About

A light-emitting diode, simply known as an L-E-D, is a light source used in electrical displays and devices of all kinds. Small LEDs are used in electronics because they are cheap, tough, and reliable, and they come in different colours, shapes, and sizes. Large LED bulbs are replacing incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs to light our homes and buildings because they use less power, so they save money over their lifetime, even though they are more expensive to buy.
 

Your task

Design an LED clock with a novelty feature of your choice. By novelty, we mean that your LED clock should be new, original or unusual in some way. Your novelty LED clock can be for your home, or school, or any other place. Your novelty LED clock may be made of any suitable material, but it should have one or more LEDs and other electrical parts. It may use simple electronics, but it must safely enclose the electric parts. Construct a working model of your novelty LED clock 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.
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​​​​​​​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.