Final Blog

Throughout this semester I have been interested in the positive effects of interest driven learning.  After reviewing the HOMAGO outline by Mimi Ito, I was able to narrow down the process of interest driven learning into specific steps. I have really been able to dissect my car projects to asses them based of the HOMAGO process.  Not until I unveiled this interest driven learning that I realized I followed the process described by Mimi Ito throughout the duration of my interest in cars. 

I have reiterated this many times in all of my mini projects, but I would like to emphasize the positive effects.  Since I began my interest in cars I have progressed from learning simple maintenance on a car to being able to mechanically adapt a chassis and modify it's wiring harness to accept an engine that was never intended to fit.  I have taken every nut and bolt off of my car and reassemble it piece by piece.  I have obtained my knowledge almost solely based on self-driven research.  I have had very little formal education in automobile mechanics.  This shows a perfect example of how someone can retain much more information and learn much more advanced topics when the level of interest is at it's peak.

Hanging Out was the time period that I began to explore automobile modification via video games or street racing movies.  Like I've stated in my previous mini project, this portion of HOMAGO involves low risk activities which do not require a lot of commitment  (Ito).  The Messing Around occurred for me when I purchased my own car and began to explore beneficial modification.  Here is where I was required to put in some commitment towards learning about automobiles.  Eventually I began Geeking Out.  This is when I started modifying  my car for drifting.  I was fully committed to learning about how to make a car go fast.  Now at this point, I decided there is a need for a fourth stage.  I call it Hauling Ass.  This name is more appropriate for my domain, but the idea is the same for almost anybody else.  When I get to the Hauling Ass stage, I get to enjoy all of my hard work and just drive my car to the limits.  As shown below, this stage is obviously the most fun for me.

Itō, M. Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out, kids living and learning with new media.                  The MIT Press, 2010. Print.

2012. Photograph. LENSFUELWeb. 21 Apr 2013.

HOMAGO Project

This is the third installment of my experience and interpretation of HOMAGO learning.  This post will focus on what HOMAGO is.  My previous posts concentrated on my own experience with HOMAGO style of learning how to swap a limited slip differential into my car. 

HOMAGO is an acronym that stands for Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out.  Each is a different level of interest driven learning experienced, as described by Mimi Ito
.

Hanging Out:
This is the beginning of the process that usually involves a low risk and non-judgemental environment. This allows an individual to explore a subject freely without losing too much if they become uninterested or fail.  Typically the boundaries here are flexible, which promote somebody to pursue their interest. This stage began at the same time I gained interest in modifying cars.  I started exploring which car would be reasonable to own and modify.

Messing Around:
After a person becomes interested in learning about a certain subject, the "messing around" begins.  This is the point where someone begins to delve into whatever they are curious about and start the interest driven activities.  The activities that occur during this stage can vary from research to any sort of entry level activities.  For me, I began to "mess around" when I became curious as to how I could spin two rear tires, instead of one.  This is where I explored the function and purpose of a limited slip differential.

Geeking Out:
This is where the fun begins.  Geeking Out is the stage where a person's interest is at its peak and all learning is driven by their own thirst for knowledge.  At this point, you are neck deep in your interest and you love every minute of it.  I began the "geeking out" stage when I discovered how to fit an Infiniti J30 limited slip unit into my 240sx housing.  After doing all the necessary research, I took a trip to the junkyard and started pulling things apart.

This process of learning is described by Mimi Ito via video format.  While these three stages are the basic essentials to interest driven learning, I think there should be one more section. In my case, one could call that section "Hauling Ass."  While this may not be practical for most others, the idea is the same.

Hauling Ass:
This is the stage where all your hard work pays off and you get to take full advantage of what you learned.  This is the end result of all of that learning you did.  For me, this is when I could go out and slide through a corner with the confidence that the back end of the car will not go rogue half way through the turn and change directions on me. I finally get to drive my with that limited slip installed and show off all of my hard work.

Expansion of Previous Post

The purpose of this post is to expand on my previous post to provide more detail about the HOMAGO style of learning I experienced throughout my differential swap process. 

To get a basis for all of the knowledge required to complete this swap, I access several different forums specific to modifying the 240sx chassis.  Conveniently named, 240sxforums.com is where I found a lot of answers to the questions I had.  However, it is hard to find a good build thread on this topic, which would give a step-by-step process of how to perform the swap.  This forced me to rely on searching any questions I had and formulate an answer based on information I obtained from many different sources. 

Specifically, one of the most complicated parts of the swap was shimming or lining up the differential inside the housing.  It is crucial that the ring gear is lined up precisely with the pinion gear to prevent shearing off the teeth of both gears.  After searching 240sxforums.com for answers, I could not find a specific enough answer that I was comfortable enough to draw a conclusion from.  Now I am left with starting my own thread and specifically state my question.  Unfortunately this thread no longer exist, or I would share a link to it.  I was graced with the knowledge of one of the gurus on the forum and eventually got the answer I was looking for. 

The entire process of searching for the proper way to shim the differential took about four hours of searching and several post back and forth on my own thread to get the answer I was looking for.  In all honesty, I have never once sat down to do a school project with the same determination and curiousity.  This interest driven learning allowed me to do several hours of research without questioning the value of what I am learning. 

 

 

To clarify what I am talking about, the shims are the metal rings in the top left and bottom right of the picture.  They vary in thickness and in number for each side of the differential. The accuracy of the thickness of the shims is down to the thousandth of a inch.