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  • Essay / Myp Personal Project: Sustainable Reuse of Motorcycles

    Table of ContentsIntroductionWhat is the Personal Project?SurveyThe GoalGlobal ContextWhy I chose this topicPrior learningResearch skillsPlanningDesign criteriaResearch planSelf-management skillsTaking actionProduct documentationSkills reflectionCommunication and social skillsReflectionProject reflectionIntroductionAs part of the process of completing my International Baccalaureate Intermediate program, I have to complete an independent project called a Personal Project in year 10. For my Personal Project, I decided to learn more about the sustainable reuse of motorcycles. We are currently living in a state of crisis in which we are destroying the environment around us and we must do whatever it takes to repair the damage we are inflicting on the earth until it is too late. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The Personal Project Guide states that “The Personal Project gives students the opportunity to focus on an area of ​​personal interest and expand their knowledge of an area of ​​personal interest. chosen subject”, and it is an opportunity for me to develop my skills within the framework of my personal interest (motorcycling). The project takes place over an extended period of time and will provide a challenge that will test my ability to research and organize information, apply my knowledge and skills, and reflect on my abilities. The personal project should be an interesting project that I enjoy spending time on and working with. I specifically chose this topic because I truly believe that we can all help and do something about this; maybe we don't cut down all the trees, not in a direct way, but we have to use transportation somehow. My personal project is focused on how we can relate to it and become aware of the situation. I developed the project within this specific community because I wanted to highlight the problem of our city, our country and the world among my peers in order to show them that we are not far from the problem and that On the contrary, we contribute to it. However, there is still something we can do. This personal project that I am developing is directly linked to the Global Context: “Globalization and sustainability” because it addresses the following theme: The impact of decision-making on humanity and the environment, among other issues, this context invites us to explore the interaction between people and the natural world; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on communities and environments; the impact of environments on human activity; how humans adapt environments to their needs. With this project, I propose to develop solutions to mitigate the effects of modern transportation. In order to meet my expectations and those of my supervisor, coordinators and everyone involved in the project, I had to overcome obstacles, follow orders, lead groups and others. All this will be explained later in this report. What is the personal project? Before I start presenting my personal project, it is essential to explain further what a personal project actually means? According to the IB, the personal project is “important work which is the product of the student's own initiative and creativity”. Although I completely agree with this definition, I would also like to propose my own definition of personal project,after experiencing it personally. After these few months that I spent working and developing my personal project, after long nights, long research, busy schedules and tight deadlines, I can proudly say that a personal project is not just an important work resulting directly from the creativity of the student. A personal project, I believe, is more about the process and enjoyment of travel than the product and destination itself. A personal project is a difficult procedure. The Personal Project should be an excellent and enriching experience if you want it to be; everything you do there, what you get out of it, what you learn from it, will be up to you. I came to the conclusion that a personal project is a way to know myself better. It’s a way to test myself and see how far I go. During your personal project, everything you achieve will be the result of what you do. You will have the supervisor and the coordinator, but they don't push you, they don't punish you, they don't follow you, you bear that responsibility. Ultimately, you and you alone are responsible. A personal project is an individual and independent experience.InvestigationThe goalThe goal of my project is to restore an old pocket bike to (somehow) give it a new life. So instead of just throwing away the pocket bike and buying a new one, I restore the old one. Therefore, I have less impact on the environment because the total carbon emissions from dismantling the old bike, manufacturing and delivering a new one would be much greater than if I (instead of buy a new pocket bike and throw it away) the old one) simply repaired and renewed the old pocket bike. There is really nothing (in terms of powertrain) that cannot be restored, even if it means dismantling the entire vehicle and replacing the majority of parts. Overall Context My overall context for my project is "Globalization and Sustainability", I chose "Globalization and Sustainability" as the overall context for my project because I want to restore an old pocket bike and "bring it back to life" (which is more sustainable). So by restoring an old pocket bike, I am being more sustainable by not throwing away the old one and buying a brand new one. This contributes to the globalization of sustainability, because then one more person will be more sustainable, which is a step in the right direction (this is where everyone will be sustainable. I specifically chose to restore a pocket bike because that I have never restored a pocket bike, which is quite different from what I am familiar with (dirt bikes). The engine used in pocket bikes is also different in some way as most motorcycles. pocket bikes just use lawn mower engines. Plus, pocket bikes are much more compact than the generally larger dirt bikes I'm used to, and the layout of parts in pocket bikes needs to be. different than larger dirt bikes.Why I chose this topicI chose to do my project on motorcycles and sustainability because I enjoy riding motorcycles (especially dirt bikes in the Summer ), but I'm also quite aware that motorsports aren't the most sustainable hobby in the world, so I've already started taking action for this cause by purchasing an electric dirt bike to keep in Belgium, Australia. instead of having two big gasoline motorcycles. motorcycles (one in Italy and one in Belgium). However, this is not enough, which is why I want to restore a small pocket bike that would leave less of a carbon footprint rather than