do some sketches, a multiliner set and a pack of charcoal for use to draw. Passport is now very happy as she is able to learn art that she had always wanted to learn, and that she can be an artist that she aspire to be.

Force Connection 1

Force Connection 1

This week, we were asked to choose:

1 object - 1) Pencil

                2) Clock

                                   3) Computer Mouse 
             4) Cup

              5) Plug

                  6) Candle

and describe it with:

Adjectives - 1) Passionate
          2) Sad

              3) Brave

                  4) Creative

                5) Greedy

                         6) Hardworking

I have decided to choose the object 'Pencil' to describe with the adjectives.

Pencil is Passionate because it never stop doing its job of coming out with nice drawings.

Pencil is Sad because people take it for granted and some people do not enjoy using it.

Pencil is Brave because it writes and disappears slowly for people to use them. The more pencil write, the braver it becomes.

Pencil is Creative because it helps the people come out with many new and unexpected ideas

Pencil is Greedy because it wants to do even more work itself and want to be bigger to be able to do that.

Pencil is Hardworking because it is willing to work hard for the people who wants them to work to create the unexpected and new things.

Analogical Thinking

Analogical Thinking

Analogy is comparable to metaphor and simile in that it shows how two different this are similar.

i) Personal analogy

ii) Direct analogy

iii) Symbolic analogy

iv) Fantasy analogy

Personal analogy

Problem solver imagines himself being the object under examination and attempt to uncover the feelings and problems faced by the object.

Direct analogy

Compares object's properties of other objects

Symbolic analogy

Bases around examination of object's properties in an abstract fashion. Make use of objective and personal images to describe a problem.

Fantasy analogy

Frees your imagination from the boundaries of the normal world.

Classroom Exercise 1

Select objects or images from your familiar environment that demonstrated the practice of Analogical Thinking. Reflect on their effectiveness.

 I think that paper is very effective because it can be used for so many purposes. If it is just white paper, it can be used for printing or drawing. When added colour to it, the paper becomes coloured paper. When added lines, it becomes a lined paper that we usually like to use to write down our notes or for our journal use. When stacked together and attach a hard cover, the papers form into a book that we can bring around. With words added on the pages, it becomes a story book. 

There are also many kinds of papers. There are sketching paper, recycled paper, paper with different weight for different uses and also paper that comes in different sizes like A3, A4 which are mostly used, and also A5, A2 and A1 etc. Therefore I have decided to use paper for this week's Analogical Thinking exercise.

Classroom Exercise 2

Identify 3 existing products to discover relationships to other objects and images. Preferably seeking examples where a modest source has influenced the form of a luxurious target, and vice versa.

There are many new invented product designs that provides use for 2 or more existing products.

This chair has been invented as such that the area around it can be used for book storage. This is so that there can be more space rather than having another bookshelf for the books. Also, people tend to sit down as they read a book, therefore, having a bookshelf around the chair itself decreases the fact that people has to walk to the shelf and back to the chair to read the book and walk back to the bookshelf when they are done with the book. This may result in people to getting too lazy to read their books. Thus, this chair if efficient.

This is a mixer bottle, it help to mix liquid with powder like coffee or Protein drinks. Therefore, the spoon is not required for this bottle and drinks can be made easily without having to look for a place with spoon. The bottle also has a cover so the drink does not pour out easily.

This is a set of drawers under a staircase in a house. With this invention, things can be kept in the drawers and space will not be limited. The space under the staircase will also be put to good use and not empty like the past whereby the bottom area of the staircase are usually empty and filled up with a wall.

Museum Trip

This week, we were asked to take some pictures of artefacts at a museum and describe them with human characteristics. We went to the Treasures of the World from the British Museum exhibition in the National Museum. Below are my findings.

Pride
Courage
Powerful

Pleasant

Attraction

Contentment

Serenity

Elegance

Interest

Satisfaction

Lateral Thinking

Week 6 Questions

Question 1:

 If you were alone in a deserted house at night, and there are an oil lamp, a candle and firewood and you only have one match, which would you light first?

