Over the course of three Youth Making Change workshops with Makers Making Change, Grade 9 drafting students at Linden Christian School in Winnipeg put their drafting skills in action to make a difference for children with disabilities.

Having been learning drafting mostly by hand in-class, the students were given an introduction to Computer Assisted Drafting (CAD) using the software TinkerCAD.

“We’ve been doing a lot of drafting with pen and paper, and we wanted to take it to the next level using CAD,” says teacher Nick Janzen.

Using the skills they learned in CAD, the students created designs for button toppers for adaptive switches.

The button toppers were then 3D printed, and the class got to make their designs into a reality. The students built adaptive switches using the 3D printed toppers, learning electronics skills and soldering to make a working switch.

Then, the students adapted Spinning Light Wand Toys to be used with the switches they made.

The switches make it easier for a child with a disability, who doesn’t have the dexterity to press a small button, to activate the toy. The toys and switches the students built have been donated to children with disabilities in Manitoba as part of the 2023 #HackingForTheHolidays campaign.

A big part of Linden Christian School’s mission and vision is for the students to become compassionate community members.

“It turned out to be a perfect fit for our class,” says Nick. “[The students] loved it, they absolutely loved it.

“I think the biggest thing was for them to connect the dots and say this is something I can do, I’m going to learn something by doing this, I’m going to be able to use my hands, but it’s actually going to help people.

“I would 100% recommend it [to other teachers] and want to do it again.”

This post originally appeared on the Makers Making Change (new window) website.