In this project, our mission was to solve a world problem. We first brainstormed all types of world problems that we could think of. Groups came up with all sorts of problems; treating split ends, tracking guns to reduce gang violence, and even overcoming drought! Our problem was to reduce sports injury and we focused on the knee. Our goal was to prevent knee injury and specifically torn ligaments.
Once we decided on our problem we begin to research whatever we could find to come up with a method. Our first approach was to try to discover a method for prevention for all sports injuries. As we started to research, we learned that in the top 10 sports injures, the knee was the first. We agreed to just focus on the knee by strengthening the ligaments. Ligaments are made up of a protein of connective tissue called collagen. Increasing the amount of collagen in the knee will provide an increase of elasticity and resilience. This protein is found in certain vitamins which can be found in different foods such as spinach, kale, honey, etc. Our plan was to create a pill by blending all the foods together in a smoothie form then freezing it. We also discovered that as you get older, the level of collagen decreases, so to balance that the dosage of our pill increases over the years.
Engineering Design Cycle
1. Identify the need. -We all first brainstormed many types of world problems. After cutting them down to our top three my group agreed on sports injury. Everyone in my group plays sports so the issue was very easy to relate to and made it exciting to learn about.
2. Research the problem. -We did a bunch of research for this project. About three full days were dedicated for only researching about the problem. We first figured out the top ten sports injuries which led into learning more about the causes, symptoms, and treatment for each one. We learned that the top common injury was the knee so we decided to find a method to prevent specifically tears ,sprains, etc. We discovered that the connective tissue in your knee is made up of collagen which is found in certain vitamins, which is then found in in different foods. Different types of foods have different amounts of collagen strengthening vitamins so we also had to figure out how much of each food would be put into the pill to result in a notably change of collagen level.
3. Develop possible solutions. -We then had to think of a solution to solve our problem. We tried to think of solutions that were cost efficient and easily attainable by everyone. My group came up with a shake/drink, some type of brace, or a strengthening pill.
4. Select the most promising solution. -We knew from experience that the brace wouldn't help and that constructing a drink would need more time so we decided that making a pill would give us a better outcome. The pill would be consisted of the different foods we did research on and the dosage would increase as you got older.
5. Construct a prototype. -The pill was made by blending all the foods into a smoothie form then freezing it in an ice cube mold. Our end product came out great but we were expecting the pill to be more appealing in taste. We also managed to create a customized prescription label to go on an empty prescription bottle that the pill would of been sold in.
6. Test and evaluate the prototype. -This could not be done for this project.
7. Communicate the design. -To present our idea to the class we made a power point (as shown above) that explained what we did to create a solution for preventing knee injury. Our power point included the top ten sport injuries, a slide about collagen, what vitamins and foods strengthen collagen, how much of each food is in the pill, the pros of the pill, and the appropriate dosage. We would of sent the power point to local drug stores and pharmacies in order to sell our idea.
8. Redesign. -This was not required.
9. Repeat. -Not applied to this project.
Reflection
There are many things that I enjoyed about this project. One of the biggest skills that I gained from this was to expand my creativity. We had to think of different solutions that were not already discovered which was very difficult. I also gained knowledge on how to prevent injury by eating more of different foods that can be easily applied into my daily life. Our only two pits was the lack of time and how we split up the researching part. We couldn't control the lack of time due to the storm but it would of helped to have the two days we missed. Another pit was that our way of researching process was not very thought out. Some of us were researching some of the same things which next time could be avoided by making sure each person is responsible for one thing to take notes on before we start. I was very happy with the people I worked with for the project. Olivia, Sally, Lindsey and I were all in a group which overall resulted in a positive environment. We all communicated very nicey and everyone's voices were all equally heard. Another peak was our time management. At the end of each day we would make a plan for the next day so we would come prepared to get the task done which gave us extra time towards the end of the project to practice our presentation. For the first time my group wasn't rushing at the end. I am especially overjoyed on how this project came out and I look forward on working again with the members in my group!