Fidget Frenzy

Armorel High School

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For this project, our elementary counselor came to us and said they were having a problem with an abundance of stress and anxiety as the new school year started, especially among new students to the district. Using critical thinking, we brainstormed multiple ideas and evaluated which solutions would be the most practical, sustainable, and beneficial for students. After considering several options, we determined that creating and distributing fidget tools could help students manage stress, anxiety, and nervous energy while remaining engaged in the classroom. At the beginning of our year in our EAST classroom, we begin by learning different skills that can be used within the EAST classroom. One of these skills is learning to do 3D design. From this unit we used the opportunity to advance all of our students design skills by making fidgets as they learned these design skills. The project required strong teamwork throughout the entire process. Students worked together to share design ideas, provide feedback, troubleshoot challenges, and assist one another in learning new skills. By combining our efforts, we were able to create a variety of fidgets that could be of use to the students of needed. Finally, we delivered the initial fidget box to the elementary counselor. All of the elementary teachers loved the fidget boxes, giving an abundance of positive feedback, and they insisted that we continue the initiative into every classroom. We continued to design and print more fidgets, accumulating more and more boxes. This enables students to use fidgets to decompress while not having to go down to the counselor to check out one.