Problem Solving

My very first Interdisciplinary Project (IDP) that I ever did at HPIAM was on

Staphylococcal Infection/ Disease. This assignment was completed at school, at my group

members’ house, and at my house. The assignment was completed by December 2015. For this

assignment I had to present information about what staph infection was, the causes, symptoms,

treatment, and prevention. My part in the presentation was to discuss the body affects, the

policies in place, what was wrong with the policies, and I had to explain a graph. I also had to

create a creative element showing how someone can catch staph infection and what they should

do if they catch it. My group and I decided to create a video. This IDP falls into the problem

solving category because we had to spread awareness in our community on how to prevent staph

infection. We also had to address how we can fix the problem with the policies in place

regarding staph infection.

The most recent IDP project that I have done was titled “Lead in our Water?”. This IDP

was completed outside of school and was finished by April 2018.For this IDP we were asked to

grow to cilantro plant using two types of water, spring and tap water. We had to see how the

water affected the plant, we also had to test the tap water for lead. We had to educate ourselves

on how lead can be in our water and what we can do to solve this problem. We had to create a

call to action to get out the information about lead being in our water. My group and I decided to

go out and teach elementary students about lead being in our water. After that we had to present

our findings to a panel of professionals and teachers.This IDP fits the problem solving category

because we had to figure out how we can help prevent lead being in our water. We also had

figure out how to get this information out into our community. We gave out the information of

where they can contact professionals about checking their pipes for lead.
 In both IDPs I was a willing collaborator, effective communicator, critical thinker, and

active citizen.I was a willing collaborator when working with my 2-3 group members to put the

power points together because we each had certain slides to get done. I was an effective

communicator when discussing with my group member about who was doing what as well as

when figuring out what creative elements we were going to do. I was a critical thinker when

thinking of how to present to third graders about lead in our water in a way that they would

understand. Lastly, I was an active citizen by going out in my community and spreading

awareness about lead in our water and how we can fix the issue.

During my first IDP presentation I was very nervous and I had to look down at my note

cards a couple of times. In my most recent IDP I did not have to use my note cards to explain my

information. My overall presentation skills improved in my first IDP, it was pretty obvious that I

was nervous about presenting in front of a panel. In this recent IDP even though I was slightly

nervous I was able to hide how I actually felt and my body language did not show I was shy. The

quality of my first IDP powerpoint was decent and basic, I did not know what was too much

information on a slide. Now my powerpoints are more appealing and I can distinguish what is

too much information on a slide and what is not enough information on a slide.I can still work on

not having notecards at all when presenting because even though I can present without using

them, I still take them up to present just in case I forget something. I can also work on making

more eye contact with my audience instead of making eye contact with just one person.I can use

the team working skills that I got from IDPs when I have to work with other people in college or

in my career to get certain task done. This skill will help be able to charge and be a good leader

on the task. IDPs gave me better communication skills so I will be able effectively communicate
with other my thought and ideas on task being done. I can also use my presenting skills in

college or if I have to create a presentation for my job.