Go Baby Go!
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Cleanliness of Wheelchair Wheels
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School Safety
Narrowing Down the Topic
The group narrowed down to three final topics to decide between in A1.2.
The Go Baby Go! program is a quickly growing, nationwide program for young children with disabilities. The program modifies toy electric cars, tailoring them to a child’s specific needs, and allows them to experience independence and a greater range of mobility.
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Though many people may believe that preventing dirty floors is as easy as taking off one’s shoes before entering the house, it is not that simple for wheelchair users. People confined to a wheelchair typically have one for both indoor and outdoor use, and due to their limited mobility, cannot clean the wheels very easily.
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The nation seems to be hearing more and more about school safety in the media today than ever before. Students should feel safe and secure in their school environments.
In order to craft a final problem statement, each group member first needed to create three individual problem statements for each of the three topics. The members completed research that aided in addressing certain questions necessary for developing a problem statement, including, “Who says there is a problem?” and “How many people does the problem impact?” (Project Lead The Way, Inc., 2013). In total, ASMO Inc. created thirty-six initial problem statements.
Ranking Problem Statements
After developing thirty-six different problem statements, ASMO Inc. needed to narrow down the options. To do so, a decision matrix was necessary. Decision matrices objectify an otherwise subjective decision by utilizing numerical parameters to assign a rating to each of the different essential criteria in a problem statement. These criteria were also weighed differently according to their importance. For example, one criteria was “Interest,” which was weighed twice, as it is important for a project to maintain the group’s interest throughout the entire year.
After utilizing the decision matrix and discussing within the group, the top three problem statements were identified as the following:
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In the United States people with wheelchairs need to have their wheels cleaned daily to avoid getting dirt and other weather elements on them, although cleaning wheels is not convenient for only one person to do by themselves (Karma Healthcare, 2017).
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Between 240,000 and 337,000 people with SCI live in the US as of 2015 with 12,500 new cases occur each year. They cannot clean their wheels on their own and must rely on others.
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There are over 3 million wheelchair users in the United States, nearly all of whom move between the indoors and outdoors. Often after going outside, wheelchair users track in dirt or slush, which they themselves are typically unable to clean.