Tori's blog

In the past two weeks, away from our project, we have been learning about soldering. Today I solder a working circuit. This was an amazing learning curve for me as a few weeks ago I didn’t know what soldering was and know I have successfully soldered a circuit to make a light turn on. I am very proud of myself for learning and doing this, even though it is not a part of my project or my interests.

For our project, in the past two weeks, Molly and I have designed all of the materials we would like to use and brought them in to start designing and making our project with the materials.

Last week we also interpreted our survey results further and looked more into what Jen had written to us about this issue. Jen’s answers were very useful in how to make the brace successful and we are very thankful to her. She gave us some great ideas about sorts of materials to use and more insight into what causes bad posture in teenagers and all ages.

Today we started measuring, cutting and fitting the material for the back support pack, measuring the velcro to fasten together the support pack, and measuring the elastic straps for the arm. We cut the material to the correct size to go around the support pack and measured the lengths we would need for the shoulder straps. This has furthered us with our project as next week we can start sewing the brace together.

I feel as if Molly and I are going really well and are on track to complete our brace with time to make changes and edit the design to make the best back brace it could be. Next week we can start sewing each of the parts together and then in future weeks complete the brace and make the changes that are needed for it to work. Next week we should also refer back to the portfolio checklist as well to ensure we are on the right track and are including every necessary piece of information.

I am very proud of the work Molly and I have already completed and the goal that we have set for ourselves. We have worked really hard and I feel as if we are on track to fix the issue we set out to change.

Connect

This video connected to what I learnt in previous school years and also what I learnt in the previous video last week. It connected to what I understand about the transfers of energy with the batteries and wire. I learnt about this last year in science. It connected to what I knew about what soldering was and why it was important when completing a circuit. It connected to my previous learning about how to solder with the soldering iron and the wire to successfully solder.

Extend

This video extended my knowledge in explaining what a soldering iron was, looks like and does. In the previous video, I saw glimpses of the iron but never got a full understanding of what it actually looked like and what it did. It also explained to a further level about the board the soldering is done on, and why the numbers on the board are important. Another way it extended my knowledge was why it is important to solder properly so that the circuit works properly and the energy can transfer clearly through the circuit.

Challenge

This video challenged my understanding and learning in explaining to me different aspects of soldering and helping me understand. It challenged me in understanding why soldering was used in the real world and why the soldering iron was so important when soldering. Watching the video I furthered this understanding by understanding the importance in soldering not just when making a circuit and also what the soldering iron does to complete a solder and make the circuit work correctly. It also challenged my thinking in understanding the way the electricity runs throughout the circuit and the impact the soldering has on this. Watching the video helped me understanding in making sure you solder correctly so the energy can transfer properly.

1st video- Soldering- Beginners tutorial

Connect: This did not connect to any prior knowledge as I had never heard of soldering before nor know how to do it. Although it did connect to a little bit of information that I knew about closed circuits and electrons. I learnt about the circuits last year but soldering was never mentioned

Extend: This video extended my knowledge as it introduced me to what soldering was and how to simply solder.  It simply explained how to solder a circuit and explained what soldering was. It extended my knowledge about what soldering was and where it is used in everyday life and also about how to successfully solder a circuit.

Challenge: It challenged my thinking in opening my mind to the types of soldering in a circuit and how this completes the circuit. It challenged me by thinking of my own ways of how I’d complete the circuit and how I would learn to solder. It puzzled me in what they actually used for soldering and what part it plays in completing the circuit and answered these partly at the end of the video.

Today Molly and I backtracked to complete our research to make sure our design would bring the best results. Today we focused on making and sending out a survey to the year 8s at Wildy, we sent an email to a physio (Jen Guest), and did more research on the materials we could possibly use to create the brace.

The survey shows so far that from the 47 people who have answered 85% of them feel as if they have bad posture and 60% of them get a bad back and neck pain from this. From the survey, we also gained facts about how many people would by a brace to help with this, how much they would pay for this and what materials they would like to be used in the brace. This has really boosted our understanding of our audience so that we can personalise the brace to a higher standard for each customer. Next week we will focus on interpreting this data to help us further with our planning as by then we should have all of the results.

In the email, to Jen, we asked her with her answers being very helpful.

