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Create a furniture concept that provides individuals with unique needs, or for use in various environments (public spaces, private spaces, natural environments, business spaces, industrial spaces).

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Students were given a variety of STEM materials, and asked to create their "dream" piece of furniture.

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In order to work well as a team, we needed to learn about what our strengths are, and how we can use those to work well together.

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Students used both the driving question and the information on the Design Challenge website to really analyze what the information is most important to consider as we learn about furniture design. Students captured key words and phrases on stickies, and then rewrote their own simplified driving question on a notecard to share with the group.

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We brainstormed WHO might be impacted by whatever product we create.

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Family Hope Foundation is an established 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing resources, activities, support, and funding for therapies to families of children with special needs in West Michigan.

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Thoughts from our Family Hope Foundation guests

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Thoughts from our Family Hope Foundation guests

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I love doing PBL because my friends are there to support me and I get to create many things like posters and prototypes. Overall this was a super fun experience that I will miss a LOT!!!

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What do we need more information about? What are we curious about or wondering? Students brainstormed questions that would help them develop their ideas and understanding. They then shared with a partner, and narrowed them down to their "favorite five."

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We took the AEIOU protocol, and customized it to furniture. Students spent time in classrooms of students with autism and cognitive impairments, as well as our school sensory room. They were able to observe and see what kind of adaptive furniture pieces are already available for students to use.

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We interviewed Jane and Jenn from the Family Hope Foundation, along with Ms. Karp, an ASD teacher at our school. They provided great insight into the needs of students with special needs.

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Students began sketching their designs on large notecards, creating a variety of possible solutions.

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Students took their notecard sketches, shared them out with the group, and then talked through how to combine and group them.

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Once we landed on our three ideas, students chose which ideas they'll felt most passionately about, and began creating posters, fleshing out their designs.

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We loved this protocol at the CTC - we reflected on feedback that "sparked" new ideas or modifications, parts of our ideas that should be "chilled" and then what feedback "ignited" new thinking or changes to our design.

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High school students at the CTC provided great feedback and helped us think about things that we hadn't yet considered. We love when we can push our thinking!

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Working with this group of kids was the highlight of each week. Watching them build empathy, problem solve, and create was inspiring. There is no doubt that this group of kids will do amazing things in the years to come.