2 Hr Presentation Reflection

Part 1

(1) Two hour presentation student assessment

I believe I deserve an AP or AP+ because I started late and I could have been more rehearsed and natural while presenting. However, I did do tons of research and had a lot of information about my topic. I completely understand all aspects of my topic, but I do believe I could have shown it better in my presentation. The students demonstrated that they learned from my presentation by applying everything I taught them in the activities I gave them and when I discussed how the activities related to my EQ answers, they showed they understood by answering the questions I gave them.


(2) What are you most proud of in your 2 hour and why?
I had a lot of complications regarding my sponge activity and ended up having to improvise when it didn't work out. I am most proud of pulling through all of my complications and continuing with the senior project. Aside from my lack of preparation, I didn't have any major faults. 

Part 2:

(1) What did you think you did well on in the project? What could you have done better? Please explain.

My activities that illustrated my EQ answers all went smoothly and the students were able to understand fully what was being taught in them. I could have rehearsed more so that I wouldn't fight for words to say during my presentation and not say um all of the time. 

(2) What is your EQ and what is the best answer to your EQ?

EQ: What is most important to becoming a successful Traffic Engineer?

Best Answer: Obtaining a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering

(3) How has the last month of culminating events (e.g I-Search, Two-Hour, Exit etc) affected your answer to your EQ? Has it changed? Why or why not. 

Until I completed my I-search my best answer was gain an internship with a traffic engineering company. The only reason it changed was the preparing for the I-search helped me to fully think about my EQ in greater detail. Then I noticed the obvious truth that gaining an internship wasn't trully most important to becoming a successful Traffic Engineer. 

(4) What suggestions do you have in order to improve the senior project?

I think for the research binder. There should be more checks in between for a certain number of articles margin noted and researched. Don't just wait months and expect there to be at least 50 articles, but I think there should be a check for every 10-20 articles over the months. Therefore it would be less over whelming to produce 50.

(5) Overall Senior Project Assessment 

AP - AP+ This senior project has done amazing things for me personally. I have an awesome product to show people. However, I know in my heart I could have done better and taken things a little more seriously.
 

 

50 Hr Service Learning Check

Upland City Hall Log
11/18/11- 4 hrs
1/19/11- 4 hrs
1/24/11- 4hrs
1/26/11- 4 hrs
2/18/11- 2hrs
2/21/11 2 hrs
4/27/11 3 hrs
5/3/11- 4 hrs
5/4/11- 4 hrs
5/9/11- 5 hrs
5/10/11- 5 hrs
5/11/11- 2 hrs
5/12/11- 2 hrs

ATSAC log
 10/14/10- 4hrs
10/15/10- 4 hrs
10/21/10- 4 hrs
10/22/10- 4 hrs
1/26/11- 6 hrs
1/27/11- 6 hrs
2/1/11- 7 hrs
2/2/11- 7hrs
2/3/11- 7 hrs
2/4/11- 7 hrs
4/14/11- 6 hrs
4/20/11- 7 hrs

Contact- For Upland City Hall, please call Saul Martinez- 909 291 2941. For my interning with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation please call this number and ask for Gabriel <----(male) 1 213 978 0011

Interpretive: I learned quite a bit for my service learning. I had the opportunity to service learn at two different places. In Upland City Hall I was able to learn computer drafting through the use of AutoCAD. Which I was also able to use for my creative expression. I was also able to learn how to read an engineering plan and other software associated with Civil Engineering.While at Upland, Saul Martinez was able to help me understand what I needed to accomplish in order to become a successful engineer. He showed me the importance of education and how internships are beneficial. He also helped me understand the different levels of engineering. The final step an engineer must accomplish is that they have to become registered with the state of California. Saul helped me understand the vigorous tests and loop holes that have to be passed in order to be registered. A portion of my service learning also came from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Here I was able to see in more detail how the traffic engineering software works and how engineers deal when a light stops working. I was able to observe the engineers in their day to day activities.

