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I design engineering projects

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for middle school[br]and high school students,

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often using materials[br]that are pretty unexpected.

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My inspiration comes[br]from problems in my daily life.

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For example,

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one time I needed a costume[br]to go to a comic convention,

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but I didn't want to spend too much money,

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so I made my own ...

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with a light-up crown and skirt.

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(Laughter)

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Another time,

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I was devastated[br]because my favorite mobile game,

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Flappy Bird,

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was being taken off the app store.

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(Laughter)

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So I was faced with the dilemma

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to either never update my phone[br]or never play Flappy Bird again.

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(Laughter)

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Unhappy with both options,

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I did the only thing[br]that made sense to me.

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I made a physical version of Flappy Bird

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that could never be[br]taken off the app store.

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(Laughter)

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(Music)

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(Beeping)

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(Music)

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(Laughter)

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So a few of my friends[br]were also pretty addicted to the game,

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and I invited them to play as well.

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(Video) Friend: Ah!

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(Laughter)

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(Video) Friend: What the heck?

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(Laughter)

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And they told me that it was[br]just as infuriating as the original game.

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(Laughter)

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So I uploaded a demo[br]of this project online,

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and to my surprise it went viral.

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It had over two million views[br]in just a few days.

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(Laughter)

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And what's more interesting[br]are people's comments.

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A lot of people[br]wanted to make it their own,

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or asked me how it was made.

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So this kind of confirmed my idea[br]that through a creative project,

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we can teach people about engineering.

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With the money made from the viral video,

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we were able to let students[br]in our classroom

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all make their own game in a box.

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Although it was pretty challenging,

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they learned a lot of new concepts[br]in engineering and programming.

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And they were all eager to learn[br]so they could finish the game as well.

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(Laughter)

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So before Flappy Bird Box,

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I had the idea of using creative[br]engineering projects to teach students.

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When I was teaching at a middle school,

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we asked our students to build a robot[br]from a standard technology kit.

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And I noticed that[br]a lot of them seemed bored.

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Then a few of them[br]started taking pieces of paper

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and decorating their robots.

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And then more of them got into it,

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and they became[br]more interested in the project.

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So I started looking[br]for more creative ways

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to introduce technology to students.

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What I found was that most technology kits[br]available in school

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look a little intimidating.

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They're all made of plastic parts[br]that you can't customize.

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On top of that,[br]they're all very expensive,

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costing hundreds of dollars per kit.

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So that's certainly not very affordable[br]for most classroom budgets.

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Since I didn't find anything,

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I decided to make something on my own.

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I started with paper and fabric.

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After all, we all played[br]with those since we were kids,

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and they are also pretty cheap

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and can be found[br]anywhere around the house.

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And I prototyped a project

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where students[br]can create a light-up creature

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using fabric and googly eyes.

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They were all helping[br]each other in classrooms,

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and were laughing[br]and discussing the project.

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And most importantly,

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they were able to insert[br]their own creativity into the project.

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So because of the success of this project,

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I continued to create[br]more engineering projects

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to challenge my students.

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And I also started to take[br]these workshops outside of school

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and into the community.

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And something really interesting happened.

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I noticed a lot of people[br]from very diverse backgrounds

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started coming to our workshops.

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And specifically,

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there were a lot more women[br]and minorities than I expected,

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and that you wouldn't usually see[br]at a traditional engineering workshop.

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Now take a look at this employee report[br]at a major technology company in 2016.

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Women make up only 19 percent[br]of the technology workforce.

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And underrepresented minorities[br]make up only four percent.

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This statistic might look familiar

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if you walked into[br]a high school robotics club,

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or a college engineering class.

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Now, there's a wide variety of problems

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that contribute to the lack of diversity[br]in the technology force.

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Perhaps one solution could be

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to introduce technology to students[br]through creative projects.

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I'm not saying that this[br]could solve everything,

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but it could introduce technology

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to people who originally[br]wouldn't be interested in it

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because of how it has been[br]portrayed and taught in school.

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So how do we start to change[br]the perception of technology?

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Most students think[br]that it's boring or unwelcoming,

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so I have always designed projects[br]following three principles.

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First is having a low floor,

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and that means this project[br]is easy to get started.

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So take a look at this tutorial.

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The first project[br]we asked students to learn

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is to make a circuit on paper.

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As you can see, it doesn't[br]take very long to learn,

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and it's pretty easy even for beginners.

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And having a low floor also means[br]that we're removing the financial barrier

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that prevents people[br]from completing a project.

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So with paper, copper tape,[br]lightbulb and a battery,

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people can complete this project[br]for under a dollar.

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So second principle[br]is having a high ceiling.

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This means that there's[br]a lot of room to grow,

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and students are[br]constantly being challenged.

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At first it might just be[br]a light-up creature,

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but then you can add sensors[br]and microcontrollers,

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and start to program the creature[br]to interact with its environment.

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(Laughter)

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And finally,

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the third principle is customization.

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This means that we can make[br]this project relevant to anyone.

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That's the beauty[br]of using everyday materials;

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it's very easy to customize[br]using paper and fabric.

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So even if you don't like Flappy Bird,

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you can still make your own game.

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(Video) Student: So our game[br]is about Justin Bieber,

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because he's been speeding,

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and the object is to prevent him[br]from getting caught by the LAPD --

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(Laughter)

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(Video) Student:[br]Yeah, but he's changing so --

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we're a part of his posse.

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(Laughter)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)