Capstone Project Proposal

Name of student: Stacy Dumko

Date: 2/27/2023

Teacher: Lara Lacroix

Capstone strand I have chosen is Project Capstone

Proposed title for my project: Educational Cartoon for Children “Proper Oral Hygiene”

What is your inquiry question that interests you for further research? It should be a question that

connects with a purpose, passion or personalized area of interest for you. This is a question that

you cannot just google an answer for. Please see examples from your Capstone booklet.

My inquiry question is:

Is it possible to improve the oral health of young children as well as eliminate their fear of
visiting a dentist?

Rationale/context: Detail your reasons for choosing this inquiry question. Explain WHY you are

choosing to investigate this topic as a major area of focus. How does this area of inquiry

connect to your passion(s), purpose? Why is it of personal interest to you?

When I finish high school, I want to pursue a medical career path in a future as since my deep
childhood I have been always helping people in need. I never thought to myself why or for
what am I doing this, until someone told me that I am not getting anything in return, so what's
the purpose doing it. I am confident that I feel too much empathy towards people all the time
 and feels like if I will not help them, no one will. As of right now I am volunteering in a dental
clinic and the issue that I faced there consists in little children being scared of a dentist. There
are 2 factors: children emphasizing the fearful visit to a dentist and sometimes parents unable
to teach their own children proper hygiene which can cause in their health in the future.

Background: What background knowledge/connections/prior learning do you have in this

area of inquiry?

I have been spending too much time on studying biology and chemistry since 10 years old -
that is when I found something I am passioned about. I enjoyed playing lego, play games
where you have to find differences in pictures as well as collecting puzzles. It all links to me
being a very attentive person, hence my interest for both biology and attention represents in
the job – dentist. I take high level biology at school and also expand my knowledge in various
resources online. In addition, I volunteer in a dental clinic and able to shadow a dentist, so I
have an understanding of what is happening during the procedures.

Career connections: What is your intended career area at this point in time? What

connections does this inquiry question have to your life, academic and/ or career goals?

As I already mentioned I desire to become a successful dentist with an ability to comprehend

feelings of my patients before and during the process. As more I know about the proper
hygiene and behavior of patients, I believe it will improve me as a dentist and the patients will
come back with only positive feedback, that is my goal. There is no limit to perfection, which
is why I want to explore almost every area in dentistry starting with childcare.
Interdisciplinary and core competencies connections: What subject areas and core

competencies will be connected with your project? Outline and explain the connections.

Personal Awareness & Responsibility:

Strengths:

1. I take personal responsibility for my choices and actions.

Changing a country of living has taught me a variety of responsibilities expected from

me as an adult, although still being a teenager. An example of it includes in my ability

to be responsible for any documents I had to deal with coming to Canada since my

mother does not speak English at all. Applying for visa, checking due dates for any

medical examinations or applications such as CUAET visa, driver’s license, BC Services

card, SIN appointments etc. I decided to help with this process and never

disappointing myself or my mom as I have succeeded in completing this process,

never being late or worse losing any essential documents.

2. I understand my decisions and actions can affect me.

During my teenager years I have changed 3 schools, and one of the reasons why is

that I wanted to be better and better. In my middle school I was the A+ student, which

made me feel I do not get an appropriate education if it is that easy to get an A+ mark.

Hence, my decision to transfer from a regular school to a lyceum feared my parents

that I will lose my A+ score. Which I knew would happen. However, I still tried to pass

the exam and get into the Lyceum. My decision of course affected my life starting with

grades and ending with friends I have made and have lost. Eventually, finishing

Lyceum I did not only get much more knowledge, which helped me in the future, I

also made my parents proud for making a crucial decision and making something out

of it for myself.

Weakness:

1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed.

My weakness is in being unable to ask for help when needed. No matter how hard it is

emotionally or physically for me to deal with any issue, I will never ask someone to

help me. Perhaps it is because I am used to solving problems independently, but

sometimes it causes the trouble to become bigger. An example is again in the Lyceum,

when I struggled with chemistry, I never asked my friends or teacher to help me. It
was easier for me to type in the topic we were discussing in YouTube and then figure

it out by myself. I ended up spending much more time of schoolwork at home, when I

was able to ask my teacher to help me and finish it at school right away. The feeling of

lost time has been putting pressure on me throughout the years spent there.

Social Responsibility:

Strengths:

1. I value diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act ethically in
all my interactions, including online.

