While working at the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, I designed and taught a unit on physical computing for the YWCA's STEM Stars program. STEM Stars was an afterschool program serving middle school girls in the greater Pittsburgh region that aimed to increase the number of young women in STEM careers through participation in hands-on activities and experiences.

Many of our students were interested in computer science and coding, but our curriculum did not provide opportunities to explore these topics. Therefore, I created this unit with the goal of providing foundational knowledge and application of key computer science concepts including, algorithms, variables, inputs and outputs, and modularity. The unit began with an introduction to the Circuit Playground platform (see linked lesson plan below) and basic programming, then progressed to incorporating peripherals like servo motors and LEDs, and finally concluding with the design and creation of a functioning cardboard robot that could react to its environment.

While working at the Mastery School of Hawken, I co-created this "Inspiration Station" project with one of the students in our Maker Club, Ari. Ari often came into Maker Club frustrated at not knowing what he wanted to create. 

Together, we used the design process to identify user needs, draft a problem statement, create and test a prototype, and synthesize user feedback into a final working product (see the process write-up linked below for additional details). Our final tool, the Inspiration Station, was meant to be hung in the Maker Space to help Ari and others select an interesting project to tackle.

The Inspiration Station included a variety of different project ideas situated in a circle around a central spinner-arm connected to a servo motor. Ari and I then programmed a microcontroller to control the speed and length of time that the servo motor spun. We randomized the length of time that the servo spun to keep things interesting. Finally, we added a button to the front to start the servo.