Personal Connection

Oftentimes when searching I would search through one single phrase and a very few variations. In this project I definitely was having to tweak my search terms just to make sure I wasn't missing a groundbreaking collection of material. By the end of the search process I was quickly scanning the webpages to see if they held anything of interest to me if not I moved on, if the website was appealing I would also play around on it to see if there were any other useful bits hiding anywhere.I will admit that by the end it felt like I had used every search term possible and was just hitting a brick wall.

I discovered some really handy features during this project, Delicious and bubbl.us for example and will try to use them again for any future tasks that I may take on. Delicious would certainly come in handy at work if I want to keep a collection of websites for programs and such since I bounce between 3 different computers on a given day.

Wishing

There were highs and lows with this project. I was discouraged by the books that I ultimately brought home, while useful they were more from a motivational standpoint and I was more interested in finding out what natural natural cleaners could be made at home. In the coming weeks I may stop by the Main Library to see what books are in the collection there (I don't want to waste my precious 5 holds to have items brought to my branch). Secondly there were a lot of website to sort through and so many different word combinations to search. I came to trust blogs more than standard websites, this was mostly due to the fact that the blogs oftentimes had hundreds of comments with users giving their own experience with the recipe or suggesting their own.

A different approach would be to do a full comparison of the different recipes and determine which ones clean best, in a visual way since I obviously can't conduct science tests on my surfaces. This technique would result in a very confident list of recipes.

I feel as though children and young adults might not collect a wide variety of cleaning recipes, thinking to only get the most basic. My search was very Internet heavy which is the main information gathering process for kids, at least the ones that I have encountered.

Technology Uses

Throughout this project I used 4 technology elements. These were:

• Concept map-I developed a map using bubb.us to map out my search process at the very beginning. This helped me stay focuses on the subject.
• Social Bookmarks-I kept track of my important websites through Delicious, a definite benefit in organization.
• Electronic Communication-I almost gave up on Bern from ask-an-expert, but he pulled through for me in the end despite having heart surgery.
• Productivity-I developed a power point presentation to reveal my findings.

Wrapping and Waving

First and foremost this information is useful for anyone who is wanting to get away from the toxic cleaners that we have grown attached to. Generally this person is concerned with the health of kids, pets, and/or themselves. Still others are concerned about the impact the cleaners have on the environment and finally there are those who are interested in sustainable living.Secondly there may be students out there who are interested in the impact of toxic cleaners on the Earth for class work.

I have organized my recipes in a way that they are primarily grouped by rooms used, but also one category for all-purpose cleaners and another for miscellaneous cleaners. There are 30 recipes in all as of right now and I foresee adding more as I find them. The current sheets will be laminated and housed in my laundry room with the cleaning supplies. For those interested in seeing my current list it can be found here. I'd like to see more and more people move towards natural cleaners, but I'm not going to force it on them. I may consider making cleaning goodie baskets for family and friends who are interested. My library system puts out a monthly Wellness Newsletter, the information that I have discovered would be of great benefit to those in the company who are interested in natural cleaners.

I chose to create a power point presentation for those interested in gaining a brief overview of cleaning with natural products. This can be found here.

Delicious is delicious!

I decided to give Delicious a try since I had never heard of it. I found it to be extremely useful to keep track of the multitude of websites that I visited and than also to find cleaning websites suggested by others. You can find my collection of useful links at this page.

Curriculum Connection

Since I don’t have much experience with education standards I was rather nervous to do this portion of the assignment, especially since there are so many standards.  This particular subject could be useful for students in a few different fields; chemistry, social science and home economics (although I feel that the name of this class has been changed to something more pc) to name some. The levels of education could range easily from upper elementary and into college education, appealing to many students out there.
AASL Standards:
3.1.1 Throughout this process information inquiry has been at the forefront, analyzing different formats and critically looking at the resources found.
2.1.6 All elements of information literacy are used to complete a project like this.  Users must express their findings in the best way possible, the search process itself has led the student to access their literacy skills.
4.3.1 One would expect that if a topic of interest to the individual would result in a greater passion in them. This would naturally lead them to discuss this subject with others who were not directly involved. I know in my own experience I have mentioned homemade natural cleaners with my sisters (one is intrigued and one thinks I’m crazy).

Ask-an-expert

I found Bern through the ask-an-expert webpage. I asked him about the best natural cleaner for carpets when you have cats and also for any other tips that he had for general upkeep. I was beginning to think that this service doesn't really work anymore since it had been a week and hadn't heard a peep from Bern. However, the email response that I received cleared my mind. Apparently Bern had heart surgery last week and forgot to forward his emails but he had some answers for me. The man had heart surgery but was still answering cleaning questions, dedication right there. Anyways, Bern recommended a cleaner called Nature's Miracle formulated for cats and available at most pet stores. I was happy to hear this as I've been using this brand for the last few years and it really is amazing. There are just four ingredients: water, enzymes, isopropyl alcohol, and natural citrus scent. Bern also recommended vacuuming, A LOT. I'm slightly surprised that he didn't hint that getting rid of the wall to wall carpet would be a great idea (something I'm considering for at least 3 of the rooms in my house).

All in all I think Bern was helpful, he confirmed the use of a product that I love and recommended something that won't cost me thousands of dollars. Win!