Answer: 

I would light up the oil lamp first, then light up the candle before the oil lamp runs out and light up the firewood before the candle finishes. This is so that i would be able to have the light on for as long as possible.

Question 2: 

What can you put in a wooden box that would make it lighter? The more of them you put in the lighter it becomes, yet the box stays empty.

Answer: 

I would drill some holes onto the box as the holes would take away and reduce the weight of the wooden box itself and lighten the weight of the box. Also, the more holes that are drilled onto the box, the more weight of the box is reduced. Thus the weight of the box would be lighter by drilling holes onto it. 

Question 3: 

Which side of a cat contains the most hair?

Answer:

The outside.

Exercise 1: 

You have a neighbour who raises chickens for a living. He lets his chickens run freely in his back garden, but as there is a hole in the fence, the chickens are always wandering into your garden where they damage your beautiful plants and flowers. You have asked your neighbour many times to fix his fence but he won't listen.

What would you do to solve this problem without offending you neighbour?

Answer:

1. Cut or take away my own plants and let the chickens into my fence
2. Let the chickens into my fence and let them lay eggs. Then return the chickens back to my neighbour and keep the eggs to myself.
3. Fix the fence and make a hole at the other side of my neighbour's fence so that the chickens run out of the house or neighbourhood.

Exercise 2: 

Imagine this room: the window at the back is open. In the front of the window there is a table and a vase, in which a fresh rose stands. A painting of flowers hangs on the opposite wall (at the whiteboard area). A bee flies into the room through the open window, straight to the painting and not the rose. 

WHY?!?!?!

Answer:

1. There seemed to be more flowers on the painting, therefore the bee went over to the painting instead of the fresh rose.

2. The bee had difficulty flying towards the fresh rose and therefore could only fly in a straight direction towards the painting which was higher and right opposite the window where the bee came in from.

~END~

Presentation Reflection

Presentation Reflection

After doing the presentation on my group's 101 ways to save the Earth on Wednesday, 3 Feb 2016, I feel that our presentation went well and we managed to make the presentation presentable and colourful which would attract attention. Even though we did not do very well, I felt that my group and I had really great teamwork even though we were all foreigners from different countries of the world. 

I also felt that the other groups did well and their presentations were well done as well. With all the different topics and all their 101 ways, there were some very special and interesting ways, and some of the ways were actually connected to one another which made me feel that everything in the world has a connection to at least one other factor, in which both factors can be very different.

Overall, I felt that the whole class did well and we all worked hard to prepare these presentations for the lesson. Other than the presentation pictures which I had uploaded on this blog last week, I also have a video that I found interesting and want to share here as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPkOFwaGKG0

Ways to save the Earth

101 Ways to Save the Earth (Mind Map)

My group and I decided to do a mind map on the ways and the things we should do to save the Earth. We came out with different ways like how to protect the animals and the environment, what we should do, and also the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in saving the earth. We came out with 101 ideas on saving the Earth last week and this week, we decided to write them out on a big mahjong paper filled with words and different diagrams like the Earth, animals and some of the famous places of the Earth. We decided that putting these colours and drawings would make our mind map look more convincing and the children can understand it easily as well as they do not have to read all the words and can just see these drawings to understand what they should do to help the environment. Here are pictures of the mind map we did:

Breaking the Rules & Take A Journey

Breaking the Rules

In the world of Design, there are many ways people break the rules. Whether it is by combining things that people never think should be combined, or designing items that bring people out of their comfort zone. I think that these designs can be good and can be not good, as there will be people who will not like the designs and people who are going to love these designs. Below are a few examples of the designs that breaks the rules:

Who would've expected shoes, especially heels or wedges can be made with its back not even with its heel? Many may think that these shoes can make people fall easily, but with my observation, these shoes has its front on the ground, so ladies can hold themselves well on the ground without falling. Also, the heels of the shoes are wedged and this keeps more balance on women without letting them fall.

