Blog post by Frances Harrington, ’19

For the past few weeks, the two separate groups of the Engineering, Design, and Innovation Fellows have focused on researching their problem and using problem demarcation to get to the ideate phase of the design process. Team 1 observed the flow of students along paths and through doors and found that students usually have one place they like to hang out in. For ninth graders, it’s the lounge and for seventh and eighth graders, it is at the pit or the library. Since going outside every once in a while is good for students and their grades, Team 1 has decided to work on improving an outside area. Team 2 has been observing different lunches and which trash can is the fullest at the end. They have found that the compost has the most trash in it. They decided that by building a tray that is divided into three sections would allow students to sort trash at the table so students would not feel tempted to dump all trash into one can. Team 2 has also been meeting with Mr Barton once or twice a week to work on building a trash can and a tray prototype. When they finish, they will test it at lunch.