Introduction:
Community service is a form of service learning , which is basically using curriculum to help foster a sense of care and concern to the community and the world . In this module we'll learn to develop our personal and social responsibility in addition to basic knowledge and skills in community service stratiges , tactics and techniques including the art of volunteerism .
Community service initiative:
Fun learning aids
Activity journal:
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In the first class we were introduced to our project , which is that we have to enhance the interior of reading space at ULu Melaka Orang Asli Village and asked to form 6 groups depending on the task we want to take , which is as below :
- Group 1 : Sponsorship team
- Group 2 : Neighborhood & Surrounding
- Group 3 : Walls & Floor transformation
- Group 4 : Shelves & Books arrangements
- Group 5 : Fun-learning team
- Group 6 : Pre & Post team
I choose to be in group 5 , for Fun-learning group we are supposed to
make fun learning aids that will help the kids learn English in a fun and
interactive way in different categories including : English , math, science
and art.
After the class each group made a WhatsApp group to be able to
communicate and share ideas .
Fun-learning team group picture
(4 hours):
In group 5 ( fun-learning ) we split ourselves to smaller subgroups for each category , I decided to be in English category . We have to come up with twodifferent learning aid to help the kids to learn English in a fun way . The task for this week is to look for ideas for the learning aids and do sketches for our proposed board , it has to be fun and colorful to make it interesting for the kids and most importantly not confusing and easy to use .
First idea is to make an exercise that help to teach the kids about consonant sounds , but we thought it might be boring for them and it might be difficult for them to learn from it .After that we decided to make it simpler by going for the bases of learning English which is alphabets .
First idea is to make an exercise that help to teach the kids about consonant sounds , but we thought it might be boring for them and it might be difficult for them to learn from it .After that we decided to make it simpler by going for the bases of learning English which is alphabets .
First idea is to make an exercise that help to teach the kids about consonant sounds , but we thought it might be boring for them and it might be difficult for them to learn from it .After that we decided to make it simpler by going for the bases of learning English which is alphabets .
(2 hours):
This week me and my group made thili , we decided to meet to brainstorm and come up with ideas
Puzzels are known to improve growing childrens cognitive responses, physical skills, emotional skills and improve memory and allows better problem solving.
The idea :
Big block letters will be created on an A1 MDF board and each letter is cut to look like puzzle pieces and made to fit. we plan to laser cut these pieces as it will be easier to put them in place and will fit easily , each puzzle piece will have a picture and the word starting with that particular letter as seen in the picture to your left.
( 2hours )
This week we had to finalize the 2 boards design and the materials we'll use and the cost to put the in the presentation slides for next week presentation.
In our English group , each 2 of us will work together to design 1 board . The one me and my groupmate made is a board with big alphabet letters and puzzle pieces with words and pictures in different categories ( body parts , vegetables, animal , etc. Those puzzle pieces can be attached and detached from the letters .
sketches of the board design idea
Preparation of the presentation slides
Reflection: (1 hour )
When our lecturer explained the project for us on the first and that we will be renovating and enhancing a library for the kids I git so excited, because I love kids and I would really enjoy working and creating a nice space for them equipped with all the interactive learning aids that they need at this age to develop their knowledge and grow as its an essential part of growing up to develop knowledge and have fun at the same time .
At first we had had several ideas but they weren't practical and require a lot of work to build .So after discussions with my groupmate Thili we decided to go with the puzzle idea , we thought it will be more interesting for the kids because we remembered how we used to enjoy playing with puzzles as kids and how excited we get when we see the picture coming together after putting all the puzzles pieces together.
In English learning aid group , me and the other 4 members , were given an interactive activity to help the kids learn English , so we decided to split into 2 subgroups and create 2 different learning aids , Alifa , Maeesha in one group , me and Thili in one group ( puzzle idea ) . At first we thought that our idea is migyht be too simple for them but its actully its a fun way to learn the alphapets and word that starts with that specific alphbet , that in addition to puzzles ability to help train the brain to solve problem and develop other skills .Even though the idea might look simple to build but it actually requires a lot of time and we need to keep a lot of things under cinsideration while designing and building it , like how the materials would be hazardous for the kids , the puzzle pices should not have sharp edges , the durability of the mounted activity , the design aesthetics of the activity and hhow to make it look fun and intersting for the kids ,etc
I am so exited for this project and so far it's one of the most fun project i have been part of and I can't wait to see the final outcome of it and the look on the kids faces after they see the new renovated library .
Presentation day:
In this week presentation we had to propose our design ideas, the materials and the cost to our lectures in order to get their confirmation on our ideas and see if it will fit with our budget for this project
Group picture with our lectures after the presentation
(1.5 hours)
After the presentation we made some changes according to tips given by our lectures in last week presentation . This week we had a scheduled meeting with our lecturer to show the updated work and to get an approval on the materials we are planning to use .
After the presentation we made some changes according to tips given by our lectures in last week presentation . This week we had a scheduled meeting with our lecturer to show the updated work and to get an approval on the materials we are planning to use . We are planning use is mdf board for the base and laser cut the out line on the board. On a separate mdf board we decided to laser cut the puzzel pieces to make alphabets.
Group meeting with our lecturer
( 2 hours):
This week I met with my group mate thili to start with the board design , we are going to use 1 A0 size board .We spent time to try to figure out how to fit all the alphabet letters without making the letters so small , because for the kids it will be easier if the puzzle pieces are big enough so that they can see the picture clearly.
