The students at Templeton Secondary School’s STEM program had a hefty task at hand. First, they needed to figure out how to switch adapt a toy, taking it apart and modifying it so that a child with a disability could more easily play with it using an adaptive switch. Then, they needed to make instructions to help future makers adapt that same toy.
After getting the hang of things by using instructions to build Interact Switches — using skills like soldering — the students embarked on their task over three sessions of STEM With Purpose (new window) workshops by Neil Squire’s Makers Making Change (new window) program.
Each group assigned to a different toy, students learned how their toys worked — with the toys ranging from bubble blowers to light projectors to water guns — and fitted them with mono jacks that could fit any switch, allowing the toy’s user to bypass a tiny on-off button, or a hard to press button. Wrapping up the project, the students made PDF instructions and step-by-step videos showing how to do it.
“It’s not that hard for them to crack it open and solder it. The hard part is diagnosing it and figuring out what connects to what, and doing it in a way that doesn’t break the toy,” explains Templeton Secondary STEM teacher Sam Jackson. “The broader challenge for them was, how do you make it really easy for someone else coming in with this toy to adapt this?”
In all, the class of 21 grade 11 and 12 students adapted 11 toys and built 17 interact switches, all of which will be donated to local children with disabilities.
“I’m really glad that they had this opportunity,” says Sam. “It’s so incredibly valuable for them to get to have this experience of giving back to the community. Because they’ve learned all of these skills, and a lot of them are really motivated to help other people, they just need an outlet and a little bit of guidance.”
Sam says he “100%” recommends Makers Making Change STEM With Purpose workshops to other STEM teachers, and would like to have a class do another workshop in the future. “I think it’s a match made in heaven.”
This post originally appeared on the Makers Making Change (new window) website.