These bookshelves, even though are slanted to one side, can still hold books as they have a stopper on every step of it, thus the books do not fall. Also, even though taking the books that are lower may be difficult as they would be pressed down by other heavy books, these bookshelves can help to flatten out book covers or page that are folded by accident as they will be pressed down with the other books so we do not have to press them down on the table with a stone or something heavy.

This design of a bed in a wardrobe may look weird, it is designed mainly for people who live in studio houses or small apartments. These apartments have limited space, thus having a bed may cause the house to be very appear even smaller, therefore the invention of this bed in a wardrobe not only saves space, these singles who live alone can have more space to do things and they can still have friends come over without having to squeeze together.

This house is built on top of a big stone, which people will think that it will fall whenever the wind blows. However, notice that the bottom of the house is somehow 'inside' the stone, this means that the house is grounded to the stone well and will not fall easily unless the stone breaks, so people can still live in it for a while.

This bench here only has 2 seats even though the backrest is still long. This a very good example of breaking the rules as benches are always long and at least 3 people can sit on a long bench. However, this long bench here is only made for 2 people to sit. Though people may find it weird as only 2 people can sit on a long bench, I feel that this invention is good also as nowadays people always like to put their belongings beside them when they sit on long benches, which makes them look selfish. With this bench, people would have no choice but to either put their belongings on the floor or on their lap, thus letting people know that they should share seats with others and not give their belongings seats.

Take A Journey

I always take the bus to school and will be playing with my phone and listening to music throughout the whole journey most of the times. However, this week I decided to try to not listen to any music and not touch my phone on my way to school, and I realised that there were many things that I had missed on this journey I take to and fro almost everyday. First, I realised again after a long time that the greenery in Singapore is really pretty. Secondly, I realised that there are many new nice buildings that were built along the way as compared to the last time I noticed them, which actually surprised me. Lastly, I made myself walk to the bus stop 3 stops after where i usually board and realised that the air in the morning is very fresh and made myself feel awake and fresh instantly. I would recommend that people should do this often so that they will appreciate our society and the environment more.

TED Reflection

Video Reflection 

After watching the TED video that was shown to us during the lesson time, I felt that adults and children are very different as we people grow up to be cautious of our own actions whereas children feel confident with what they do e.g. drawing, singing etc. Also, children are more creative as they tend to create things that adults are unable to as they look at their surroundings and combine unexpected things together whereas as adults, we tend to only put things together that only look nice or are compatible with one another. Thus, I feel that children can be a lot more creative that adults because we are not as flexible as them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjwUn-aA0VY

A PICTURE A WEEK

This Sunday, I went to the EXO'LUXION concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and it has made a very good start to my 2016 whereby I got to see my favourite idols sing and perform in front of me as I was at the standing pen. Also, even though I went with a friend to the concert on that day, I had to stand alone at the standing pen because we bought our tickets separately and my friend could not get a standing ticket, therefore we were separated. However, there were some other fans who came for the concert and they approached me after seeing me alone and we started to chat. This made me feel that even though the society now is more self-centred and 'lonely', there are some events and celebrations that can make this society more friendly and I think that these kind of events should be conducted more frequently.

101 Ways To Save the Earth

101 WAYS TO SAVE THE EARTH

There are many things we can do that can help save the Earth, for example, saving water or throwing trash according to their classifications. However, are we really doing these things to help the Earth and environment? Are we really worried about the Earth that we live in because it may break down anytime? I do not think that we, as Earthlings are trying to save our nature from all these harms. Therefore, here are 101 ways that I have come up with to help us know how to help and save our Mother Earth:

