About

​​​​​​​A boombox is a portable music player with built-in speakers that is so called because it is meant to play music loudly. A boombox adds music when you are socialising with friends at picnics, outdoor parties, or get-togethers. Boomboxes were popular in cities in the USA in the 1970s and 1980s. Young people enjoyed playing music while skateboarding and socialising in the streets. Boomboxes are associated with acrobatic breakdancing and hip hop music.
 

Your task

Design a boombox for yourself. Your boombox may play music in any format that you like, whether a CD, USB stick, or wireless such as Bluetooth. Your boombox may be made of any suitable material, but it should have electrical components, and parts such as an amplifier, and speakers. It may use simple electronics, but it must safely enclose the electric parts. Construct a working model of your boombox and test it. Work on this project on your own, or together with a classmate.
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The design thinking stages

Follow the five design thinking stages to ensure that you think of everything and do everything necessary in order to succeed in your design project. First, you must UNDERSTAND the design topic and the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DECIDE what is important to your design solution and what is not so important. Then you CREATE to come up with ideas and improve them. Then you BUILD your chosen design idea in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Finally, you TEST your built design idea to get the opinions of users. ​​​​​​​Use the methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you follow the design thinking stages.
 

Note for teachers

Doing student design projects that use electrical parts or microcontrollers such as Arduino requires:

• teachers who are able to supervise such a project;
• laboratories or workshops with electrical and electronic parts and tools;
• and students who are trained to work with electricity, tools, and equipment.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the BUILD Stage for Level III to safely supervise this design project.