Old Slice

For this action project we were tasked with the challenge of creating a tool for the elderly. My partner and I decided to create a machete that would be safe for the elderly to use and one that was more efficient. When designing a product we use empathy to understand what it would be like to be an old person using a machete and what kind of challenges they might face. Some of the challenges we faced along the way were figuring out how to make a blade that was lightweight and that would be easy to keep in a garage without worrying about anyone getting cut or it falling. We are really proud of the aspect of the machete that involves the collapsible blade. We are also very happy with the fact that the machete has a rubber covering and holes in the blade that still allows it to be very sharp but it will not have too much resistance when cutting.

JB (2015) Old Slice story board

Before we started the creation process we did some research on how machetes function.The most important part of the machete, the blade is a thin wedge witch is a simple machine used to split things apart. The machete has three main parts: the handle, the extension and the blade. The handle we saw at Home Depot was a plain, orange, rubber handle. The Home Depot machete also did not have nay formal covering or way to protect the blade. This could become a hazard because the blade will be exposed witch could lead to injury. To innovate our handle we decided to make it include a jelly formfitting handle so that whenever you grip it the handle will form to your hand shape since we felt the one at Home Depot could easily slip out of an elderly weakened hand. The next important piece of the machete is the handle extension, it is an extra 5 inch piece of wood that allows you to reach into lower or higher places without bending over. To access the extension on the handle, you press the red button on the original short handle with the formfitting grip. The next important piece of the machete is of course the blade. The blade is made of steel and is about a foot and a half long. 

This next aspect really allows an elderly person of any level of strength to use the blade easily. We included large holes in the blade to reduce resistance when cutting, but they still get a strong clean cut. At the very top of the blade right before the tip is a small notch that allows you to cut cord and wire. When putting the machete away, press the red button to retract the extension handle, then fold down the blade by pressing on the back of the blade till it clicks into the handle. When talking to the elderly about what was really hard about using some gardening tools, one of the most common quotes that I found was," Having to bend over is the number one issue." This shows how eliminating bending over could really change their gardening experience.

JB(2015) Diagram of machete includes vector

Finding the Right School

Throughout this action project I use my own personal experience and information I found online about high school education in Chicago, to write on why it is so hard to find one that fits well for students. I want to express how hard it is to find a school that is a healthy learning environment and strives to pick all of its students up and teach them how to become good communicators in their communities. Some of the challenges that I faced while completing this process is finding that had a relative statistics. I ended up learning a lot about how not having a strong high school education can really make it hard later in life.

At 6:45 AM I unlocked my phone and open Facebook, I check my newsfeed to see what's going on in the first thing that pops up is a video of two high school students beating up one other student. After the boy was beaten half to death he was lying on the ground shaking and bloody. Keep in mind that this is all happening in the school cafeteria. I scroll down even further skipping a few images, and there is another video of two girls fighting inside the classroom and they end up hitting their teacher. Why is it so hard to be in a school where students are inspired to learn lift one another up and stop the outside world from tearing them down? It looks as if we have created a monster. School has become about who can fight the best and partaking in risky behaviors and not get caught for it. Many schools have created a toxic environment where Students will not be able to thrive and success is a mere afterthought.

However a lot of people may say teens will be teens but it is not all our fault. No matter where you go I can respect the fact that they're going to be kids participating in risky behaviors and bullying one another and not focusing on learning, but we have an opportunity to change that. The adults in these high school environments really need to step up and help change our school system. Chicago high schools have a graduation rate of 65.4% a little less than half of our high school students are even graduating. Graduation from high school should be a no-brainer for every student.

This way of thinking needs to start as soon as high school students hit the ninth grade, students who pass ninth grade are almost 4 times more likely to graduate then one who doesn't. This is why the adults in high schools need to make sure that they're creating a learning environment that is not too fast and not too slow and is a safe place where students can learn and ask questions. It also needs to be a place where issues are not ignored. Students should not go through their entire high school career feeling like just another number. The result maybe that the student fails and chooses not to finish their high school career.

MLA Citations 

contributors: Walter H. Dyett, Technical Advisory Committees 

last updated:August 14, 2013

 contributors: Kate N. Grossman 

Last updated: July 16 2015