This had to be the hardest project I have worked on in the semester so far. Not because I struggled to understand how to make the LEDs light up or to make a switch with the battery and the copper tape, though both were challenging in their own right. No, the assignment was the most difficult because it caused me to share my personal and emotional feelings about someone I cared about with the class, something I often struggle to do. While I believe I put so much effort into this project because of who I dedicated it to, it was very difficult to start working on the card because I knew that eventually, I would have to share it with the class.

If I were to use this in a future lesson plan, I think I would make it an option to make it for someone the students’ love so that if they were uncomfortable with sharing such a personal message they could make a generic card. Or I might allow them to place a sticky note on top of their card informing me that they do not want to share it with the class so that I would be able to see that the circuit works, the card lights up but I would not read the messages inside. This way I would still be able to assess a student’s understanding of the material without making it mandatory for students to share something personal that may be uncomfortable. I believe this project is better suited for junior high and high school students as combining serious emotional feelings behind a card and using a soldering iron should only be used by older students who may be more mature enough to handle both the tools and the topics of the assignment.

In this project, my creative process dealt heavily with the Ask and Imagine parts of the Design Thinking Process. I spent a lot of time considering how I wanted to portray my ideas, what exact ideas I wanted to portray in the card. Additionally, much of my time then led to the Build portion of the process as I drew and redrew countless sketches of my card before I was satisfied with a possible final idea. The Evaluate part of the Design Thinking Process was very long and arduous as many times the LEDs would work and then I would place them all down temporarily with tape and attach the battery holder, which I chose to use as a switch, and they would not light up causing me to rework the order of the lights or the battery itself. Afterward, I talked about my project (Share) with the class multiple times throughout the process. As such, this is the first time I have truly felt like the Design Thinking Process is a cycle and strongly felt a close connection between the assignment and the creative process. As there were multiple times that we shared our projects in class I was able to start the process all over again and add more to my card making my final version the best one I believe I could have made.

Even though it was not originally the intention to have the project due as late as it was I think this amount of time is necessary. As this project is very challenging and the solder was not working originally, nor would the iron cool down after a long time; the extra time allotted to the project allowed me to complete the assignment and have a finished project that I could present in class. Additionally, everytime I got one LED to work I was interested in adding more as I was inspired by the project from an older student who got many LEDs to work on one battery to work that I kept adding more and more pages to my card that I was adding batteries and lights up until the night before it was due. This allowed me to practice and expand my skills as well as make the best card I could in my grandfather’s memory.

Despite the struggles, I faced while working on this project it allowed me a chance to open up about feelings and memories I had not thought about in a very long time. Additionally, I did enjoy learning how to solder the LEDs to the copper tape and make a circuit card that I could give to someone that could last for a long time. While it was hard at times to feel comfortable working those into my art, I am glad that I was able to make a card in honor of my grandfather whose stories continue to inspire me to this day.

-Unfortunately, there were no good pictures of the front cover as they all came out exceedingly blurry every time but it did work during the presentation so I am glad that all the switches turned on and off by opening and closing the flaps and everyone was able to see the lights work.