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High school engineering students build assistive CD case, earn national semifinalist recognition
Summary
Students in the Northern Burlington high school engineering program presented a magnetized, enlarged-edge CD case designed for a student with global developmental delay and were named national semifinalists in the Reach Challenge project.
Students in the Northern Burlington County Regional School District's engineering program presented a custom CD case they designed to help a student with global developmental delay open and store discs. The project, developed in teacher Michael Shriner's Engineering II class, was named a national semifinalist in the Reach Challenge competition.
The student client, Elena Garcia, was unable to attend the meeting. A caregiver described Elena's appreciation for music on CDs and explained that hand-eye coordination challenges made standard CD cases difficult for her to open. Students altered a standard CD case by enlarging the side corners for easier prying, adding magnets to secure the case without interfering with playback, rounding edges for safety, and including a whiteboard panel on top so the client can label or draw album art.
Mr. Shriner told the board the project pairs engineering students with special-needs students to identify a need and iterate on a solution. The student team credited several design iterations and usability testing with the client; one board member asked whether the students had considered open-sourcing 3-D files for broader use. The students said they could publish files to maker repositories.
Shriner and the students — listed in the presentation as Nick Mignon, Declan Mallas, Jack McDonald and Jaden Lopez (video production) — described how they worked with the district's special education staff to define the client's needs, then prototyped and refined the product. The case is magnetized so discs are secure but positioned to avoid magnetic interference with playback; students said they tested different magnet strengths to balance closure force and ease of opening.
The board and audience members praised the students' work. The project helps illustrate applied learning objectives the district highlights as it drafts a new mission statement and begins strategic-plan work next year.
Ending: The board acknowledged the students and presented a certificate on behalf of the board; the project will be recognized further at an upcoming meeting.
