Project-MOONSHOT ACADEMY

Family Memoirs: Recording the individual stories of ordinary families in the big time

Disciplines/Subjects: History, Chinese, Media, Design Key Themes: Nonfiction Writing, Modern Chinese History, Microhistory “What can a small individual or a small family tell us? How much can it aid our understanding of Chinese history? We believe that the experiences of ordinary people can reflect the changes of an entire era, and we can genuinely feel the turning points of significant times through the vivid, detailed small histories. Without a micro perspective, our history would be unbalanced and incomplete.”—History does not float in the air; it is all around us, in the daily meals and routines of every family. Each family is a book, and if we can salvage and collect these memories, they too can be the magnificent voice of the times. In this project, learners explore modern Chinese history by tracing family stories and ultimately complete a “family memoir.” The project integrates multiple disciplines such as history, language arts, media, and design, aiming to document the individual stories of ordinary families against the backdrop of significant historical periods.

Distant Voice

Disciplines/Subjects: History, Political Sciences, Economics Key Themes: Afghanistan, Women, Rights, Empathy At the Same Time, in Different Spaces, How Do Different Lives Unfold? While our children sit in classrooms diligently studying high school courses and completing assignments, what educational and material challenges are Afghan girls of the same age facing just next door, in Afghanistan? As our children dream, plan, and choose their paths for the future, what hopes and disappointments are these Afghan girls experiencing? Without the right to control their destinies, what aspirations do they hold for the future, and what resistance can they muster? Amidst so many inequalities, these girls yearn to be seen and heard. Understanding and seeing their struggles not only illuminates their darkened world but also broadens our hearts and minds. In this project, you will research information about Afghanistan to understand the current living conditions and stories of Afghan women. Your task is to create a storybook about Afghanistan and organize an exhibition on Afghan women. Through these two efforts, you aim to achieve the following goals: Highlight the political, economic, and cultural background of Afghanistan. Present the challenges and struggles faced by Afghan women through their personal stories, offering profound insights through seemingly small narratives, and amplifying their voices. Inspire readers and attendees to take concrete actions and participate in initiatives to support Afghan women. Sell the storybook and donate all proceeds to an online English school for Afghan women.

Moonshot Academy High School Commencement 2024

Disciplines/Subjects: Graphic Design Key Themes: Graduation Ceremony, Branding Design, Packaging Design, Book Design Graduation is one of the most important events in a school, and we created a full set of branded visual identities for the ceremony. The main visual design centered around the “Orange Ladder”, an element derived from Moonshot Academy(MSA)'s landmark, the Little Theater, which is the most familiar symbol to every MSA learner. We abstracted the theater as a three-step ladder, echoing the graduation ceremony theme of “3, 2, 1”. We simulated the projection of the light on the stairs from a vertically downward perspective and summarized it as a minimalist graphic with only orange and black. The orange steps remain unchanged, while the shadows cycle through time, from no shadow at all to a narrow projection, symbolizing the graduation of each student from the MSA, leaving behind a trail of shadows, echoing the time of the graduation ceremony, the Summer Solstice. Utilizing 3D printing technology, we pasted the physical ladder onto part of the material to create a realistic projection through natural light, breaking the boundaries between static and dynamic, two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

Sustainable lifestyle for youth

Disciplines/Subjects: sociology, environmental studies, design thinkings Key Themes: teenager, sustainable lifestyle, citywalk The Incubator Track in MSA is a year-long, interdisciplinary program that empowers students to develop and launch social impact projects. Students will first define and understand a social problem, and then initiate an action to promote changes around that problem. Along with a variety of social science research and problem-solving methods, learners will also enhance their project management, leadership, and communication skills. People’s exploits of natural resources and destruction of the environment are causing drastic climate change. However climate change sounds like such a big problem, and individuals can hardly relate to it (Markman, 2018). Specific and personal changes need to be made by individuals to combat climate change. Discover the power of sustainable lifestyles with me. I’m dedicated to inspiring and supporting teenagers in embracing eco-friendly choices every day. Let’s team up to build a greener, more sustainable world for everyone.

