1) VIA Strengths:

Which ones did you see yourself during PBL? How/Why?

– Perseverance

I saw myself persevering because even if there were times that our model failed, I came back up and tried again.  For example, our model’s mouth was always not right, either because, we cut too far, the hole wasn’t right, the angle wasn’t right etc.  However, after each failure I learnt from it and tried again then again until I succeeded.  I went through at least 4 plastic bottles.

– Hope

I saw myself having hope throughout the project because even if things weren’t going right or I couldn’t do something correctly, I still had hope in my heart knowing that I had to keep my head up and try again.  For example, my model’s large intestine didn’t function properly because there were no more pumps.  I was disappointed, however I didn’t just give up and have a bad attitude for the rest of the model, I just went through with it and kept my good attitude.

– Creativity

Throughout this model I had to have a lot of creativity, which I am not used to having.  I had to decide myself what I needed to use to create a working model, how I was going to do it and all the details.  For example, during the project we couldn’t figure out how to demonstrate the water absorption in the large intestine, however after thinking through it and going out of the box, we decided to cut through the whole tube and put sponges in.  Another example is when my teammate and I figured out that if we made the holes that we needed to stick tubes through slightly smaller that the tube itself, so that there is less space that we have to silicone, which means less space for human error.

Which one do you want to see yourself doing next time? How/Why?

– Bravery

I think I need more bravery because I need to take more risks with my model, I was slightly too conservative, and I feel like that I can still expand more on my model and it could’ve been better if I had just taken a risk.  For example, now that I think of it I think I should’ve tried adding teeth, even if it meant having the risk of breaking the mouth.

2) Why is collaboration & teamwork important in problem solving?

I think collaboration & teamwork are important parts in problem solving because when a certain person faces a situation, they will have solutions to the problem, and a different person will probably have a different solution.  When these two people come together with these two solutions and think about it together, point out each other’s flaws and good points, they can learn from each other.  In the end, they can compromise their ideas to create an even better solution.  Two minds are stronger than one, is a good saying, because if one mind doesn’t understand something, the other mind can come in and assist it, vice versa.  So overall, one mind can only extend so much in a certain way, like a brank only being able to grow in a direction.  With another branch, they can grow together and push each other in the right direction.

3)  Which video did you like most? Why?

The video I liked the most was the last video of teamwork and the three analogies of teamwork with the penguins, ants and the crabs.  The three species of animals all worked together to defeat that one big monster.  Alone as one, the monster could easily overtake a penguin and or a crab.  However, when they worked together they found a way to defeat the monster creatively.  Throughout the PBL model my teammate Mia and I were just like the animals, once there was a problem without model that we couldn’t overcome as one, we put out minds together and tried again.

The video:     🙂