(5 hours) :
In this week I met up with my group mate Thili at old town coffee in uni to prepare the auto-cad file for laser cutting. This took quiet sometime as we had to trace all the letters and size it for it to fit neatly on an A0 size board. This was quiet simple but very time consuming. So we took turns to work on it. We finished the tracing and called it a day as we were so tired from working on the other projects. this took us 2 hours.
We then met the following weekend to finish up the cad work. We faced a few problems as we were trying to fit the 26 letters into the A0 and not make the letters small. If the letters are too small the puzzle pieces might be hazardous to the children. We managed to align it properly and started placing all the lines and semi circles to create the puzzle pieces. This took us about 3 hours
( 3 hours ) :
After finishing up with the auto cad drawing of the board and got it ready for leader cutting next week as we booked to use the laser cutting machine in uni , me and my Thili went to buy the materials that we need ( mdf board to leser cut the alphabet on , Velcro to stick in the puzzle pieces , spray paint ,and Grey board that we'll use as the backing for our board ).
( 5 hours ) :
On the 24th of mAY we had booked to use the laser cutting machine , At 10 am I met with my groupmates ( Thili, Meesha, Hazel and Alifa ) at the laser cutting studio and were shown how to use it . When we started we faced a problem with our letters not showing on the the system when we were preparing to send the file for laser cutting , so we had to spend couple of hours trying to fix the problem, after we continued to laser cut . It was really fun and satisfying process to watch the laser cut through the mdf board to get the shape on the puzzle we designed .
Even though we spend more time than how it usually takes for laser cutting , because we didn't have experience with the machine but it was a really fun day and we learnt a lot about the machine and how to work with it and to adjust the settings to get the desired result .
On the 24th of mAY we had booked to use the laser cutting machine , At 10 am I met with my groupmates ( Thili, Meesha, Hazel and Alifa ) at the laser cutting studio and were shown how to use it . When we started we faced a problem with our letters not showing on the the system when we were preparing to send the file for laser cutting , so we had to spend couple of hours trying to fix the problem, after we continued to laser cut . It was really fun and satisfying process to watch the laser cut through the mdf board to get the shape on the puzzle we designed .
Even though we spend more time than how it usually takes for laser cutting , because we didn't have experience with the machine but it was a really fun day and we learnt a lot about the machine and how to work with it and to adjust the settings to get the desired result .
![]kp;.jpeg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c12465_02e032374b1b40ebbe6e871b3bad6895~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_357,h_268,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5Dkp%3B.jpeg)
(5.5 hours :
After getting the laser cut done and all the puzzle pieces ready , the next task is to find images that relates with the alphabet and Photoshop it into the puzzle pieces . This part was the most time consuming part of the process , because we wanted high quality images and most of the pictures had water marks , so we had to work with each image to remove the water mark and increase its resolution. It took us 10 hourse to this in Photoshop finding images for each letter .
After we put all the images in the puzzle pieces we had to design the board and add colors to it , we decided not to put a background for the board because it will be confusing and too much with all the images we have in the puzzles. The initial idea was to go with primary colors for each puzzle , but then we realized that it's too distracting and not pleasing to the eye and also it might be confusing for the kids and difficult . Then we decided to use one color for each letter , so that it will be a bit easier for them to figure out what puzzle piece belongs to which letter according to the color .
( 10 hours ) :
After printing the images , we had to cut each puzzle piece and stick them onto the laser cut mdf puzzle piece . It was a bit hard and challenging to cut the circular part of the puzzle piece, it took so much time but we managed to do it nicely. Me and Thili we devided the puzzle pieces among us equally , the cutting of the pieces alone took us more than 5 hours after that we had to stick each image with Puzzle piece it belongs to .
After printing the images , we had to cut each puzzle piece and stick them onto the laser cut mdf puzzle piece . It was a bit hard and challenging to cut the circular part of the puzzle piece, it took so much time but we managed to do it nicely. Me and Thili we devided the puzzle pieces among us equally , the cutting of the pieces alone took us more than 5 hours after that we had to stick each image with Puzzle piece it belongs to .
(4.5 hours ) :
After getting all the puzzle pieces ready , we went to print the background that we will stick on the base of the board , our background is so simple with a soft colors and just the outline of the letters that will help the kids to identity which puzzle piece goes where aside from the images and the word shown .
After sticking the sticker printed background to the base we started putting velcro on each puzzle piece and assembling the board and make sure all the pieces fits well and they're staple and easy to attach and remove .
After getting all the puzzle pieces ready , we went to print the background that we will stick on the base of the board , our background is so simple with a soft colors and just the outline of the letters that will help the kids to identity which puzzle piece goes where aside from the images and the word shown .
After sticking the sticker printed background to the base we started putting velcro on each puzzle piece and assembling the board and make sure all the pieces fits well and they're staple and easy to attach and remove .
The final outcome after it been placed in the library:
I'm really happy with the result and that I got the chance to give back for the community by creating a learning aid for the kids , I hope that they will benefit from it and will help them improve their skills .
It might look simple to so but actually this project was really tome consuming and we had to put a lot of effort to get it done but to be honest it was all worth it and I really had so much fun and enjoyed the process and learnt a lot from this module , it helped to rise my awareness about volunteering and how important it is to guive back to the community and it actually feels really nice knowing you're doing something good for the community no matter how simple and small it is .