Tasked with ending the distraction of texting while driving, the teams entered the board room on Feb. 13 and presented their solutions.

The teams of Horizon 8C eighth-graders took on the various roles of manager, engineer, microelectronics technician, web designer and advertisement specialist for the daylong project that involved testing the difference texting makes on reaction times and designing a prototype that would eliminate the distraction of cell phones while driving.

The activity provided students with problem-based learning that infused STEM and 21st century skills, including collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity, into an engineering situation for students to address.

The students spent the day doing research on the problem, including experiments to reach their conclusions, developing a website, and preparing a presentation with their suggested proposal to solve the situation. They used the engineering design process to identify the need or problem, research the need or problem, develop possible solutions, select the best solution, construct a prototype, test and evaluate the solution, redesign if necessary and communicate the solution.

The day culminated in the board room presentations, with community members invited to serve as board members to evaluate the proposals.