when a design fails

The design challenge is a seed (Build a chair from cardboard!)
you place in a transparent cup with a damp paper towel
your ideas are the sunny window
where you will place the cup.

Convinced plants will emerge with
air, water, sun, nutrients and eventually soil.
You got this!

Not getting the sturdy leafy plant
because you know the answer to “What a seed needs to grow”
but wistful stedfast observation
and adjustments when the dry air evaporates the paper
and the seed shrivels or molds from overcorrection.

The design challenge prototype crushed
after several enthusiastic tests
that quench classmates’ urge to expose limits.

And yet, after tears form
from crushed expectations of immediate confident success
a reimagining stabilized by the discovery of weakness.
The design process proceeds.
To improve and test again.
Celebration awaits. Of either the ongoing process or the product.

Possibly both.

NOTE: Last week’s post was inspired by a STEAM project where elementary students were asked to go through the Design Process to build a chair out of cardboard. In a couple of instances, a cardboard chair was tested without permission by classmates. The result: flattened cardboard. Big feelings were expressed. Recovery involved recognition that the design process is circular.

These pictures of a few finished designs were taken and shared by 3rd and 4th graders.

Inspired by September Poetry Prompt Calendar: 9/27/2026 and In the Middle of a Forest, I Turn Off My Life by Kelli Russell Agodon