1. Cut lesser trees
2. Use recycled paper
3. Do not throw rubbish into water e.g. seawater, riverbanks 
4. Reuse plastic bags
5. Factories should reduce exhaustion of gas into the air
6. Plant more trees
7. Decrease deforestation
8. Recycle anything that can be recycled
9. Throw rubbish into its designated recycling bins
10. Take public transport instead of cars
11. Reduce use of chemical supplies 
12. Use glass bottles instead of plastic bottles
13.  Do not buy things that are not needed
14. Use environmental-friendly bags
15. Increase temperature of air conditioner
16. Buy goods you can refill
17. Do not buy things e.g. bags, coats made from animal skin and fur
18. Do not waste food
19. Use water cautiously
20. Reduce use of electronic devices
21. Do not put too much food into refrigerator
22. Turn off all electrical appliances and lights when unused e.g. computer, air conditioner etc.
23. Use natural materials instead of man-made materials e.g. leather
24. Join environmental organizations to help the environment
25. Classify rubbish before throwing e.g bottled products, paper etc.
26. Walk or ride a bike to work or school
27. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of standard bulbs
28. Clean air filters
29.  Dispose toxic waste immediately
30. Identify water polluters
31. Create your own stuff e.g. cleaning products
32. Compost
33. Protect animals
34. Use solar powered outdoor light
35. Install low wattage motion sensor night lights for bathroom
36. Recycle glass
37. Do not preheat ovens
38. Use both sides of a paper
39.  Recycle newspapers
40. Take shorter showers
41. Maintain your own vehicles
42. Use matches instead of lighters
43. Use rechargeable batteries
44. Drive slower
45. Do laundry by hand
46. Donate old clothing/unused paper
47. Turn off sink while brushing teeth
48. Go to the car wash instead of washing your own car
49. Pay bills online
50. Use a dishwasher
51. Go vegetarian
52. Stop littering
53. Stop smoking
54. Inflate tires
55. Don't dump  toxic household products down the storm drain or street gutter.
56.  Buy durable and long-lasting products
57. Use silverware and dishes instead of paper and plastic
58. Use reusable diapers
59. Recycle ink and toner cartridges
60. Use latex paint instead of oil-based paint
61.  Buy organically-grown food
62. Use dimmers and 3-way bulbs when possible
63. Use a tea kettle instead of a pan to boil water
64. Buy appliances with energy efficiency labels
65. Shut refrigerator and freezer doors shut when not needed
66. Keep freezer at least 3/4 full at all times
67. Use a microwave oven to cook vegetables
68. Cover saucepans with lids when cooking
69. Recycle aluminum cans
70. Use biodiesel fuel for a diesel car
71. Purchase natural furniture e.g wool, cotton etc.
72. Recycle electronic gadgets
73. Kill insects naturally instead of using insecticides
74. Don't use higher wattage bulbs than necessary
75. Wear warm clothing and turn down winter heat
76.  Use cold water instead of hot whenever possible
77. Opt for small-oven or stove-top cooking when preparing small meals
78. Run clothes washers full, but don’t overload them
79. Airdry laundry when possible
80. Install water-efficient shower-heads
81. Collect rainwater and graywater for gardening use
82. Limit or eliminate use of "disposable" items
83. Maintain and tune up vehicle regularly for maximum gas mileage
84. Don’t speed; accelerate and slow down gradually
85. Rent or borrow items that you don’t use often
86. Use colored fabrics to avoid need of bleach
87. Use natural fiber clothing, bedding and towels
88. Avoid rainforest products
89. Use postcards instead of letters for short messages
90. Stay informed about the state of the Earth
91. Stop junk mail (opt out for letters)
92. Adjust your thermostat; higher in summer, lower in winter
93. Create an organic vegetable garden
94. Reuse school textbooks
95. Reduce air travel
96. Use e-tickets when traveling
97. Do not burn trash
98. Use an electric car
99. Don't spill oil, paint or cleaning supplies down the drain
100. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins
101. Use Baking Soda to scour sinks, pots and pans or tile surfaces