6th grade at Takoma Park Middle School (Potomac, Maryland)
Honorable Mention
Smart devices have a growing role in our society. A smart device is an everyday object connected to the Internet or a local computer network that collects, processes, and shares information.[1] Smart devices have many wonderful attributes, and have increased productivity and connectivity for many people, but some devices, like the smartphone, can be disruptive in classrooms and prevent students from learning.[2] But what if there was a smart device for the classroom that could benefit all students and their learning? The right kind of device could play a huge part in improving the educational experience, making school more accessible and engaging for kids. Imagine the SmartDesk – the desk that knows you’re brilliant!
The SmartDesk is a desk that creates a customized and connected student learning environment. From the moment they sit down, the SmartDesk will make school accessible for kids by analyzing the student’s height and adjusting the height and angle of the work surface and chair to create a comfortable learning experience. This customization would help kids get work done by making the learning environment more personal and less distracting, and also be more work-friendly. Research has shown that this ergonomic benefit also improves academic performance.[3]
Another feature of the SmartDesk is that it has an embedded screen that connects to the teacher’s instruction screen, and displays the lessons directly to the students, whether the teacher is in the classroom or remote. Today, students in the back of the classroom might have trouble seeing the teacher at a distance, or may struggle to see over other students. The SmartDesk would make it easy for students to view lessons and presentations for the day, up close and in real time. Students could make the lesson display bigger or smaller, and adjust brightness levels to optimize their individual learning.
The SmartDesk can also show students their schedules. This means that the SmartDesk can show the students what class they will have next, and how much instruction time they have left in the current class. The SmartDesk can also display homework and assignment due date reminders, so that students can turn in all their work on time.
For some kids, focusing on schoolwork can be difficult because the lessons don’t appeal to their interests. SmartDesks have a way to solve this problem. Students can create profiles on the SmartDesk with their interests and favorite activities. Using this information, the SmartDesk can generate a student-specific learning experience each day, including personalized problem sets. This helps students be more engaged in schoolwork and enjoy school more, which research shows boosts learning.[4]
The SmartDesk only requires a limited amount of personal information, like a student’s ID, name, height, general interests, schedule, and account information. However, even with just this information, if it lacked a secure design the SmartDesk could potentially have a negative impact on students. The SmartDesk could share sensitive information with other users, allowing students’ privacy to be violated, which could lead to identity theft, or bank fraud later in life.
To prevent these privacy problems, we will add security features to the SmartDesk so that a user has to log in before the desk could disclose personal information. Students will login to the SmartDesk using an anonymous student ID and biometric identifiers such as fingerprints. These biometric identifiers would be deleted from memory when automatically logging students out at the end of each class, as a privacy and security best practice.[5]
SmartDesks work almost entirely offline, but they have a WiFi connection to receive software updates and store student data on a secure server located in the school. This server would be subject to strict cybersecurity controls, and would allow students to avoid recreating their profiles in each classroom and avoid storing any personal information locally on the SmartDesk. The SmartDesk would also connect to teachers’ screens to display lesson materials to students.
But even these limited network connections could be vulnerable to hackers without proper safeguards. For example, if the software updates were hacked, then malicious software could get onto the SmartDesk. Also, if the school server was compromised then children could have their personal information revealed. If a teacher’s computer was hacked, the hacker could display whatever they wanted on children’s screens.
SmartDesk minimizes these potential threats with good network security procedures. The SmartDesk will only download updates that have been approved by the school and the developer, verified by software certificates. Also, the school server would not be connected to the internet, to prevent remote hacking. Additionally, student data on the server will be encrypted using students’ passwords and anonymous ID’s. Finally, all student data will be deleted when the student leaves the school, and at the end of the school year. In the event that a teacher’s screen was hacked, the SmartDesk would automatically scan for non-school related content, and block hacked content in real time from student screens.
In conclusion, the SmartDesk would be a revolutionary classroom desk for students that would improve and personalize the educational experience in a safe, privacy-protective way. Its advanced features would allow all students to have a more accessible and engaging school experience, without the disruptiveness that devices like laptops or phones would bring. It really would be the desk that knows you’re brilliant!
These winning entries in the 2025 EngineerGirl Writing Contest showcase the lifecycle of everyday items and the types of engineering involved along the way. Congratulations to all winners and finalists!
8th grade at the Academy of International Studies at Rosemont (Norfolk, Virginia)
