Capstone 6: Working on my Final Product

Working on my final product was a lot of fun but also a lot of work…

I have been working on my final product for about three weeks. For my final presentation, I am doing a TED talk with a slideshow in the background.

We had to create a script. Creating a script was very simple for me. I also had a lot of fun doing it. In my script I included the educational purposes, the ingredients, the benefits, explained why the most popular age group uses Play-Doh the most, the history and original use.

In my slideshow I included a lot of pictures. Creating a slideshow was also very simple for me. It didn’t take me very long to figure out how I was going to create my slides.

Read my previous posts and wait for upcoming posts to learn more about Capstone and my experience.

 

 

Capstone 5: Answering My Main Inquiry Question

Answering my main inquiry question is the whole point of the project and I did that after a lot of hard work. It was definitely hard explaining it. 

To answer my main question (What is the science behind Play Doh; how is it more than just a toy for kids?) I had to read and take notes on lots of articles, have an interview and site visit, watch some videos and have some sub questions. All of this work comes together to answer my main question.

I have learned a lot while doing this project. Play Doh definitely has a lot more to it than you think.

Capstone 4: My Site Visit

Finding a site visit was a big challenge. Having my Play Doh (my topic) only be made in China, is pretty hard to substitute and work around but I think I managed too.

In place of a traditional site visit, going to the place and taking pictures, I did something a little different. My teacher asked me if I wanted to do a class activity and I did. So, I came up with an experiment to do that involved Play Doh. I decided to test and see if Play Doh conducted electricity.

I had made Play Doh at my house the night before and was going to use that for the experiment. My teacher and I got the tools needed like batteries, battery holders, LED lights, and wire. I taught and observed the class while my teacher helped to document the work while taking videos and notes.

It turns out that Play Doh does conduct electricity! It was a lot of fun to do the experiment and I am very proud with how it turned out.

 

Capstone 3: My Interview

This week, I had my interview. A lot of my questions were answered but I was still left hanging for some of them… 

Finding an interview was a little complicated. It took a while to find someone to contact. I got a lot of help from my teacher who actually arranged my interview and our amazing intern who took notes for me during the interview. It took a little while to get in contact because Play-Doh is made in Hong Kong! The person that we emailed did not answered after several approaches. I got tired of waiting so my teacher called the company Hasbro who makes Play-Doh.

The person I talked to over the phone was an intern who took phone calls, answered questions, and gave replacement parts. I learned that Play-Doh hasn’t changed much except for the fact that they had produced more play sets and colors. Otherwise Play-Doh has not changed very much. The ingredients in Play-Doh are very simple. There is wheat, water, salt, and other common ingredients. The most common ages that use Play-Doh is ages 5-10 years old. My interviewee gave me all of the information that he knew and could gather. He was very helpful and patient.