Cashing in on Design Thinking
It started with a simple question...
Makey Makey Invention Literacy Workshop
… and, a moment of inspiration.
What if the students have the same opportunity that I did?
Barbara and Laura
(Special Education Teachers)
Katie, Jennifer, and Bethany
(ITRTs: Instructional Technology Resource Teachers)
Zach
(Computer Math Teacher)
Click HERE to download the full planning document
The Design Process guided the project planning
EMPATHIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
IMPLEMENT
[EMPATHIZE] Step 1: Open the cafe for students to meet and observe
[DEFINE] Step 2: Present the Challenge to the Math Students
Click HERE to download the project rubric
[IDEATE] Step 3: Makey Makey Invention Literacy Mini-Lesson
Meanwhile, the cafe students learn Makey Makey, too!
[PROTOTYPE] Step 4: Build physical and digital cash register prototypes
[TEST] Step 5: Present a “Prototype Demo” for the Cafe Students
[IDEATE] Step 6: Review feedback and redesign prototype, as needed
[PROTOTYPE] Step 7: Debug cash register and coding, as needed
[TEST] Step 8: Final Presentations and Decision for the Final Register
[TEST] Step 8: Final Presentations and Decision for the Final Register
Meanwhile, the cafe students learned their new register!
[IMPLEMENT] First Cafe Opening with the new Register
Student Reflections about the Cash Register Project
“I think it's really cool that those kids took their time to work on those registers. They really spent a lot of time thinking about what we wanted."
“The project was actually really fun! Not only has it helped TempTAtions, but it was a great, challenging project!
I found it cool that by the end, all the cash registers were combined into one amazing register, because, as the teachers themselves said, each project had amazing components to it, but might be missing something that another project had.”
“The project was a learning experience for me. The Makey Makey was an interesting task to learn how coding works.”
“The cash register was an amazing project, and I learned a lot about the Makey Makey. The only part I didn’t like was the small amount of time we had available.”
“It was fun. I liked it, because nobody was using their phone and everyone was working on their project.”
“I liked it, because we all worked hard in this project. We were trying to provide a nice cash register to the cafe students. That made me happy, because I knew that any of the projects were really awesome, and we put a lot of effort into it.”
Videos about the Cash Register Project
Articles/Blogs about the Cash Register Project
See our story in the media