One of my best friends has experienced a bullying in my elementary school and after

that I am continuously helping those people who is/has experienced this. I was only in

3d grade when the boys started to call my friend “fatty patty” or referring to her “she

is not a girl she is a burger”. This was out of the line and had to be dealt with. The

worst part is that teacher did not really care about it and was just saying “stop it

boys”. When I asked a teacher for help because my friend was too terrified to deal

with it, I got a response “Boys are still children. They do not know what they are

doing.” I do understand her perspective and why would she say it, however after all
these years I am still amused how a mature teacher did not understand that what the

girl is going through will impact her life in the future. Me, a young girl, reached out to

the parents of my best friend and only after that parents have gone through some

conversations with boys’ parents. Even after they apologized and never did it again

my friend still remembers every second of the fear she experienced.

2. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and
evaluate strategies to resolve problems.

Working at the restaurant it is important to understand that it is a fast-paced

environment and how important is it to be calm under pressure. I had an idea of it

before I found a job as a hostess, however actually dealing with guests takes some

courage and patience. For example, if a person performs actions such as being rude

towards us at the front desk it had to be dealt with carefully. Me personally, I have

never asked a manager to deal with a guest and took initiative to resolve it by myself.

After you talk to a guest and try to understand why they are doing or trying to get the

idea of their perspective, you understand them! The honest responses you give to

guests impact the way they are acting. Hence it is important to look at things under

different angles because you can also learn something new for yourself or even help

out a person.
Weakness:

1. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.

I cannot say that I am unable to find high-quality friendships that “involve not only

companionship, but also caring, validation, and support”. Only reason for me

considering it is my weakness is me tending to be lonely most of the times and liking

it. When the things you are focusing in your life is studying and working it is hard to

combine with your personal life. When I was in 6th grade I had to move houses and my

family ended up living in the small village, where the only house on the whole dark

street was ours. We did not have any neighbors and it took 2 hours to get into the

town, where were all my friends. It was honestly hard to stay connected with them,

hence I decided to focus on learning and improving. Sometimes I regret choosing this

path, however it helped me a lot in Canada to pass my classes excellently!

Critical Thinking:

Strengths:
 1. I can analyze and make defensible judgements, draw conclusions, and consider
a variety of perspectives.

I am a very curious person, and have always been wondering about questions that

might seem stupid or even philosophy questions such as “what happens after death?”

since childhood. I believe that being curious about what, how, when and where

proves my wide range of interests and looking for different perspectives. I like

referring to the quote “One head is good, but two is better” since I get to hear various

opinions and challenge the influence on my own opinion. Example of it is that I could

never decide what I want to do in the future cause my interests are changing every

day, however I am quite sure now with what I want to pursue after graduation after

listening to many people that experienced this process.

2. I can assess my process.

If I finish doing a particular project, I will never hand it in without reviewing and

making sure it is almost perfect. Not sure how I ended up with these opinions of

excellence because it had been like this from kindergarten. Every teacher that has

ever taught me told me I am being too hard on myself, and I like judging the processes

and my accomplishments to figure out how to improve myself.

Weakness:

1. I can ask good quality questions, gather relevant information, and come up with
well-developed conclusions.

As I already mentioned I am being either too shy to ask a question or too stubborn to

admit that I cannot figure out the issue by myself. Example of it is again my chemistry

teacher that had an impact on my education in the future. As of right now I am

improving this weakness y asking questions the teachers in my current school and

projecting plans for the next few years of my life at college and work.\

Creative Thinking:

Strengths:

1. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that
influence how people think about topics.

I believe that this is one of my strengths as I am being very serious about my opinions

and do not know to which extent I can go to prove my perspective. As an example of it

is one of my friend’s hated working in fast-paced environment and I have a job in a

very busy restaurant that expects from you a lot of engaging and patience. I know

there are people with different interests, however my friend was proving to me why

this work is making me unhappy and many other people. I demonstrated to her

positive sides of the job as well as negative to show that I do see her own perspective

and trying to understand. After long discussions on this topic my friend decided to

work at the same restaurant with me and have been working there 5 months so far

liking it!

2. I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious
mind to generate new ideas.

Despite our values and intentions, we may have some other goal that conflicts with

our new resolution. I am truly committed to achieve something without getting

influenced by others, however I like being criticized, hence hearing their opinions. By

acknowledging these unconscious influences on us, we actually increase the amount

of free will that we have. For example, if I would want to start a diet I will do it right

away and never wait for tomorrow. The same thing with the task, I will never eat

something before I finish homework.

Weakness:

1. I can preserve and understand that failure can be productive.

I understand that people learn from mistakes and that is what shaping our experience

in different fields. However, I love being perfect in everything at the beginning and it

is never like that in life. It may be hard realizing that I have just failed, but I will do

everything to overcome it. An example of it is me being getting a C+ in chemistry in

my summer school because I have just only started working and it was hard to keep

up. My grade has improved to A until the end of the class because I have committed

to get an A no matter what I face. Eventually I did, but it still hard for me to realize

word “failing”.

