What it does
Open Design paradigm enables anyone to build, own, use, and repair STEM experiment kits. It addresses the poor lab kit-to-student ratio in underfunded K12 schools in India, transforming how STEM kits are designed, made, and delivered.
Your inspiration
India’s K12 curricula mandates practical science labs in schools at classes 11 and 12. Education boards in India prescribe specific experiments, and schools must equip labs with kits accordingly. While well-funded schools can afford multiple kits, most rural and underfunded schools own only a few kits, often just one per topic. This affects student performance during practical lab exams. Lack of space, staffing and budget issues add to the challenges. To address these, the open design paradigm was developed to design STEM experiment kits to improve access, affordability, and device-to-student ratio across Indian schools.
How it works
Open design refers to sharing designs, knowledge, and instructions needed to build experiment kits, enabling anyone to construct, own, and teach using them. Unlike open-source designs of complex products that often have knowledge barriers and manufacturability constraints to replicate, open design makes it possible for any literate individual to build a kit locally. This benefits underfunded schools by allowing them to create their own kits instead of buying and maintaining expensive ones. Open design operates at three levels: design-build-teach. At the design level, affordable, easy-to-build kits use accessible materials and manufacturing techniques (laser cutting). The kits are also lightweight and compact to store. The build level enables open access to design documents, including bills of materials, manufacturing files, and assembly instructions. The teach level trains teachers with videos or animations showing how to use the kits to teach STEM concepts.
Design process
The Open Design paradigm for STEM kit design operates at three levels: Design, Build, and Teach. 1.Design: The design process begins by selecting a STEM concept based on the value physical experimentation adds to learning. This is followed by checking whether a kit already exists and identifying its limitations in terms of learning effectiveness, price, size, and student interactivity. Designers follow constraints on material selection (affordable and locally available at hardware or retail stores), manufacturing methods (accessible machines like laser cutters or 3D printers), and the need for kits to be compact and disassemblable. Designs are iterated to meet these constraints while ensuring high student interaction potential with the kit. An example is the Coefficient of Friction kit made using MDF to measure the angle of repose of a surface. 2.Build: Build, enables anyone to construct the kit using open-access design documents available via a website. These include bill of materials, purchase sources, manufacturing files, assembly instructions, and DIY videos—allowing teachers to build the kits themselves. 3.Teach: Instructional videos demonstrate how to use the kits to conduct experiments and interpret results, enabling teachers to effectively teach students using the kits.
How it is different
The Open Design paradigm is unique as it removes the barriers present in traditional open-source/DIY design models. Replicating open-source designs in another region requires trained professionals to adapt the designs to locally available materials and manufacturing methods. Popular DIY ideas for STEM experimentation lack graphical instructions, require material scavenging, and are also not durable for long-term use. The Open Design paradigm addresses these issues at the design stage using low-cost and accessible materials and manufacturing processes, along with instructions for K12 teachers or anyone with basic literacy to build and own as many kits as needed and teach using them. Unlike commercially available kits that need purchase, repair/replacement, Open Design empowers underfunded schools to make and repair their own kits. It goes beyond information sharing by developing a sustainable model for design and manufacturing products in low resource settings.
Future plans
My future plan is to scale the Open Design approach through a dedicated web platform where designers around the world can contribute new STEM kit designs. The web application will allow K12 educators to access design documents and teaching content, as well as post their feedback and needs for new designs, connecting designers with educators. I aim to raise funding to develop this platform and to also establish a company that promotes accessible STEM education products in India. I also aim to build collaborations with government agencies to promote the Open design paradigm and its platform.
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