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How we Structured our Class

To be more organized and productive, our class decided to split into three different groups.

The largest was the Formicarium Group (14 people), responsible for the design and construction of the formicarium and its chambers. They also cataloged and organized the materials, cleaned them when necessary, and took care of cleaning the chambers as well.

 

The second was the Organization Group (4 people), in charge of creating the timeline, coordinating what needed to be done and by when, managing communication between groups, and ordering the required materials. In the final phase of the project, they also created the website, decided on its content, and wrote the texts.

 

The third group was the Social Media Group (3 people), responsible for managing the Instagram account, including posts and stories. They decided to publish at least once a week at the beginning, and in the end, each student was required to make a post. They also selected a template to ensure visual consistency across all posts.

Our Process

After returning from Christmas break, Mr. Peduzzi introduced us to a new project called "The Formicarium", which would last throughout the second semester. We began by reading the work done by the previous generation of students to understand how they built their formicarium, how it functioned, and how the ants (Atta sexdens) behaved.

In the following lesson, we were divided into teams of two or three people. Each of these small groups formed a research team and was assigned a different experiment to conduct with the ants after building the formicarium.

After analyzing the previous group's work, we decided to adopt a similar strategy and organized ourselves into three main groups: the research group, the social group, and the organization group. These were formed the following week, and each began working on their assigned tasks.

During the same lesson, we discussed how to build the formicarium. We agreed it would be best to start with a Beta version—smaller, less complex, and more manageable than the final version, which would include multiple chambers and be partially automated.

Over the next month, each group focused on its objectives. The organization group created a clear, step-by-step program. One part of the research group worked on defining the structure of the formicarium and gathering the necessary materials, while another part cleaned the old chambers.

The social group managed our Instagram account, regularly posting content and sharing creative ideas. 

The ants arrived at school in mid-March. Fortunately, the Formicarium group had already completed the Beta version, providing them with a comfortable place to stay.

On April 29th, the final version of the formicarium was completed, allowing the ants to explore a larger environment. Two weeks later, we connected the plant chamber to the main chamber.

From that point on, the research teams concentrated on their experiments, occasionally meeting in the main three groups. In the final weeks before submitting our project, the organization group began designing the website.

Although we encountered several errors and delays throughout the semester, we always managed to find effective solutions and complete our work successfully.

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