Currently humanity is facing its greatest, and most consequential challenge yet. Climate change. This is the single most important problem our world has ever faced, and if we do not address it, climate change could lead to the extinction of the human species and the end of the world as we know it, whether by the overconsumption of limited natural resources, the contamination of the air, water, and land, or the destruction of our environment. This is why I decided to take up the task of nurturing sustainability during this global crisis by designing an air purifier for my CAS project, catering to both creativity and service. I collaborated with two other students (Yaksh Patel and Yug Patel) in order to ideate, design, and innovate a school air purifier. Our product is a highly versatile and sustainable air purifier, made of recycled materials. It was designed with the intention to be easily manufactured with local recycled materials. Four fans and filters pump contaminated air into the container through a special 5-layer filter material. This product was presented to the University of Sydney as our submission to the India Innovation competition in the form of a video, shown below. I contributed majorly through the idea of the product, development of a digital model, materials selection, and some video aspects. This project catered to SDGs 4 and 13, quality education and climate action, respectively.

Creativity

This entire project hinged on the ideas that we had and our ability to execute our designs in order to create an actual product. Our creativity was required especially in the ideation phase, where we struggled to come up with an original yet impactful idea. In the end, we were able to combine the problems of climate change and education in order to form a classroom air purifier. This is a creative solution because it not only removes harmful toxins which could harm students from the air, but also helps to develop an environmentally-caring mindset in students through the addition of a plant. 

Service

Our CAS project covered the service aspect as well, due to the fact that our air purifier helped students to have better health. When we tested our product, we placed it in classrooms, which significantly bettered the AQI, or air quality index, of the room. This provided students with a better environment to learn while still remaining as healthy as possible. Additionally, the plant inside gave students an opportunity to develop their ability to care for the environment, as they had to water it and keep it alive. This kind of subtle addition to their school lives could develop their mindset to care more about planet Earth while also growing their capability to do so.

LOs

LO 2: I demonstrated that I undertook a challenge, as I have never participated in a competition on this large of a scale before, nor have I actually materialized a design outside of school projects. Challenges also included discrepancies in the digital design and the materials available, which led to difficulty and multiple changes in our measurements. We also had to collect a specific type of fan which was difficult to find, and took a lot of time to procure. As a result, we had a time crunch near the deadline, which forced us to work hard into the night to finish and submit the video in time. 

LO 3: We also had to plan this CAS project thoroughly, as the only dates given were a few online information sessions and the final deadline. This meant that we had to organize ourselves and properly manage our time. This plan was not completely followed, as we had to deal with the aforementioned time crunch, but in general we were able to complete our work by the specified time, and in the end the submission was timely.

LO 4: This project lasted for over a month, including the entire designing and video making process, which meant that we had to persevere through difficulties and keep working towards our goal in order to complete the task ahead of us. We showed commitment as we stayed the course even through difficult times, such as the unavailability of fans or inability to come up with original ideas, and continued to persevere, eventually reaching our goal despite such a long process.

LO 5: I could not have completed this project without my two teammates, Yaksh and Yug Patel. Each of us took a significant amount of work and spent countless hours in order to yield high quality results at the cost of our own free time. Each of us had specific skills which allowed us to complete our work in the most efficient and thorough manner possible. Yaksh was able to develop initial CAD designs, construct a circuit board to test air quality, and even make the video. Yug contributed to the ideation process, and especially developed the entire chemical process behind the cleansing/recovery procedure of the filtration system. I came up with the main idea, while fleshing out the rough CAD designs made by Yaksh and coming up with and procuring material lists. Collaboration was key in this project.

LO 6: Climate change is the most important problem that humanity may ever face, and we have shown our engagement with this issue by developing an applicable solution that could contribute to a change in the future of mankind. Since our air purifier is so sustainably made, and can be easily manufactured at a local level, it could have a large impact if implemented on a larger scale. Its additional influence on student thinking sets up the leaders of the future to consider their impact on the environment, not only contributing to this issue in the present, but also in the future.

LO 7: Similar to the above point, our team had to consider what was ethically correct in the design process. Thus, we decided that instead of wasting our time on useless entertainment or other things, we should invest our efforts into something more beneficial to us and the world. In terms of competition, we did not cheat in any way, and all of our work was original or cited. Thus, our actions and choices were ethical in this CAS project.

In conclusion, our entire project was successful. Even though we did not win the competition, we were able to come up with a creative solution to a widespread problem while developing our own skills and perspectives on the world. Our solution can be taken even further, and we plan to introduce the air purifier on a larger scale, at least filling our school’s classrooms with the same so as to actually create a lasting change on the school environment. I am thankful for this opportunity given by Sydney University and am glad that I took it.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjR9Y_HFemA[/embedyt]