Worlds Fair Project
Link to project description: HERE
I really enjoyed the World's Fair Project! I thought that this project was incredibly well made and allowed students to learn so much about an area/time period of there choice. At the exhibition, students had to convince people to move to our area and trying to convince people was fun and very good for my learning.
My group chose the United Kingdom in 1800-1830, and that ended up being a great choice. I never knew that the United Kingdom was such a technological powerhouse, and was so far ahead of the rest of the world for a long time. With inventions such as the steam engine, steam locomotive, percussion ignition, Portland cement, the haymaking machine, and many more my group tried to highlight the technological advances in the United Kingdom. Another thing I did not know was how poor the quality of life was for the average person in the United Kingdom at the time. Due to the industrial revolution, many people worked jobs with extremely poor conditions and there was a lack of food due to the increasing population. This is one area that my group tried to hide in our presentation. We did this by highlighting the quality of rich life. We re-created famous dances such as the Waltz and we made bangers and mash. Overall, We wanted our audience to experience the great food, dance, and parties that made the rich life in the United Kingdom so great.
Today, the United Kingdom isn't the technological powerhouse that it once was. Many other countries such as the USA, Japan, Germany, and Russia have surpassed the UK in terms of technology. But many of the inventions that my group highlighted from the UK are still very critical today. Portland Cement is still the most commonly used cement mix worldwide, and percussion ignition is still critical to firearms.
My favorite pieces my group created were the 3D printed working steam engine prototype and the steam engine art piece. The prototype was made using our school's 3D printer, and it was powered by an air compressor. Many people complimented this piece and thought it was a great idea and I agree. The steam engine art piece is really cool as well. It is a steam engine blueprint painted over blueprints from other important inventions in the UK. Both of these pieces do a great job of highlighting the technological powerhouse that was the UK.
During the research portion of this project many things stuck with me. The one area I feel that my knowledge grew the most would have to be with the actual technology. Before this project, I had no idea what a piston is or what an engine really is, but by collaborating with my group and writing descriptions for all the parts of the steam engine I was able to learn what all the pieces do. Before this project, I had the idea that my partners would focus on the engine and I would do the posters and not really have to learn about that part. But at the exhibition, you need to learn to explain everything. That is what I loved about this project, the fact that there are so many different aspects of a place and so many things to learn, and on exhibition, you have to be able to explain them all. There isn't one thing I would change about this project, I loved the experience and I loved the learning!
Link to Dance recreation video: https://drive.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/file/d/1UrbNxICzI47M-_xRvGwY4yWKTT0Cgz2a/view?usp=sharing
I really enjoyed the World's Fair Project! I thought that this project was incredibly well made and allowed students to learn so much about an area/time period of there choice. At the exhibition, students had to convince people to move to our area and trying to convince people was fun and very good for my learning.
My group chose the United Kingdom in 1800-1830, and that ended up being a great choice. I never knew that the United Kingdom was such a technological powerhouse, and was so far ahead of the rest of the world for a long time. With inventions such as the steam engine, steam locomotive, percussion ignition, Portland cement, the haymaking machine, and many more my group tried to highlight the technological advances in the United Kingdom. Another thing I did not know was how poor the quality of life was for the average person in the United Kingdom at the time. Due to the industrial revolution, many people worked jobs with extremely poor conditions and there was a lack of food due to the increasing population. This is one area that my group tried to hide in our presentation. We did this by highlighting the quality of rich life. We re-created famous dances such as the Waltz and we made bangers and mash. Overall, We wanted our audience to experience the great food, dance, and parties that made the rich life in the United Kingdom so great.
Today, the United Kingdom isn't the technological powerhouse that it once was. Many other countries such as the USA, Japan, Germany, and Russia have surpassed the UK in terms of technology. But many of the inventions that my group highlighted from the UK are still very critical today. Portland Cement is still the most commonly used cement mix worldwide, and percussion ignition is still critical to firearms.
My favorite pieces my group created were the 3D printed working steam engine prototype and the steam engine art piece. The prototype was made using our school's 3D printer, and it was powered by an air compressor. Many people complimented this piece and thought it was a great idea and I agree. The steam engine art piece is really cool as well. It is a steam engine blueprint painted over blueprints from other important inventions in the UK. Both of these pieces do a great job of highlighting the technological powerhouse that was the UK.
During the research portion of this project many things stuck with me. The one area I feel that my knowledge grew the most would have to be with the actual technology. Before this project, I had no idea what a piston is or what an engine really is, but by collaborating with my group and writing descriptions for all the parts of the steam engine I was able to learn what all the pieces do. Before this project, I had the idea that my partners would focus on the engine and I would do the posters and not really have to learn about that part. But at the exhibition, you need to learn to explain everything. That is what I loved about this project, the fact that there are so many different aspects of a place and so many things to learn, and on exhibition, you have to be able to explain them all. There isn't one thing I would change about this project, I loved the experience and I loved the learning!
Link to Dance recreation video: https://drive.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/file/d/1UrbNxICzI47M-_xRvGwY4yWKTT0Cgz2a/view?usp=sharing