Carlos Garcia

Block: Senior Defense

5/19/19

Problem Solving Essay

In Fall of 2015, my first Inter-Disciplinary project was on the topic of lung cancer.
We were assigned into groups of 4-5 in our English classes and asked to do
research on our topic. We had to present it to a panel in school for a grade. The
panel had professionals, adminstrators, and HPIAM staff. They had to grade our
presentation and evaluate if it met the requirements or not. What had to be included
in our presentation was the causes of Lung Cancer and why it’s a problem in our
community. In addition we had to find resources, and see if there are treatments or
even a cure. This IDP fits the problem solving category because people know
about the cancer causing products but don’t change it for their well being. As a
group we informed our community and the panel. In our presentation we included
a slide of the causes of Lung Cancer, specifically that smoking is the leading cause
of Lung Cancer with second hand smoke as well. If we inform our community on
this we could see a big change in people who probably smoke and want to avoid
the disease in the future.

In Spring 2018, my second interdisciplinary project was assigned on the topic of

lead contamination. In this assignment we were assigned to groups of 4-5
members, similar to our first IDP. This assignment was about lead contamination
in Huntington Park. This topic was a big issue because the media and news chains
found out that a battery company in the city vernon called EXIDE was caught
leaking high levels of lead into the soil. Vernon is right next to Huntington Park
and we were being affected by this. This assignment fits the problem solving
category because we are trying to see if plants are affected at all by lead
contamination in soil and water from our community. The project showed us that
they were because they grew less with our community soil and water than on
 organic soil and purified water. We explained this in our IDP presentation where
we planted two plants one with organic soil and the other with soil from our
community and the one we planted with natural soil grew more than the one with
contaminated soil. This proves the problem solving category because we were
trying to solve the issue and prevent more lead contamination.

A student learning outcome, or SLO that I met in the criteria when presenting both
of my IDP’s is that I was a active citizen, willing collaborator, and a critical
thinker. My group and I were active citizens and involved in our communities
when we went to different clinics during our first IDP assignment. This was to ask
about information about our topic of Lung Cancer and whether they offered
community resources like test you can take or tips on how you can prevent the
disease. In both IDP’s my group and I were willing collaborators because we were
trying to help solve a problem that has been affecting our community and trying to
help people prevent the disease by informing them on the causes and the higher
risks of getting it if they are doing certain things like smoking. During both IDP’s
we were also critical thinkers because we had to find a way to get the information
we had collected out there. In both IDP’s we had to present to our panels but that
wouldn’t be enough to get the information out to the public what we did was we
handed out flyers to people out in the street to inform them more about the disease
and how they could prevent it.

Throughout presenting all of the IDP’s and learning from them all three areas that I
have seen growth is in being able to work in team work. I haven’t always been
good in working together in groups because most of the time I always turn my part
in late. I procrastinate and don’t finish it in time but after having deadlines and a
serious group assignment I am now able to do my part of the assignment on time
and turn it in. Another area that I saw growth in during my IDP’s is the ability to
present in front of people. I have never been good in class presentations but when I
was supposed to present for the IDP’s, it forced me to practice my part and learn it
well. Learning to present in front of people isn’t easy because you can’t be
laughing and have to be serious. The last areas that I saw growth in was on the
ability to not fidget and wait patiently to present. I stopped fidgeting after my
second IDP and can now wait patiently to present. Some areas that I still need to
improve on are memorization. Memorization is a big part of presentations because
it makes you look good and not lost when you’re presenting.
All these abilities that I have learned during my IDP’s can help me in the future for
when I need to do a class presentation by myself or when im applying for a job n
the near future.