Applied
My service learning helped me answer my EQ because one of my best answers was to gain an internship with a traffic engineering company. The service learning not only help me form my best answer but also come up with all the reasons why an internship is beneficial. I have learned that an internship helps you net work with people so when you are looking for a job you have a plethora of people to choose from who can help you. Interning also helps you to understand the field you may choose to get into. It helps you wet your feet so to speak in the engineering field. Also, it helps you understand everything you have to do in order to accomplish all of your career goals.

2 Hour Presentation Draft

Sponge Activity: For my sponge activity I plan to ask if any one knows what a civil engineer is. I also plan to ask if any one know what a transportation and traffic engineer are. From there I plan to give to describe what all the fields of engineering are.

Introduction: What is most important to becoming a successful traffic engineer?
What is most important: What is the best thing to do if you are trying to get into the field of traffic engineering
successful: My definition of a successful traffic engineer is one that is certified and is working for a traffic engineering company
Traffic engineer: An engineer that specializes in the design and operations of any traffic system
The reason why I chose this senior project is because I want to pursue a career in Civil Engineering and I wanted to get a better understanding of what the career field was about. My plan for the day is to broaden people's knowledge of Traffic Engineering and teach all the steps needed to become successful.


Foundation: Now that you know what traffic engineering is, let me start to tell you what are the requirements for them to get a job and also their salary. From there I will go to telling you what is needed for them to be successful and my best answer to my essential question.


Answer 1: Getting a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
I plan to have the kids do this work sheet and discuss with me what they observed and relate how engineers have to know math and science to successfully do a project like this.
http://www.teachengineering.org/collection/csm_/activities/csm_fastracks/csm_improving_west_corridor_sg.pdf

Answer 2: Case studies
Give the students a scenario of an engineering project gone wrong. Discuss what happened, then say how the knowledge can help an engineer with a future project.

Answer 3: Get an internship
...... need help finding an activity for this one....

Conclusion
My best answer is getting an internship because on an internship is where engineers get most of their experience and they are able to net work with people who in the future will help them get jobs. My three most important sources were Irene Sarrano, Saul Martinez, and the book, Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers because its where I did most of my service learning and it helped me know all branches of Civil Engineering and not just one. The internships were in two different cities and because the cities were different, how they do traffic engineering was also different. I was able to to get exposed to all types of Traffic Engineering and not just one. My product for this whole project is that I know exactly what I need to do to follow my dreams to become a Civil Engineer. I feel that the only thing I really need to do is graduate from college and then I'll have my dream job. Thanks to this project I have accomplished every part of my answers to my essential question, but go to college. I feel that is the only thing holding me back from working for an engineering company.

Independent Study 2

1. Log

Hours from Upland City Yard

11/8/11- 1:45pm-5:30pm

1/19/11- 1:30pm-5:30pm

1/24/11- 1:30pm-5:30pm

1/26/11- 1:30pm-5:30pm

2/18/11- 2:30pm-4:30pm

2//21/11-2:30pm-4:30pm

4/27/11- 2:30pm-5:30pm

Hours from Los Angeles Department of Transportation

4/14/11- 10:30am-4:30pm

4/20/11- 10:00am-5:00pm

2. Evidence.

Pictures of my log.                            

                                                               Log from LADOT

                                                      

                                                             Log from Upland City Yard

Total Hours: 35.75 hours

3. LIA

Literal: I April King, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. Majority of my 30 hours was spent in Upland City Yard. Here I was able to learn the difference between traffic engineering in a big city and engineering in a small city. I noticed that my internship in Upland was totally different from my internship with LA. As stated before, my internship in LA was with a department called ATSAC where they monitor traffic in a dark room, four feet underground, from many TVs. People file traffic complaints with the city. In LA, the engineers never handle the complaints because for the most part, the complaints will go straight to the district and they handle complaints. However, with Upland the complaints go straight to the engineers and they themselves have to respond to the countless emails. While completing my independent task, the engineers became very trustworthy of me and let me answer the complaint emails. Here is an example of one I did:

Hello Michael May,

This is a response to the following complaint made about the SB #1 lane being backed up several hundred feet. Thank you for taking the time to notify the district about your personal inquiry. It has been reviewed for the past three weeks during the peak p.m hours in attempt to review the problem and see if it can be fixed. During the obeservation period, we noticed that there was not a consistant spill back problem that was caused by the S/B LT; it only occured with in two cycles. This is not a significant problem that would justify any timing modification. 