1. What do you think are the main contributing factors to bad posture and back pain?

In girls your age – it is related to study posture and in this day and age, the use of laptops, ipads, and phones on beds, couches and sitting on the floor. Also we are going through puberty age and so a change in our hormones. In girls, this can lead some ligament laxity (looseness). The ligaments help to support our joints and with increased ligament laxity with each menstrual cycle, we experience joint looseness for a few days each month. This makes our Skelton slightly unstable and loose and therefore more effort to hold up a straight good posture. For girls at your age also, the height and changes in your body may make you slump and curl your body a little so tend to don the poor posture

2.  In order to correct posture using a brace, is there any specific things that the brace must include? (e.g. Arm straps, stomach support. etc.)

I would say, make sure the brace mimics your core muscles (so specifically the transversus Abdominis` Muscle) This will support your abdominals and low back. The shoulder / thoracic straps are good for keeping an upright back posture. Do you know those black braces they tend to wear at Bunnings – that look is really good.

3.  What should the function of the brace be? /The main aims to fixing bad posture (e.g. bring the shoulders back)?

• Strength and support at the front lower abdominals
• Support at the lower back
• Extension and pull back in the Thoracic area (upper back)

4. What would be the best materials to use, in order to make our brace?

• Something  flexible but supportive and can breathe
• Needs to be washable and quick drying

5.  Do you have any other suggestions for other ways we could solve the issue of bad posture, or any ideas for our back brace?

• Really people need to work on using their postural muscles through exercise – strength, AND endurance
• Core stability exs are great for posture
• Then also check on the alignment of the skeleton with the chiro

The information we received from Jen has really extended our knowledge and thinking and will greatly help us in planning, doing final designs and prototyping. It has clarified the research we had done while also adding multiple more factors into what we had researched. Next week we will focus a bit of time on interpreting and annotating the data we got from Jen and edit our project accordingly to the data she has given us.

Today we also continued our research into potential materials we could use to create the brace. We researched straps we could use to support the shoulders, the price of the straps and how long it would take to arrive. We found 2 possible solutions in what we could buy to use for the over-shoulder straps.

Next week we are planning to complete our finish interpreting and annotating the information we gained from the graph and Jen Guest, complete or start our final proposal, complete our materials list and write an email to Ms Rooney with all the materials listed, pricing and where we would prefer her to buy it from. If we can manage to finish all of these tasks we will be right on track to be getting our first prototype done soon.

Today I feel as if we were very productive and the things we got done were very important. We focused on communicating with others who could be potential buyers of the product and their opinion is just as important as ours in the making and finalising of this product.

 

Today Molly and I designed our first design for our back brace and wrote down small bits of information about our back brace like the aim of it, materials and how we achieve the aim. We then went on to answer these and plan out our aims into more depth. This will help us in future weeks as we have written down exactly what we want to do, the materials we want to use and how we are planning to achieve the aim. We are finalising this idea and also looking at possible materials we could use to make the brace and prices of these materials.

We are also very happy with ourselves in what we did in last term. Last term we decided to push back our designing stage and spend mojre time on research. This has significantly helped us in now we know

We have also recently asked Phoenix Kuchta whether we could email her Mum who is a physio and ask her a few questions to make sure we can get the most out of our back brace and make sure our design will help and not hurt the back even more. This is an important part in finalising our research and starting our design as she is a trained physio so knows all about this so she can then ensure the customers will get the most out of the back brace and will not be hurting peoples backs.

This was a very successful lesson as we are moving forward and getting closer to making our first prototype. We previously hoped that this lesson would be finalising research but Amolika and I both felt we had enough research to complete our back brace to a high standard and achieve what we are trying to solve. We updated both of our portfolios and added all of our tabs into place, finished printing our research and also referred back to our portfolio tick sheet to check we were on the right track. I am very happy with the progress we made today and how we are moving along so far. We hope to send an email to Ms. Rooney next week about the materials we need and hope to start making our first prototype in about week 4 or 5. We also hope to send out a survey to the year 8 students to find out about their opinions on the issue and whether they feel they would benefit from a posture back brace, how much they would pay for a brace, and what materials they would want the brace to be made of.

 

Today Amolika and I continued with our research on back braces. We researched more about existing back braces and collecting ideas from them. We annotated a new posture device created by Apple. This device detects when you are slouching and vibrates you to remind you to straighten up. We looked at the strengths and weaknesses of this device as this will help us whilst designing our back brace, in regard with what to do and what not to do. We also annotated a back brace by Kogan which uses magnetics to gently straighten up your posture. This helps us with continuing progress on making a back brace as we know now different strengths and weaknesses we want within our back brace.

