ATTAINABLE: Designing for Academic Engagement Through Sports and Exercise
At a young age, Micah Lynn was diagnosed with asthma, which made physical activity challenging for him. In middle school, he learned what it meant to push beyond his immediate circumstances and, through sport and exercise, overcame his disability. He later found out that the mindset he gained from this experience would turn out to be a foundation for working through many of the challenging circumstances in the rest of his life—and can be a catalyst for helping others overcome their own obstacles.
Micah’s thesis, Attainable: Designing for Academic Engagement Through Sports and Exercise, uses methodologies from sports and exercise as a design toolkit to encourage academic engagement in students. Although student disengagement is not a new issue, Attainable suggests techniques for reframing the problem, resulting in designed interventions that provide students with increased focus, communal support, and opportunities for career exploration.
Treadle
Treadle is a kinetic, charging foot pedal that features an embedded USB port. Treadle allows the user to fidget while simultaneously generating energy that can be used to charge their electronic devices, incentivizing its use and removing the distraction of fidget devices from the student’s direct line of sight.
What About the “I” in Team?
What About the “I” in Team is an experience that takes elements of cheerleading and applies them to individuals at the academic level. Through a structured three-step process, high school students get to know one another, make a flag for their partner, and celebrate them through personalized cheers. In doing this, students become more aware of the ways they can build each other up, and learn to facilitate growth in each other, creating stronger teams of academically successful students.
Odyssey
Odyssey is an app-based service that allows high school students increased exploration in their career opportunities of interest. Micah designed Odyssey to provide coaching and mentorship opportunities for students, as a means to increase student academic engagement. Through Odyssey, students can explore different career options through interning, while providing local businesses and professionals with little-to-no-cost help.
To learn more about Micah Lynn’s work, take a look at his projects in more detail at www.micahlynndesign.com.