4th Graders Design High-Visibility Vests

This fall, 4th grade students explored all phases of the design process in their CEL class. The problem they uncovered? Many essential workers are required by law to wear high-visibility clothing to keep them safe, however, protective gear isn’t necessarily worn daily. The idea to make high-visibility safety vests came from the students’ curiosity about PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), like masks that we’re required to wear to protect against viruses. While researching PPE, the 4th graders discovered a problem with high-visibility clothing: it lacked fashion appeal and therefore people were less likely to wear it. Their solution? Encourage more people, especially kids, to wear fashionable, unique vests to keep them safe! Through the course of developing their vests, they learned how to source fabric, cut sewing patterns, work a sewing machine, create custom, reflective decals on the vinyl cutter, and iron their designs onto their vests. With the help of the many tools and technologies available in our CEL maker space, students created colorful and customized vests that reflected their shining personalities and individual style. If you were to ask the fourth graders, testing them out during morning drop-off in the Lower School loop was a huge highlight!