Two classes came together this week to share ideas, exchange feedback and discover just how complex and rewarding the engineering process can be.
Grade 10 students in the STEAM 10 Experiential cohort and Grade 9 students in the Engineering 9 class joined forces to present, question and iterate on their group design projects. While each group tackled a different challenge, their collaboration highlighted the value of cross-grade learning and the reality that innovation rarely follows a straight path.
In Term 4, the STEAM cohort designed and 3D-printed assistive devices with the hope of meeting the standards set by the Victoria Hand Project (VHP), a non-profit that provides prosthetic solutions in underserved communities. The students developed three different concepts: a mouse adapter that clicks with a shoulder shrug, a prosthetic-compatible guitar strummer, and a “hands-free” book holder.
They presented their ideas to the Grade 9 students, who were quick to engage, ask questions and offer thoughtful feedback.
“Whichever group you’re looking at, there’s so much iterative design cycle work happening,” said science teacher Wonjin Kim. “It’s a cycle of prototyping, failing, improving. The students are learning that engineering a project is never as streamlined as you might think. There was a lot of good discussion about how each group approached the process differently.”
The Engineering 9 class, taught by Christopher Csaky, is in the midst of its own creative challenge: building an Arduino-controlled machine capable of playing Crokinole—a uniquely Canadian board game that rewards accuracy and strategy. Working in pairs, students designed and 3D-printed and incorporated various sensors and motors to compete against one another before combining their efforts into larger teams.
Grade 9 student Ben Cusack appreciated the collaboration.
“I really enjoyed making this machine because it was good to be able to get creative and think of new things to add and what to change,” he said. “It was really helpful to get the STEAM 10 group’s feedback because many of them did this challenge last year. They helped us see how we could do things a bit better next time.”
Not every Engineering 9 project worked perfectly—some students struggled to get their devices functioning in time. But they embraced the learning process, discussing their goals, setbacks and surprises with both their classmates and the older students. One group even began integrating AI to detect different puck colours, although they ran out of time to fully develop the idea.
“The students were doing the teaching and the learning,” Kim said. “One of the big takeaways for us as teachers is that in engineering and teamwork, it’s inefficient for the teacher to take centre stage. Our role is to help them get started, nudge them in the right direction, and then step back. So much of their growth comes from trial, error, peer feedback and iteration.”
The next milestone for the Grade 9 students is to test their Crokinole-playing machines with Grade 6 students. With a few rounds of refinement still ahead, they’re aiming to make their devices intuitive and ready for gameplay.
Overall, the students are understanding how to plan with design thinking in mind and that wouldn't be possible without the community connections with groups like the University of Victoria's Engineering and Science departments, as well as groups like the VHP. On-going relationships and community networking have allowed both SMUS faculty and the students to continue grow in their fields.
Whether designing for accessibility or building robots to play games, both classes discovered a deeper truth: real-world engineering is as much about the journey as it is about the result.
Photo Credit: Alex Zhang (Grade 12, Head of Photography Club)
