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By 8313814 | S Design a new school locker

Overview Instructions

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That thin metal box at school where you cram all your stuff? Lockers aren't designed for students today. In fact, the design of lockers hasn't changed since the days of your great grandparents!

But in the School of the Future things could be different. Reimagine the design of a 21st century locker you would need as a Maker. A locker you could use to keep all of your stuff for making!

Let's get started on the challenge to redesign your school locker.

We know that a locker is used to store things that you need throughout a school day. Our goal is to improve lockers from what we see in our school. We know that in the lockers in our schools, there is very little space for students to store their belongings. Because we are aware of this situation, our locker has plenty of space. It has room for people to even share lockers with others. This locker also has a filing cabinet and a shelf assembled to keep certain things in and on. The filing cabinet has five drawer and each drawer is a different size. We made it like this, so you can keep differently proportioned items in each drawer. In our school, the lockers are easy to open. Sometimes they don't close and sometimes they are easy for someone to unlock them. If they unlock easily then it is easy for some of your belongings to get stolen. The locker we designed has a thumb scanner which is programmed to scan your thumb to unlock. This scanner is also used to lock the locker, so you are sure it locks. If the locker does not recognize the thumb that has been scanned, then the locker leaves a notice for the owner to know. Another feature that has been added is that there is an outlet. People in school get aggravated that there phone or MP3 dies. Well now they have and outlet to charge it! Lastly, the locker has hooks to hang your jackets, sweaters, or gym clothes up. Underneath the clothes is a drain. This is placed on the floor, so if your clothes are wet nothing else would to. This is our locker design!

Comments

Good description. I would want a locker like this.

By 8290082, Student at 09:59 am, 09 March 2012

Collect Instructions

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Gather more information about your existing school lockers by taking photos, sketching, conducting interviews, or doing additional research.

Think About

  • What is the purpose of a school locker?
  • How has the way you use a locker changed since you first started school in kindergarten, for example?
  • How many times do you visit and open your locker each day?
  • Do teachers or school administrators have any safety or security concerns about lockers?  What are they?
  • What types of materials is your locker constructed from?

Try This

  • Take photos of a row of your school's lockers.  Open your own locker and take a photo of what's stored inside.
  • Make a list of all the features your locker currently has. (Examples: hooks, air slots, etc.)
  • Make a list of all the items you currently keep in your locker on a typical day.
  • Next to each item, make notes about what 'needs' that item has.  (Examples: my sweaty gym clothes need to kept away from my other things; my iPod needs electricity to be charged; my winter boots need a place to drip dry)
  • Make a list of all the items you wish you could store in your locker, but don’t have room for.
  • Measure the length, height, and depth of your current locker.
  • Measure the length, height, and depth of your backpack, books, coat / shoes, and other large objects you typically keep inside your locker.
  • Measure the width of your school's hallway.  How much of this width is taken up on both sides of the hallway when students stand in front of their open lockers?
  • Read this Washington Post article to learn more about some of the complaints students have with their lockers today.
  • Visit the websites of a few manufacturers to see various types of lockers currently made.  What do you like or dislike about these examples?

8313814's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
Think About: The purpose of a locker is to keep belongings needed for school in. It is used, so you don't always have to carry everything with you throughout the entire school day.
This is a picture that shows the lock of our current lockers in our school.
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This is a picture of a hook in our current lockers and is something we like about the lockers.
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This is the inside of the current lockers.
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This photo is another look of the internal part of the locker and it shows how deep the locker is.
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This is a picture of the entire locker which shows the length and width.
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This is what the locker looks like when there are things such as books, binders and notebooks in.
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This is the entire row of lockers in the school locker. There is a top and bottom row of lockers.
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Brainstorm Instructions

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Develop sketches or models to help you puzzle through new ideas and solutions.

Think About

  • Make a list of all the things you like about your current locker.  Ask several friends for their opinions.
  • Make a list of all the things you dislike about your current locker.  Ask several friends for their opinions.
  • Think about your locker not just as a metal box, but as another type of container.  What other types of containers do you use each day to store stuff?  (Examples: containers for food, clothing, household items)
  • Many animals, insects, and plants use containers to store things (Example: bees use honeycombs).  Check out some of the images in the Inspiration Gallery for other ideas of strorage units.
  • Keep in mind that your newly-designed locker will be one of many along the hallway.  How will these individual units all fit together?  How will several students use their lockers at the same time without bumping into each other?

Try This

  • Based on the information you collected above, brainstorm a list of special features you’d like your new locker to have.
  • Make lots of sketches to get your early ideas down on paper.  Learn from each different idea. 
  • Consider what materials the locker will be made from.  What materials will be durable against the wear and tear of student use over the years?

8313814's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
Think About: Personally, the only thing I do like about our lockers is that there are hooks, so you can hook your clothing up. Other people I asked thought the same.
Because it is easy to break into, the locker has a thumb scanner that only works for the owners of...
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This is a filing cabinet to keep textbooks, books, papers, and binders in.
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We thought of an outlet so people will be able to charge any of their electronic devices throughout...
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A cooler will be added to the locker for students to keep their lunch in. If you don't bring a...
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A shelf will be assembled to keep thing on top of that you cannot keep in the filing cabinet.
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There is a drain for anything wet that is spilling or for your wet clothing that is dripping.
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There is a hanging rod to hang any clothing that you need to leave in your locker.
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Develop Instructions

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Now's the time to take what you've learned from the steps above and develop your own solution for a new locker.

Try This

  • Use recycled cardboard to make a full-scale or half-scale prototype model of your locker.  You can't really understand if the locker will hold all your stuff, until you make a quick study model.  Don't worry about making a fancy finished model at this time. Instead, use cardstock, scissors, and tape to quickly create the large 3D form. See how it looks. Break off different sections, add new pieces, and try new ideas. Take photos of your model.
  • Sketch or use software such as Google SketchUp, AutoCAD, or Revit to put your ideas on paper.

8313814's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
We collected info and brainstormed together. Now, we used Google SketchUp and designed our locker. We were able to make it work and it has everything we wanted in the locker. Here is our design.
This is an internal view of the locker we designed.
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This is the external view of the locker. This photo focuses on the lock which is a thumb scanner...
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This photo is a closer look of the internal part of the locker. This picture shows the cooler,...
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Final Instructions

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The final step of the design process is to create a more finished model that communicates your ideas to others.

Try This

  • What color or colors will your locker be? What colors have inspired you?  Add colors to the digital model of your locker.
  • What materials will your locker be made of?  Choose materials and details to add to your digital model.
  • Include a human figure in your final locker model, so we can see how big your locker really is.
  • Upload additional images of your finished locker model to the slides for your project.  Write short captions explaining your ideas.
  • Congratulations on solving this design challenge!

8313814's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
We designed the locker on Google SketchUp and made a prototype. The prototype we made was similar to the design we made on Google SketchUp. Here is our final product!!
This the entire look of the locker we designed.
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This is the outside view of the locker.
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This picture is a closer view of the interior structure which shows the filing cabinet, cooler, and...
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