Entering the world of elderly

Disciplines/Subjects: sociology, design thinkings Key Themes: elderly, teenager, empathy The Incubator Track in MSA is a year-long, interdisciplinary program that empowers students to develop and launch social impact projects. Students will first define and understand a social problem, and then initiate an action to promote changes around that problem. Along with a variety of social science research and problem-solving methods, learners will also enhance their project management, leadership, and communication skills. The rapidly developing technology is convenient for citizens’ lives, but trouble has been brought to the elderly at the same time. Due to their dissatisfaction with social and emotional needs, the elderly suffer from loneliness and a series of severe consequences brought by loneliness. Loneliness may cause a variety of dangers that can threaten the health of the elderly. We discovered that providing support for the elderly to express and communicate with others reduces their sense of loneliness. We decided to aim at reducing the loneliness of the elderly by building a connection between them.

Lost & Found: Leaving our campus memories in 99 lost items

Disciplines/Subjects: Graphic Design Key Themes: Creative Design, Exhibition Design These are 99 lost items that were left behind at 129 Nangao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, a place once called Moonshot Academy(MSA). The school was forced to move out due to the Covid-19. Most of the campus is now empty, but there are still a lot of items that no one packed or were just too hard to move, so they were left there forever. We chose 99 of these lost items, the largest being graffiti on a wall and the smallest being a marble on a bookshelf. No matter how big or small, each item was a testimony to our real life there. Later, we launched a special “Lost & Found” campaign: we collected all the stories of people with these 99 lost objects, and as long as you have a story with one of them, you can be one of the “adopters” of it. After the event, we designed a set of postcards with all the “adopters” and stories collected at the exhibition. We used four different styles of fonts to form the main visual of “Lost & Found”, as if the 99 different items were piled up together, twisted and turned, seemingly unappreciated and about to be abandoned. The 99 items have also been individually keyed out of the photographs they were originally in and filled in with gray squares that represent “transparent, no content” in the design software to indicate that they are all lost. When you hold each card up to the light, you can retrieve the lost objects and stories, and we hope to convey the idea that although most of these objects are indeed lost, as long as we can find memories of them, their appearance will always be there.

The Western feminism assertion on veiling oppression and clarification from Islamic perspectives

Key Themes: Western feminism, Veiling oppression, Women's autonomy, Socialization impact This academic paper examines the conflicting perspectives on the Islamic veil, contrasting Western feminist interpretations with Islamic viewpoints. Western feminists frequently characterize veiling as a symbol of oppression, restricting women's autonomy and hindering their socialization, while also arguing that it reinforces patriarchal structures and is a product of Orientalist biases. Conversely, the paper presents Islamic perspectives that view veiling as a personal choice expressing religious identity and empowerment, promoting social engagement, and even enhancing women's honor and respect within their communities. The paper's central purpose is to deconstruct the Western feminist narrative by highlighting the diverse interpretations and agency surrounding the veil within Islamic culture, arguing against the simplistic notion of oppression.

The Possible Correlations Between an Individual’s Attributes and the Time Theory One Tends to Choose

Disciplines/Subjects: Philosophy; Psychology; Cognitive science Key Themes: The Interplay of Individual Attributes and Time Perception This research examines the relationship between individual attributes, such as personality traits, academic interests, multiple intelligences, and preferences for different time theories. The research employed a survey to assess participants' agreement with statements about time, correlating their responses with their scores on personality and intelligence tests. It also included a behavioral experiment where participants arranged cards representing different time concepts, followed by interviews to understand their reasoning. The study found a potential correlation between academic interests and preferred time theories. Participants with interests in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields tended to favor non-dynamic time theories, while those interested in SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts, Physical Education, and Education) fields leaned toward dynamic time theories. However, the research did not find a significant correlation between personality traits and time theory preferences.

Project

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