Along with answering complaint emails, I was able to follow an engineer as he went out into the field to different construction sites that were happening on the street. I was able to see how important it is for a contractor to coordinate with an engineer and how engineers set up detour routes for the cars to go around the construction site. This was exciting to me because in LA, I wasn't allowed to accompany the engineers as they went out into the field because of huge liabilities. This is another perk for interning with a small city. I was also able to help scan and fold project plans and file them away. Last, the final thing that I did as my independent task was learn some basic techniques of AutoCAD. I'm just starting to learn how to use this program, but as time goes on I hope to have a full knowledge of the program, enabling me to have a head start on the things I'll be doing in college.

Interpretive: My signed log is a nice proof that my project was truly worth 30 hours. With this second independent task, I am fully able to go deeper in my knowledge of the field of engineering. Each day I made it a point to learn something new. Each new thing takes a lot of time to grasp. I also feel that my independent task will keep going, especially as I learn more about AutoCAD. I also bombarded the engineers with multiple questions and they enjoyed being with me as I sought to complete this independent task. It was a lot of hard work, but I'm confident that it will truly benefit me in the long run. With all the things I've learned it's impossible for the time to be less than 30 hours of work.

Applied: EQ: What is most important to becoming a successful traffic engineer? To be a successful traffic engineer, it is important that you understand big and small city engineering. With this independent task, I was able to explore and see the differences between the Upland style of engineering and LA style of engineering. Also part of being a traffic engineer is you have to constantly listen to driver complaints and learn how to listen to them and investigate to see if the perceived problem can be fixed. For example, while with Upland, there was a complaint about a light on Campus, where the shopping center is. I was able to ride with the engineer and got to investigate the perceived problem. With him we saw that the timing of the light was off causing traffic to spill far back into the parking lot. We then filled out a work order for it to be fixed the following day. I was able to apply this scenario to answer my EQ and say that part of becoming a successful traffic engineer is being able to listen to driver complaints. Last, the greatest benefit of this independent task was being able to gain some knowledge of AutoCAD. Knowledge of this software is essential to becoming an engineer because you will always have to use it. This is something that I will be able to learn more of in college, but it was nice to get some experience.

Art Rationale

Why do it this way?

I plan to design a city blueprint using the engineering software AutoCAD. I have gotten permission from Upland city hall to use their software and have someone show me how to use the software. Also I will be able to receive help from the professors at Cal Poly in the engineering department to help me with my project and show me how to use AutoCAD. By me doing this project in Upland, it would be pretty much free for me to accomplish. The only thing that would cost me would be to display it.

Creative Expression Ideas

Using AutoCAD I plan to design a city blueprint

This relates to my Senior Project because no matter what sort of engineer you might be, it is important to learn computer drafting.

Interview 4 Questions

1. In order to be a successful engineer, what is 1 key thing that I must accomplish?
2. When hiring a new engineer, what is the most important thing you look for on one's resume?
3. Why is it important for an engineer to keep up to date with the latest technology?
4. Out of all of the people you've hired, how many of them have had interning experience?
5. What is the most important quality an engineer must have?
6. As an upcoming civil engineer, what software do you think is adequate for me to become familiar with?
7. What do engineers do when they go directly out into the field?
8. Are there very many lay-offs that take place in the field of civil engineering?
9. How do private companies and city engineering companies differ?
10. Do private and city companies ever work together on certain projects?
11. What is the most difficult task you've ever had to accomplish in your field?
12. Would you consider your job to be very demanding? Why or why not?
13. How do you approach a new project?
14. What made you decide to become an engineer?
15. What is included in a traffic design plan?
16. What science projects have you done in school that related to engineering?
17. If you had to do an art project on engineering, what would it be?
18. If you had to teach a class about civil engineering, what are the most important things you would talk about?
19. What are the most important thing to consider in cost analysis?
20. For a project how do you consider materials that work well, but also are able to keep the project costs as low as possible?