buying a brand new pocket bike, which I would throw away in a few years anyway. some pocket bikes uselawn mower engines, which are quite inexpensive, I heard this from my friend: Charly Dumon. I checked this online and learned that pocket bikes use different motors, which may come from an old lawn mower, but commercially sold pocket bikes usually use motors that may look like lawn mower engines, but they are usually made by brands like Honda who sell these engines separately. to brands that assemble and sell pocket bikes. I also knew that pocket bikes generally act the same as generally larger motorcycles, so you need to change the oil if the pocket bike has a 4 stroke engine, or mix the oil with gasoline if the pocket bike has a 2-stroke engine. . On top of that, I knew that pocket bikes used a chain, as opposed to a belt (as usually used in scooters) or a driveshaft (as seen a lot on BMW motorcycles). Throughout 5th grade we started and finished our PYP project (my topic was lack of sleep). We had to write and rehearse a 5 minute presentation, write a 2000+ word journal (which includes a bibliography), and set up a booth where people could go to learn more about my topic during the PYP exhibit. A very important concept I learned while writing my PD process journal was the importance of creating a bibliography and how to make one. I learned that the chosen mode of citation at St Johns is the MLA format. Since then, I never forget to make a bibliography for my projects at school.Research skillsWhen I started this project, I had quite a few research skills, here they are: My first research skill is that I know how to search for keywords when trying to learn more about a certain topic through a web search or when searching the library book catalog. My other research skill is that I know how to cite sources in MLA format, this is important because being able to cite your sources is very important for any project and work where you use outside sources for your help. Another skill I have is that I can discover the validity of a source, by doing small background checks on the author of the source, or even the type of source. For example, if my source is someone's blog, they might simply claim to be an expert on a topic they barely know about. I developed these research skills and developed various other research skills through the project. My goal for this project, I had to create criteria that I could refer to, in order to measure the success of my product. Instead of defining 2 or 3 general criteria with 7 levels of success, I defined 11 specific checklist-style criteria, each with only 3 levels of success (fully achieved, mostly achieved, and partially achieved). In my opinion, it is more effective to have a larger number of very specific criteria rather than a smaller number of very broad criteria. For the reason that it makes more sense (and more effective) for me to measure the success of a large number of smaller aspects of my product, rather than thinking long and hard about the success of very complex and very large aspects of my product. In the past, I only had one criterion to determine the visual rendering of my product, and that was the use of different types of colors to achieve a beautiful aesthetic. However, I soon discovered that this type of classification for good visuals was mine, and it might be subjective to me only. I therefore created another criterion in terms of aesthetic appeal of my product to my audience who came to my stand.The way I will measure the success of this criterion is that, during the exhibition I will ask my audience to give me their opinion on the visuals of the pocket bike by giving me a score out of 10, I will put this in a table and I will calculate the average score.Research PlanI used two different planning tools to record and help me achieve my goals on time: the MYP Personal Project Stimulation Guide provided by St John's International School, included in the guide personal project OneNote, I also used a student planning tool. Planner (a sort of checklist) that I had to make for December 17 (day dedicated to developing our personal projects). I chose to use two simpler planning tools because I don't like to plan for too long, I prefer to act, otherwise I would waste all my time on a plan and I wouldn't have time to work on it. my project. The MYP Personal Project Pacing Guide was very helpful to me because it shows all the due dates for the personal project process and it has a perfect pacing guide where I can see what days and how much time I have for each part of the project. .I provide proof that I completed my first and second interviews (which took place through good planning) with my supervisor (Ms. Rose), as shown on my MYP Project Academic Honesty Form, you can see that the first interview took place on November 12, 2019 and the second interview took place on January 17, 2020. I did not change my research plan throughout the development of my personal project. Self-Management Skills Self-management skills help manage things like time and energy, and while I had knowledge of several of them, I wasn't very good at using them much. before the personal project. I already knew strategies for overcoming distractions and I am very persistent and persistent. When I started this project, I always had all my important due dates in my virtual calendar (which is on my phone and laptop), which helped me self-manage to the extent that it reminded me to finish the important parts of the personal project. During the project, I learned to organize my time and energy over longer periods of time and realized how I could use technology efficiently and productively. I did this by listening to music loudly, to block out all distractions (kind of like a white noise machine), this helped a lot to get rid of distractions. Another method I've used to get rid of distractions is to put my phone on airplane mode, so I don't get texts, calls, notifications, etc. that could distract me. Finally, somehow when I turned up the brightness of my laptop and my room lit up, I was then more focused on work, this could be a placebo effect, but this worked for me. Take Action Product Documentation The product of my project is a small motorcycle, more precisely a restored pocket bike, which operates by inserting regular gasoline mixed with 2-stroke engine oil (in order to lubricate the engine). This achieves my goal of restoring an old pocket bike to give it a new life. It is linked to the global context, globalization and sustainability, because it is a demonstration of the fact that we can all be a little more sustainable if we think about it. The product is a demonstration of the knowledge I gained from the project. Thinking Skills Using thinking skills such as analysis helped me in the project during the research phase. Before the start of the project, I did not use…