Learning kitGrades 5-8
Engineering and technology
Design a phone for someone
Design a phone in 3D and put your name on the back. Make it thinner and find out what that costs, open it up to see why, then design it for a hiker who has two musts, test it on the bench, and choose between two designs with numbers to back you up.
- Time
- About 50 minutes, in one or two sittings.
- Steps
- 5 steps, 5 of them in Phone Lab
- You need
- A computer or Chromebook with a mouse or trackpad. Nothing to buy and nothing to print.
The 5 steps
These open once the kit is unlocked.
- 1Make it yoursIn Phone LabEvery phone starts as a plain gray slab. Give this one a shape, a color and cameras, and put a name on its back.
- 2Thin has a priceIn Phone LabA thinner phone looks better and feels lighter. Make yours thin, read what it cost you, and open it up to find out why.
- 3Design it for a hikerIn Phone LabA phone is for someone. A hiker needs one that lives through a creek and a rock. Change your phone until it meets both of the hiker's musts.
- 4Put it on the benchIn Phone LabA design is a guess until it is tested. Drop your phone, put it in a pocket with keys and sand, and dunk it in a sink.
- 5Keep two, choose oneIn Phone LabEngineers rarely stop at one design. Keep yours, make a second that scores higher for the hiker, and compare them side by side.
Work on a computer. The apps need a keyboard and a bigger screen than a phone: a laptop, desktop or Chromebook. You can pay here and open the emailed link on the computer.
One learner
Unlock the kit, $5
- All 5 steps, worked on screen, with a lesson you can print if you like paper
- Phone Lab activities that check the work as it is done
- A numbered certificate with a page of the learner's own work: your notes and the phone you designed
Have a discount code?
Co-ops and classes: unlock it for a group
One payment and one code. Each learner types the code to unlock the kit on their own computer, and gets their own certificate at the end. Your pack page shows who has started and finished.
See a sample certificate (PDF) · Already paid? Find your link