When starting the semester, I w as nervous because I was being put

into a group that I didn’t really know and wasn’t with in the first part of the

project. I was unsure how they would take me being added to their group

last minute. I also came in not knowing what the prototype I would be

w o r k i n g o n w a s . I h a d n o i d e a w h at i t e v e n l o o k e d l i k e . I r e m e m b e r g o i n g t o

the Bright Horizons Early Learning Center and the children interacting with

senior citizens was a cool experience because first I had never seen our

product and seeing it in inter generational play was a great experience. I

l e a r n e d w h a t o u r p r o d u c t w a s a b o u t an d h o w t h e c h i l d r e n a n d t h e s e n i o r

citizens played together with it. It made us notice how all tables can be

d i f f e r e n t a n d w e ma y n e e d t o t h i n k a b o u t t h i s a s p e c t w h e n t h i n k i n g o f t h e

tabletop activity. We talked with the activities facilitator after and she

s t a t e d t h e r e w a s a w o m a n t h a t w a s b l in d i n o n e e y e . W e t h o u g h t t h i s w a s

great because that meant if she could do it, then it could potentially be used

to help sharpen hand eye coordination. After experiencing our product, the

first time and seeing it in action I thought about the many benefits it had

and how it incorporated many loose parts along with lots of room for fine

motor which is something both children and senior citi zens alike need to

work on. When we first met my group was very accepting. It was interesting

to see all their majors and figure out why they were doing the independent

study. We discussed what we found form the Bright Horizons Early Learning

Center. We found we had mostly positives. We started to think what we

c o u l d f u r t h e r t o ma k e t h e p r o d u c t e v e n b e t t e r . W e w a t ch e d h o w 3 a n d 4 -

year-old worked with the product and how kindergarteners worked with the

product. We soon saw and while talking with the mentor t eacher that it was

challenging for the children to get the cubes to stay on and to all sometimes

put into the holes due to lack of some fine motor skills. We began adjusting

how we could fix the dowels. When we took it to the makers festival, we got

to see a lot of children and adults play with the prototype. The ages ranged

from 1 years old and up. This experience was another great experience to

tell people what we were working on and the struggles we were having so

far. Everybody had great suggestions. Th e biggest suggestion was a Forsner

bit to help us make the cubes have a flat bottom. The experience made us

think how we could change our product a little to get a better experience.

We began thinking about color because often that suggestion was thrown

out. We started thinking about different dowel lengths and we started

thinking about how the cubes could work better. We also decide to rethink

the handle and the size of the block. We experimented and decide to do both

squares and triangles I suggested putt ing circles in because I know circles is

one of the harder shapes to learn due to there being spheres. The circles did

not work with the product well enough though. We then tried to bring in

longer dowels to help the theory of loose parts while also giving the children

more things they could build. We went with 3 inches and 4inches and decided

to add a 6 inch. We worked with the cubes and how the would work to fit
the dowels, we drilled some holes all the way through and some only part

way through. Overall, we like the dowels all the way through. I measured

the shelves in the Fishback center to figure out how the box would fit on a

shelf if we changed it to a 14 by 14 by 5. It came that it would work. We

found a handle that would also work. All these modific ations made our

product the Connextion box. The name was something we had to change due

to their being a product similar. We also had a hard time making brochures

because we had so many ideas and couldn’t decide what we really wanted.

In the end two days before NAEYC we figured it out .

N A E Y C w a s a n e x p e r i e n c e I w o u l d n o t f o r g e t . I g o t t o m e e t so m a n y d i f f e r e n t

educators and talk to so many people about our prototypes. It really brought

out the best of my communication skills. When we first started the day, I

did not know what to say and it was hard to get people to stop and talk to

us about the great experience we had leading up to NAEYC. Eventually

t h o u g h I d i d n ’ t w an t t o l e a v e t h e f l o o r , I w a s a g r e a t e x p e r i e n c e t o g e t t o

tell about the prototype and what we did. Many people were impressed that

we were undergraduate students and that we worked together as 5 different

majors. It was an experience that we all become really close and something

I won’t forget. I am even more excited to continue the experience next

semester. Seeing how educators explored and become interested in our

experience and project. It made us feel go to know they really saw our

prototype in their classroom. NAEYC made me proud to be a future educator

and made me excited to be one. I am e xcited to see how it will go next

semester and build my knowledge as an educator while also getting to

experience something most undergraduates will not. I am ready for the next

chapter or this independent study .

At the expo it was like NAEYC, but it was d ifferent because it was students

l i k e u s w h o g o t o SD S U . W e a l s o d i d n o t t a l k t o a s m a n y p e o p l e a s w e d i d a t

NAEYC, but it was a fun experience to win best of show and tell students

a b o u t t h e i n t e r d i sc i p l i n a r y e x p e r i e n c e w e h a d . I a l s o g o t t o s e e t h e

prototype in action as a toddler came and played with it while his siblings

presented. It was another great experience to se it in action and how

children interact with it especially on the college campus. I got to play with

a t o d d l e r a n d e x p lo r e t h e p r o t o t y p e a l o n g w i t h a l s o g e t t i n g e x p e r i e n c e a s

and ECE major.