Blog entry 1

 This entry will be about what I have learnt in Week 1-3 lessons. 

The first lesson did not cover much, but that was when my team was formed. After we had gotten into our groups, Dr. Noel went through the Tuckerman's team formation model. For a team to grow, Tuckman theorizes that there are 5 necessary phases in team formation. which are:

I definitely agree with the Tuckerman Team Formation Model because even without knowing this model, these 5 stages shown above is what every team will go through in order to work well together from start until end. I also think that with this model, I am able to strive to develop better relations with my groupmates as I can compare my own groups to the stages and help in my team's growth. 

The lesson overview for Week 2 was :

1. Documentation
2. Chemical Product Categories
3. Safety Quiz

For Documentation, Dr. Noel went through with us on how we are able to document our progress and what we have learnt during his lessons, which is through this very blog.

Next,  Dr. Noel taught us about Chemical Products and their respective Categories. Chemical products are any products that are designed or manufactured using Chemical Engineering Principles. The process which chemical products are designed and developed is known as Chemical Product Design.

The categories for chemical products are summarized as the following:

1. Commodities,
   -Made in large quantities.
   -Traditional focus of chemical engineering.
   -Made through reaction engineering and unit operation.
2. Molecular products,
   -Possess specific chemical structure.
   -Discovered through research.
3. Micro-structured products,
   -Products with specific functions.
4. Chemical Devices
   -Miniature processes which accomplish a particular chemical transformation.
   -Provides convenience.

Right after this, we had to spend about 30-60 minutes on the DCHE Digital Fabrication Safety Quiz. In all honesty, I did not watch most of the videos and took quite a lot of attempts to complete the quiz as I had thought that it would be a normal and simple safety quiz that is very straightforward. However, even after watching the videos, as well as collaborating with at least half or even more in my class, we still have a hard time achieving the full 100% in the quiz. Only after the most deliberate and thorough Guess and Check, which took unbelievably long despite having 8-10 people using the same method, Hong Yi, from my team managed to spot the one mistake that we constantly made and all of us were finally relieved from this 'agony'. Afterwards, Dr. Noel tasked the class to try to spot any complains that we have throughout the week before Week 3's lesson to end off Week 2's lesson.

In week 3, Dr. Noel then went through the Needs Identification, Pain points and Literature Review which will be part of our CA1 report. Only after going through the Needs Identification and the Pain Points then I understand why Dr. Noel told us to be conscious of what we were complaining about. 

The whole chemical product design process is driven and governed by the needs of customers after using a product or even after using a product. It can be helpful for specific industries as well. This is similar to Pain Points in the sense that we have to identify problems that people face that could bother them, but Pain points are specific problems that users face while using a product or service. Based on these problems faced by users, the product can then be improved to tailor to the users needs.

After this, everyone in the class was tasked to decide on an area that each group would like to work on a chemical device that addresses a specific issue or problem. With the help of Week 2's task given by Dr. Noel at the end of the lesson as well as the Needs Identification and Pain points, my group and I were able to come up with various ideas that we have found such as 

- Applying hair mask is messy and thick hair is difficult to clean and maintain.

- Glasses that will always fog up due to the masks that we wear everyday.

- Chalk not allowed to be used in the gym for better grip, but gloves are really uncomfortable and just doesn't hit the spot when exercising. The benches tend to be slippery when we lean on it with Cotton/Dri-fit clothes as well.

- No proper storage places for crops in farms in third-world nations.

But the one we unanimously decided on was...

Finally, after all groups have decided and presented their ideas on something to work on, Dr. Noel went through Literature Review, which is basically just thorough research about what my group had decided on which will help us to examine and critically analyze relevant sources based on our topic. 

It is definitely important because of the following reasons:

1. Assessment of the current state of research on a topic.
2. Identification of the experts on a particular topic.
3. Identification of key questions about a topic that need further research.
4. Helps steer clear of inadvertent plagiarism.

Afterwards, Dr. Noel then reminded us of the SDL Learning Model that was used in the Lab and Process Skills Modules. This can help us find credible and accurate sources and enables us to have a deeper thought process about our topic.

Last but not least, my first ICPD practical. It was very unfortunate that I arrived late to class due to sleeping through my alarm, but I still tried to rush to campus so that I miss out as little as possible. Thankfully, once I had reached, I only missed out on the first part of the practical, which is just brewing the coffee. Oh, and Practical 1's focus is about Reverse Engineering, on a coffee maker. 

The picture below is me disassembling the coffee maker. This process was fun to me as this part was the mechanical part of the practical and is not something we do as chemical engineers, so it is new to me. Moreover, we managed to learn how the coffee maker is designed inside just by disassembling the bottom part of the coffee maker and analyzing it. 

(Heating element in the coffee maker)

The video below is during Part 3 of the experiment and it is when we fully understood how the coffee maker works. We connected a small air pump to the bottom of a umbrella-shaped tube. Once the pump is turned on, air will be pumped into the tube, pushing the water up. Similarly, the coffee maker heats up the water, vaporizing it. The rising steam will then push the water up, allowing the hot water to enter the filter. Through the disassembly of the coffee maker, we also learnt that there is a small check valve which does not allow the water that was brought up by the steam to not flow back into the heating area.

To sum up Practical 1, I definitely feel that Reverse Engineering is necessary to deeply understand a particular product and why it is made that way. By disassembling the coffee maker, we are able to uncover parts of the product that is hidden and is vital in ensuring that the product functions properly. Once Dr. Noel returned us our Practical 1 report, I also learnt that writing a learning reflection not just describing what had happened, but also show how I have learnt something and how it can be used in the future.

It should:

• Develop a perspective or line of reasoning based on the practical.
• Develop a link between my experience in the activity and existing knowledge learnt in previous modules if there are any links.
• Show understanding of the practical and appreciation of different perspectives from others.
• Show recognition that my own understanding is likely incomplete and situations are rarely clear-cut and simplistic.
• Show learning from the reflection, either by discovering something new or confirming existing knowledge and how I can use it in the future.

This marks the end of my first blog entry, thank you for reading ! :D