Group Reflections
Arnold
Every year, we, under a school research programme, are required to do a major research project on a topic of our choice. This year, with my two pals, I decided to take on something which I saw as more challenging and exciting as a project. And that project was, the Thnikquest Competition.
Completing this project was one of the most memorable experiences throughout my years of doing research projects. The pressing deadlines, the hard and tedious work, and the fun moments, like staying overnight to finish the project. It was truly and enriching and fun experience to be able to take part in the competition. And what makes it all the more memorable and fun was the fact that I had the oppurtunity to do a project in a manner that I had never tried before. It was both and enjoyable and fun experience and I would definitely want to do this again.
Geoffrey
On the whole, I am rather happy with how our project turned out. Our objective from the very beginning was to create an educational and informative site, such that viewers who have never before come into contact with the Flowerhorn fish or our homeland can know the how-s, what-s, and why-s about this topic. I think we have achieved this objective in our final product. We have also learnt many thing through the creation of this website, with regards to the topic, although we ourselves have gone through the whole Flowerhorn craze in 2003, it was mainly targeted at the older generation, and this project has definitely broadened our knowledge of the topic, and outside the boundaries of the topic, we have also learnt many useful lifeskills, one such example being inter-personal communication skills. This was very important in the gathering of public opinions, whether through the surveys or interviews. Time-management skills were also very important aspects of the creation of our project. I feel that our group has definitely learnt alot on this aspect. Although our final product is considered pretty much a success, the process of creating it was a tedious one, as well as, to a certain extent, a rushed one. Though we have managed to submit a final version of the product well within the deadline, a lot of work was done and time spent during the last month, causing our schedules to tighten and our schoolwork suffer to a small extent to meet the deadline. This resulted in a fair bit of mental frustration, even a little bit of abrasion between the group members. I feel that if we have started work much earlier, a large part of this could have been avoided. The creation of this project has taught us many things, as well as strenghtened the bonds between us group members. The Thinkquest experience has been a tedious albiet enriching and enjoyable one, and given the chance I would not mind participating in Thinkquest a second year.
Nicholas
I feel that this competition has taught me many skills that can be applied both daily and when I am designing. During the course of the competition, we have underestimated the time limit that we were given, resulting in many rush work. Not only that, there was miscommunication among us as we were unable give clear instruction. We only learnt those painful lessons towards the end of our project.
As for the designing aspect, we have learnt that our content box has to be substantially large to fit the amount of content that we will be inputting. We have decided that simple and effective is the best way to go in designing the template, thus you see this.
In conclusion, this competition has enriched and benefitted me a lot, and I hope that I will be able to take part in it again.
Teacher in Charge, Mr Leong
Mentoring the boys and progressing with them as they finish their web page is an enriching experience for all of us. The boys are full on initiative and enthusiasm in finding out more about this special fish. They are the ones who suggested this topic and have gone great lengths to interview people, conduct survey and research. I am glad to be able to offer them advice and to see through the completion of this project.