Today we achieved the goal we had set from last week which was to research about existing braces and devices, to assist us with design and creation of our back brace, incorporating all of the strengths of the various designs. We also organised our portfolios displaying all of our research, proposals, and ideas. I feel as if we are moving along very well and are right on track to make our back brace and get it to function correctly. Next term we plan to finish off our research and start sketching, prototyping and making the back brace. This makes me very excited about next term as I can’t wait to start making the brace. I am excited about solving the problems we come across to make the brace work and the feeling of accomplishment when we do it.

We are also thinking of doing a survey to collect ideas from our peers about whether they would benefit from a back brace, the type of back brace they would find useful, the price they would be willing to pay for a brace and the materials they think would be best to use to make it as comfortable as possible. We believe that this survey will be highly assistive with our research, as it will allow us to further develop our ideas on what our back brace could potentially look like. Having first hand views from our peers who undertake a similar level of study to us, will allow us to see what kind of back brace would be most suitable for our age group. We have started forming some ideas of what our back brace could potentially look like, but the next stage in our process is to gather all of our research together and apply the knowledge gained, in the designing of our back brace.

Today Amolika and I worked on researching the type of back brace that is what we are looking to make. We researched different types of back braces and the effects that they have on posture. We organised our portfolio and put all of our research and proposal into it. We also did a few assessments looking at the height I gain from when I’m slouching to when I have good posture and I become significantly taller. I am feeling good about the way Amolika and I are heading with this project and think that this back brace will be perfect for fixing posture. We are almost ready to start drawing sketches on our designs just have to finish off our research on other back braces and a back brace that will help us with what we are trying to fix. We have decided that we want to make the brace out of eco-friendly materials and make the brace inexpensive to make and buy. I am hopeful by the end of this term that we have all our materials down and are ready to start making the back brace.

 

Ps: I was away last week so I don’t have a blog post for it.

 

STEM PROPOSAL: ‘Back posture & Back pain? Not with this back brace!’

What:

Amolika and I will be trying to create a solution to bad posture, resulting in back pain. We will be creating a back brace that can be worn under clothing or attached to a chair, in order to help put the back in the correct position, which will decrease back pain.

Why: 

We have chosen to create this because our sisters suffer from bad posture and back pain as they have a high level of chair usage whilst studying. Amolika and I  also are creating this, in order to try and best prevent us from developing this issue as well. This is why our project is highly important to us.

Target Audience: 

Our target audience, is any person who has bad posture, resulting in back pain. There is no specific age group/gender that this solution will work for, it is literally for anyone who suffers from the conditions of bad posture and back pain. In order to make our inquiry easier, we will be targeting our inquiry more towards students, to see how studying affects bad posture and causes back pain, and therefore we can target our solution, to the direct issue.

Problem/issue addressing:

The issue we are addressing from our solution, is back pain and bad posture, in students and teens as we will inquire into how studying causes back pain. Along with designing a prototype, we will also be investigating into ways to prevent back pain whilst studying, and possibly better studying techniques.

Overview

Back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor or miss work, and it is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Most people have back pain at least once.

Fortunately, you can take measures to prevent or relieve most back-pain episodes. If prevention fails, simple home treatment and proper body mechanics often will heal your back within a few weeks and keep it functional. Surgery is rarely needed to treat back pain.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of back pain can include:

• Muscle ache
• Shooting or stabbing pain
• Pain that radiates down your leg
• Pain that worsens with bending, lifting, standing or walking
• Pain that improves with reclining

Causes

Back pain that comes on suddenly and lasts no more than six weeks (acute) can be caused by a fall or heavy lifting. Back pain that lasts more than three months (chronic) is less common than acute pain.

Back pain often develops without a cause that your doctor can identify with a test or an imaging study. Conditions commonly linked to back pain include:

• Muscle or ligament strain.Repeated heavy lifting or a sudden awkward movement can strain back muscles and spinal ligaments. If you’re in poor physical condition, constant strain on your back can cause painful muscle spasms.
• Bulging or ruptured disks.Disks act as cushions between the bones (vertebrae) in your spine. The soft material inside a disk can bulge or rupture and press on a nerve. However, you can have a bulging or ruptured disk without back pain. Disk disease is often found incidentally when you have spine X-rays for some other reason.
• Osteoarthritis can affect the lower back. In some cases, arthritis in the spine can lead to a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord, a condition called spinal stenosis.
• Skeletal irregularities.A condition in which your spine curves to the side (scoliosis) also can lead to back pain, but generally not until middle age.
• Your spine’s vertebrae can develop compression fractures if your bones become porous and brittle.

