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Jake and Ruthie's Locker Project!!

By jake hudson | 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 were presented with the problems of the modern-day locker, its uses and how it could be better. Throughout this project we took steps to figure out how students used their lockers but also how they could be better and more efficient for students. Another problem we were faced with was how can the lockers be more presentable and more eye-popping to make the school look better! We conducted our research by going out into the hallways, examining the lockers and exchanging information on what we liked and disliked about lockers we have today in our schools.

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?

jake hudson's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
-The purpose of a locker is to story any item that a student cannot carry on their own or what they would like to store during classes.
To start out Ruthie and I walked out into the hallway to get a look at the lockers. We examined how...
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Ruthie and I started off our examinations at the front of the locker. Every locker looks exactly...
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After we examined the outside of the locker Ruthie and I focused more on the lock. As of now,...
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After Ruthie and I could figure out our combination.. we finally got inside of the locker and got a...
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After getting over the fact that lockers are a little WAY too boring we started thinking about its...
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I have already mentioned that there is simply not enough room. How about I put this into...
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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?

jake hudson's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
What students like about current lockers: -Hooks -Holds stuff What students dislike about current lockers: -Lack of space -Unappealing -Some of the lockers are too low. -Forgetting lock #
During our Brainstorming we started out with one component of the locker. That component was the...
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This picture is a more in detail drawing of our locker but not a fully finished drawing. In the...
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This is our final draft of what we want our locker to look like. I drew a an open view and a closed...
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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.

jake hudson's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
For developing a solution for the final solution we collected all of our brainstorming ideas to produce our ideal locker.
This is a picture of our final design sketched out onto paper. We will refer to this picture as be...
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This is the shoe box we started with and would create our locker out of.
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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!

jake hudson's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
Our locker is a simple yet effective design to fit the needs of the normal highschool student. Inside of our locker we put two shelves so that you can put books and other things for easy access.
This is the outside of our locker showing the touchscreen we added for easy access to the locker.
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This is the inside of our locker showing the things we put into it to make it a working locker for...
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