Communication:

Strengths:

1. I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes and
audiences.
My job is a hostess in a restaurant, which means one of the duties is to sit people to

their tables. To not make It awkward I always start a conversation with a guest with

“How is your day going so far?”. People with different experiences and huge range of

ages coming there every day and I get to hear a lot from some of people since they do

not know me and feel comfortable opening up about problems they are struggling

with. I do like being helpful. So I am not only paying attention to every work I also

keep up with the conversation and give recommendations.

2. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.

In everyday life people must be a good team players and I believe I am one of them.

The reason for it is every time I am assigned in a group to achieve a good-looking

project/product, we always succeed. In my math project I made sure that everyone is

assigned their roles and commits enough time to the project. I feel responsible for

anything I am assigned to do and ask for any help if I need it. If anyone inquired me

about issues faced I was doing my best to answer them and tried to engage with the

whole group to make sure participants are satisfied.

Weakness:
 1. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider
different perspectives, and build consensus.

Consensus enables everyone who is affected by a decision can work together to find

solutions that meet everyone's needs. It is important to work with each other rather

than against each other. It helps to build a stronger community and consensus relies

on us respecting other people's needs and opinions, and being open and honest about

our own needs. My weakness is that I will never face that I need help from someone,

but I am aiming to improve it. For me it is much more crucial for everyone to feel

comfortable and satisfied and only in the end looking at what I need. Examples of the

teams are any school clubs and my work team at the front desk.

Personal & Cultural Identity:

Strengths:

1. I understand that culture is a broad concept that includes things like my

geographic region, nationality, sex/gender age, ethnicity, sexuality, language,
and religion.
As a person who faced bullying because of the language I speak, I totally understand

the importance of being respectful to any human being with different interests. I am

proud of being Ukrainian and will never refuse from accepting it. Same thing goes for

any person with various geographic regions, nationality, sex/gender age, ethnicity etc.

and I am looking forward to and ready to help anyone who is in need or is scared to

ask for help!

2. I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices.

The beliefs and values I have right now have been shaped from my experiences and

things my family taught me in the childhood. Every human have faced or will face and

it is important to understand how it will impact your life. My first priority in life is my

family, hence the choices I will be making will be focused on my parents and their

well-being. Same thing with any other choices – I have to find the priorities and start

off from that.

Weakness:

1. I understand what is important to me.

 I do have an idea of what can be important for me, however it can change depending

on my responsibilities and consequences from decisions. It can be either family,

health, money, education or helping people. It requires a deep thinking to figure out

what I want from life, but I am looking forward to improving it. Essential part is to realize

that we can't have everything at any given point in our lives - we must make some

difficult trade-offs. For me right now my family and their health are at first place, and

then everything else is after.

Capstone Presentation medium: select one or more project mediums you wish to use to

present your project. Outline and give details about how you will present your project once

completed. You may use a combination of mediums.

o Electronic portfolio: Prezi or PPT

o Physical portfolio
o Website
o imovie presentation
o YouTube channel

I am planning to create a cartoon, which I could share on various platforms. The platform I
would like to stick to is YouTube channel, so I could share it there and anyone in need will be
able to find it very quickly. Also since in a dentistry office there are TVs above patients heads
I could also ask for a permission to translate a cartoon there to reach more people.
Description of my Capstone project. Specific Project Details of the Capstone Project: what

will you research, create, study, produce, solve, investigate? What product will be produced

at the end of this project for evaluation. Write a one-page description outlining your

proposal.

I will research ways on how to improve a dental health of young children by creating a tool for

their parents, which is a cartoon. After investigating various studies, I found out that children

are mostly affected by cartoons as well as their way of thinking. The reason for that is how

young children comprehend new information and try to align it with their own expectations,

experiences and thoughts, or schemas. Since I have always felt need to help people

especially young children it is a great way on how to avoid any potential oral diseases and

even save children’s lives. Simply learning about how to correctly brush teeth will help in the

future much more than expected. My short cartoon will not exceed 3 minutes timeline and will

be carefully drawn. I am NOT a professional drawer, but it is satisfying to draw when I had a

rough day, hence this assignment is some kind of “getting away” for me.

