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.

 

 

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.

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.

 

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.

Recently, I just finished creating my main inquiry and sub questions. I This step was a little complicated for me because I had no idea where to start.

For my main inquiry question I came up with “What is the science behind Play-Doh; how is it more than just a toy for kids?” I am very proud with how my main inquiry question came along with my five sub questions. My five sub questions took a while to come up with but after a couple of mind maps, I finally decided on what I wanted them to be. Now it was time to put together an interview. My teacher and I did a little bit of research and found out that the Play-Doh factory was in Hong Kong! My teacher emailed them and asked if we could do and interview via email. Now all we have to do is wait.

I got a lot of help with my teacher and our student intern coming up with sub questions and finding an interview. I know I will need a little bit more guidance from some adults figuring out what my next steps are. Otherwise, I think my Capstone it coming along great so far!

For the next couple of weeks, the whole fifth grade participates in, Capstone. This project is an inquiry-based project which means it starts with a question. You pick a topic, research it, and make a presentation. These projects always look incredible and they are really inspiring. I chose Play-Doh and here is my thinking and the process to where we are now…

It was a little complicated deciding on my topic because their are so many things to choose from. At first I was leaning toward doing crayons but I don’t think I was going to be able to stick with it for a whole six weeks. I was playing with Play-Doh and I realized I wanted to learn about it. What is the science behind Play-Doh? That is how I found my topic and my main research question.

I found “mind maps” really helpful for finding my sub questions. To make a mind map, you write the topic on a piece of paper and break it down. For example, I wanted to learn about the science behind Play-Doh. Then, I had to figure out I made only one I that is how I found my five sub-questions.

Continue reading Capstone 1: The Starting Process