Reflection on the field trip
Last Thursday I went to the Shanghai Pudong Special School. We went there with a taxi since the distance was very near, it only took us 15 minutes to get there. The building is very beautiful, it has a lot of trees and a large garden. When we went to the inside of the school, the first thing that we saw was the metro station look-alike. These are used to train the children to use the metro so that when they actually go there they won’t panic. After that, she took us around the school to see the other rooms. She told us that from 1-3rd grade they will learn about basic knowledge about taking care of themselves, from 4-6th grade they will learn about living with the community, and in the end, they can go to professional school. The field trip was very informative, we get to see one of the teachers taught her students how to sharpen their kinetic abilities. It was really heartwarming to see how everyone really cared about the children and they are really passionate about what they’re doing. Another thing that I was really impressed with is how they structure the learning and the classes. They have a shop that the children can buy things from coins that they got if they do something good. It would motivate the students to be more involved in their learning. It really inspires me to know more about the students and how we can help them by learning how they learn.
Describe your partner as a person
Our partner’s name is Siyi, she is very kind and she loves to help people. Initially, I was very nervous because I am not fluent in Chinese. Thankfully, my teammates were kind enough to translate what she’s saying to me. I feel like she is very eager to learn new things and share her experiences. I’m looking forward to meeting her again!
What were their challenges
At first, she told us that she has trouble getting in and out of the bus because most of the bus does not have a ladder that would allow wheelchair to pass. So we were thinking about making her a wheelchair ladder. However, it found out that is was too dangerous if she decided to use it on her own because the distance between the bus and the ground is pretty steep. Secondly, she told us that she has problems using umbrellas. Her hand is too weak to hold the umbrella, and she can only use her right hand. Therefore, we are very interested to know more about her opinions and experience of using the umbrella.
What is your project
After a lot of brainstorming, we decided to make a helpful tool for her to be able to use for the umbrella. So it would be like two sticks that are attached to each other but are able to be rotated 90 degrees. We will attach the automatic umbrella in one of the stick, and then let our partner rotate the stick whenever she wants to use the umbrella. There are a couple of great things from this design. First, it would be safe for her to use it because the umbrella would be taller than her head so that it won’t hurt her when she opens it. Second, it would be portable and easy to carry around since it can be pulled back and stored when it is not used. We are still thinking about our final design, yet we have made our prototype. The video is attached below.