The cartoon will have characters: a young boy/girl because children will refer to them more

than adults, and animals since children love animals, which will attend a dentist office! It could

prove how not scary it is to visit a dentist and even create interest! The plot is not fully

developed but I do have a rough outline. The most common problem among children will be

discussed, which is cavities. The cartoon will highlight ways on how to prevent it such as

brush teeth at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste at least for 2 minutes and to floss

regularly, limit sugary foods, juices, candy, gummy vitamins. Include parents in a cartoon to

show they only want to help their children. Also explain the role of fluoride in the easiest way,
mostly for the parents and not for children to understand. The cartoon will have voice over

and music, which will help children to comprehend information. During an animation, common

questions will be answered such as “Does my child need to take oral fluoride supplies?”, “Can

my child use mouthwash?”, “How often should my child visit the dentist?”, “Are dental X-Rays

safe for my child?”, etc.

I am volunteering in a dental clinic for a month already and my last shift was surprisingly

interesting for me since I learned more about teeth and the “pain cause”. There was a girl

aged 16-17 and her tooth hurt bad. The dentist investigated it and decided to do an X-Ray.

We found out that the reason for her pain was not a hole in tooth or something else, it was

stress! The cartoon will highlight the importance of being calm and patient in stressful

situations, since a girl was jutting her teeth out of stress, which resulted in the pain.

I am not quite sure about which I will use because I still have to finish the prompt however my

first go to one is “OpenToonz”. I have to acquire a special pen to draw more efficiently and

spend a lot of time on developing the cartoon. Firstly draw characters, rough key motions and

then fill in the gaps to make a cartoon more flexible and smooth with more details. Since

children and parents are my target population, I will need to do some research and look into

psychological studies, so I could determine which setting, characters or even songs will be

most effective on children.

I believe the cartoon will be most effective after publishing it on YouTube and putting the most

common hashtags. Also, I would ask my friends/acquaintances to promote somehow my

video on various platforms to ensure efficiency! I am ready for upcoming hard work and
 looking forward to see the final result.

Resources/ Technology/Skills: Make an assessment of the resources, technology and

skills you will need to be able to complete this project. What is your plan to be able to

access/learn all of the resources necessary to achieve completion of this project? Detail

your plans.

 Knowledge about children and proper dental hygiene

 YouTube channel

 Good outline, step by step instruction

 Dentistry books/research/videos

 Animation app

 Computer itself

 A lot of hard work and commitment

Mentors/Community Connections: What types of mentor(s)/community connections will

you need to help you complete your capstone project? How will your mentor(s) help you?

What is your plan to access the mentorship/community connections necessary for this

project?

Community connection I have is a dental clinic I volunteer in and my mentor is a dentist I

shadow, so I am able to ask for any advice needed. I do not want to ask about each step as I
want to do it fully alone. The only feedback I will ask is at the end, when I completely finish my
cartoon.

Project limitations: What are some project limitations and potential obstacles that you foresee
that might affect progress with your Capstone Project?

 I have never made a cartoon myself and I am not a good painter, so my goal is to use
an animation app and try my best with any drawing required.

 The quality of the video at the end.

 Potential low reach on YouTube due to high competency.

Other considerations: List and detail any other related information/ considerations about

your project that you feel should be included in your project proposal.
 I might not get an allowance to translate the video in the clinic, so I have to do a very good job
in order for the cartoon to look professional.

References:

Attach a REFERENCE LIST. Your list should be written using correct APA formatting.

An example is provided on page 21 of your Capstone booklet.

References

Anne Rowan-Legg, Canadian Paediatric Society, Community Paediatrics Committee, Oral

Care for Children. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 16(21), 183–

Causal Force. Human Organization, 69(4), 398–406.

Elena Pearl Ben-Joseph. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023

Handwerker, W. P., & Wolfe, S. H. (2010). Where Bad Teeth Come From: Culture and health
care for children – a call for action, Paediatrics & Child Health, Volume 18, Issue 1

Health Study 2012–14 (pp. 1–14). University of Adelaide Press.

In L. G. Do & A. J. Spencer (Eds.), Oral health of Australian children: The National Child
Oral, January 2013, Pages 37–43

Leon-Ayala, R., & Andrade-Arenas, L. (2022). Mobile Application Design: Caries Health

Multidisciplinary Studies (IRJIMS), 1(1), 73-179.

Nagel, R., & Gallagher, T. M. (2009). Cure Tooth Decay: Heal & Prevent Cavities with

Nutrition (p. 252). Golden Child Pub.

Spencer, A., & Do, L. (2016). Children’s oral health — assessing and improving oral health.

Yousaf, Z., Shehzad, M., & Hassan, S. A. (2015). Effects of Cartoon Network on the behavior

of school going children (A Case study of gujrat city). International Research Journal of
Interdisciplinary