iteration

Ear Bud Holder as Student Project

Ear Bud Holder as Student Project

Yesterday I carved out a bit of end of summer classroom experimentation time. One of the projects I wanted to develop was a student designed ear bud holder. They’ve crossed my radar a bit over the years, but I’ve never really needed one. I used to keep my headphones plugged into my mp3 player, and would put it on a shelf in the house, or in the elbow box in my car. Recently, though, my mp3 player and GPS unit were stolified out of my car. So now my phone seems to have become the ultimate gizmo again. It works pretty well with the music app, and Google Maps has a navigation feature that wasn’t there when I looked before. It would actually be perfect if it had an FM radio for local terrestrial audio. The problem now is, where to keep the tangle of headphone wires.

How Many Iterations?

How Many Iterations?

As I develop new projects for my classroom this summer, a recurring theme has been to explore just how many times it takes to get a new design right. As far as I am concerned, nothing ever works properly the first time, and it is useful for students and new learners to a subject to recognize this. Programmers call this the iterative process, Engineers use the Engineering Design Process, both of which are relatives to the scientific method. Sure, just about anything can be fixed with duct tape and zip ties, but to get beyond a temporary kludge, you will need to put some time and thought into analyzing the problem and crafting a proper solution.

Waffle shoes – Responding to a need

Waffle shoes – Responding to a need

Image from InsideNikeRunning Did you know that your sneakers are probably the result of a vision of insight at the breakfast table? Maybe you recall wearing shoes that looked like these back in the day. Bill Bowerman, was a successful track coach when he appropriated his wife’s waffle iron one day after breakfast. Bowerman and […]