 

Risk factors

Anyone can develop back pain, even children and teens. These factors might put you at greater risk of developing back pain:

• Back pain is more common as you get older, starting around age 30 or 40.
• Lack of exercise.Weak, unused muscles in your back and abdomen might lead to back pain.
• Excess weight.Excess body weight puts extra stress on your back.
• Some types of arthritis and cancer can contribute to back pain.
• Improper lifting.Using your back instead of your legs can lead to back pain.
• Psychological conditions.People prone to depression and anxiety appear to have a greater risk of back pain.
• This reduces blood flow to the lower spine, which can keep your body from delivering enough nutrients to the disks in your back. Smoking also slows healing.
• Prevention

You might avoid back pain or prevent its recurrence by improving your physical condition and learning and practicing proper body mechanics.

To keep your back healthy and strong:

• Regular low-impact aerobic activities — those that don’t strain or jolt your back — can increase strength and endurance in your back and allow your muscles to function better. Walking and swimming are good choices. Talk with your doctor about which activities you might try.
• Build muscle strength and flexibility.Abdominal and back muscle exercises, which strengthen your core, help condition these muscles so that they work together like a natural corset for your back. Flexibility in your hips and upper legs aligns your pelvic bones to improve how your back feels. Your doctor or physical therapist can tell you which exercises are right for you.
• Maintain a healthy weight.Being overweight strains back muscles. If you’re overweight, trimming down can prevent back pain.
• Quit smoking.Talk to your doctor about ways to quit.

Avoid movements that twist or strain your back. Use your body properly:

• Stand smart.Don’t slouch. Maintain a neutral pelvic position. If you must stand for long periods, place one foot on a low footstool to take some of the load off your lower back. Alternate feet. Good posture can reduce the stress on back muscles.
• Sit smart.Choose a seat with good lower back support, armrests and a swivel base. Placing a pillow or rolled towel in the small of your back can maintain its normal curve. Keep your knees and hips level. Change your position frequently, at least every half-hour.
• Lift smart.Avoid heavy lifting, if possible, but if you must lift something heavy, let your legs do the work. Keep your back straight — no twisting — and bend only at the knees. Hold the load close to your body. Find a lifting partner if the object is heavy or awkward.

The problem I am trying to solve:

Back pain from bad posture

Questions:

• What are the major factors influencing back pain and bad posture? Symptoms of bad posture include: Rounded shoulders, week abdominal muscles, potbellies, bent knees when standing and walking, a head that leans fowards and backwards, back pains, body aches and pains, muscle fatigue and headaches. These are the main syptoms to having bad posture.

Institute, L. (2018). Causes of Poor Posture. [online] Laserspineinstitute.com. Available at: https://www.laserspineinstitute.com/articles/posture_articles/poor/311/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

Betterhealth.vic.gov.au. (2018). Posture. [online] Available at: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/posture [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

• What are the effects of bad posture on the body? Body soreness from making your muscle work harder. Bad posture affects your moods, causing you to have a low mood also relating back to because you are in pain. It puts more stress on your body and mind. This is not good particularly if you are already stressed. It causes a lack of motivation because it is very painful. It affects the digestive system in the body as it is consistently being squashed or stretched. Causes fatigue in the body as it is making it work harder. Makes you have poor breathing as your lungs are being squashed/stretched.

Rehab, D. (2018). The Impact of Poor Posture. [online] Hopkins Health & Wellness Center. Available at: https://www.dmrmethod.com/the-impact-of-poor-posture/ [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

• Would a brace be an effective solution to bad posture? Yes, a brace is a good way as it relieves stress from the spine. It stops it from any wrong movement and realigns it to the way it’s meant to be.

Health, V. (2018). 6 Best Back Braces for Posture. [online] Vive Health. Available at: https://www.vivehealth.com/blogs/resources/best-back-brace-for-posture [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

• Are there already braces to help this- How much do they cost? Yes there are many types of back braces ranging from $15-$70. They range from `entrepreneurs and others doctors.

Women, 5., Women, 5., Grickej, P., Women, 5., Problems, 6. and Posture, 5. (2017). 5 [BEST] Posture Braces & Correctors for Men + Women (May 2017). [online] Posturebly: Improve Your Posture, Improve Your Life. Available at: http://posturebly.com/5-best-posture-braces-for-men-and-women [Accessed 28 Aug. 2018].

•  What materials would be best to use in order to create the back brace? Depends on the type of brace that is trying to be made. If it’s elastic cotton and nylon is suggested but if it’s non-stretchy maybe a type of plastic to keep it strong.