Engineering Students Turn Storage Room Into Interactive Learning Environment
(UCBJ) – When special education students at Upperman High School in Baxter, Tenn., return to class this fall, they’ll discover that what was once a storage room between their classrooms has become an immersive sensory space inspired by the glowing world of Avatar.
Complete with a fiber-optic tree, interactive sensory boards, calming lights and tactile activities, the room was designed and built by Tennessee Tech University engineering students through Tech Engineering for Kids, a service-learning program that has paired engineering students with children and families with special needs for more than 25 years.
“This is our project for Dynamics of Machinery, which is one of our junior-level courses,” said engineering student Ezekiel Cortez. “In it, you have a list of options for families with special needs children. From those options, we choose our different projects.”
Applications submitted through Tech Engineering for Kids connect engineering students with schools and families seeking customized equipment that is unavailable commercially or requires modification, said engineering professor Stephen Canfield, who organizes the program.
“One aspect that really impressed me about this team was their creative view for the overarching design,” he said. “They were given an open-ended task – to come up with equipment for a sensory room that will be used by students of various ages and skill levels. The team centered their idea around a mystical forest, and each component of their design contributed to that theme.”
Upperman teachers intentionally left the assignment open-ended, inviting the engineering students to observe the classrooms, learn about students’ needs and develop a tailored solution.
“Between two groups, we decided to do two different sensory boards and a fiber-optic tree,” said engineering student Alexi Freemon.
The team’s design transformed the former storage room into a calming sensory environment where students can regulate their emotions before returning to class. The fiber-optic tree provides gentle lighting, while the sensory boards encourage hands-on exploration through movement, lights and sound.
One board features gears, knobs, handles and other tactile elements. The second incorporates electronic circuitry programmed with a Raspberry Pi microcomputer to create interactive visual and audio experiences.
“The students just need somewhere to unwind, somewhere to go where they can be calm in their environment,” Cortez said. “If they’re getting overstimulated or encounter challenges throughout the day, being in this [sensory room] environment with the low light and the fiber-optic tree gives them a place to relax. They have tactile, audio and visual experiences where they can go in there and feel engaged and safe.”
Upperman special education teacher and Tech alumna Allyssa Peters said the engineering students transformed the school’s vision into something even better than expected.
“Tennessee Tech’s engineering program really made our vision come to life,” Peters said. “The student team has been amazing. They had a lot of creativity in putting this together.”
Teachers also requested removable components for the sensory boards that could accompany students back into the classroom.
“The independence of the components was important,” Peters said. “They built busy boards with parts that can be removed and taken into the classroom with the student when he or she is ready to return to that environment.”
The project challenged the engineering students to apply classroom concepts to real client needs.
“I think this class is important because this is my first time really working on a project like this,” said Jacob Merritt. “I’m a junior, and up until this point we’ve mostly been doing the theory of engineering. With this, we get to put it into practice – and it also helps someone in need, which I think is really cool.”
Engineering student Kylie Truong said visiting Upperman was one of the most rewarding parts of the semester.
“I think my favorite thing was when we went to Upperman High School because we got to meet the students… then we implemented that into our project,” she said.
Freemon enjoyed watching the project evolve from sketches and ideas into a finished installation.
“Seeing this come together as a whole, as a team, having this one concept, then a design, then our materials and components arriving — I loved watching that transition,” she said.
For engineering student George Songer, the project reinforced the importance of learning by doing.
“Having hands-on stuff in college is really important because that way you can show that the things you’ve learned in class, you know how to apply outside of class in a practical sense,” he explained.
While the project gave Tech students valuable engineering experience, its greatest impact will be felt in the years ahead. Long after the semester has ended, the sensory room will continue serving Upperman’s students as a place to calm, regroup and return to learning.
Learn more about Tech Engineering for Kids at www.techengineeringforkids.com.
Photo courtesy of Tennessee Tech. Pictured from l. to r.: Tennessee Tech engineering students Ezekiel Cortez, Jacob Merritt and Alexi Freemon deliver one of the sensory boards to Upperman High School. The board is part of an immersive sensory room for special education students at the high school, providing a calming space for students to regroup and regulate their emotions.
