Communication and Teaming:
Our group consisted of 8 students. It was challenging to be able to communicate as team members were quite busy. The biggest issue was losing focus which can be attributed to testing and school. However, we did meet up every week as a nanotechnology club and had a quick check on progress. We often changed due dates which caused a bit of stress on the team members, but we conquered the deadlines without sacrificing the quality of our project by helping others. Our group mainly communicated through our weekly meetings but also through a group chat where team members would often ask for clarification on guidelines. As we could not find a technical advisor, our teachers did assist us in choosing a reasonable idea for our project.
Research and Innovation:
We learned to read scientific articles and research journals more in depth. Some of us have not been actively exposed to academic research so it was a very new field for us. Through the countless research papers we have read, we learned that nanotechnology research is a very active field and that some very important topics in our society can be solved through nanotechnology research. After reading many papers that ended with failed results, we realized that scientific research requires a lot of patience, dedication, and to an extent luck.
Three Lessons We Learned:
Our group consisted of 8 students. It was challenging to be able to communicate as team members were quite busy. The biggest issue was losing focus which can be attributed to testing and school. However, we did meet up every week as a nanotechnology club and had a quick check on progress. We often changed due dates which caused a bit of stress on the team members, but we conquered the deadlines without sacrificing the quality of our project by helping others. Our group mainly communicated through our weekly meetings but also through a group chat where team members would often ask for clarification on guidelines. As we could not find a technical advisor, our teachers did assist us in choosing a reasonable idea for our project.
Research and Innovation:
We learned to read scientific articles and research journals more in depth. Some of us have not been actively exposed to academic research so it was a very new field for us. Through the countless research papers we have read, we learned that nanotechnology research is a very active field and that some very important topics in our society can be solved through nanotechnology research. After reading many papers that ended with failed results, we realized that scientific research requires a lot of patience, dedication, and to an extent luck.
Three Lessons We Learned:
- Teamwork is essential. Most of us have worked on our own and have been comfortable doing so. However we realized that the more brilliant minds put together, the more brilliant ideas we can come up with. Having a team is very supportive and reassuring as some of our members had trouble with their work. By having responsibilities delegated, we were able to be more productive.
- Having active communication is crucial. Our team members tended to lose focus in school work. By having a group chat and weekly meetings, we were able to fix that and strive to improve our project.
- Start a project early. Had we not delayed our start date, we might have found a technical advisor. It was challenging to find an advisor to support our project. Most of the time, we had been waiting for a response for a technical advisor. It would have been better to send about four emails a week until we found a technical advisor. Also, it was a bit challenging to meet due dates.