Summary:  Conduct an Idea Competition to encourage greater student participation in ATL activities and harness the ideas in a systematic and structured way.

Many students do not take an active part in the ATL activities even though their school has an ATL.  One of the key reasons is that they just don't know where to begin, and what to do at the ATL.   We need to find ways & means of engaging more students and driving greater participation in ATL activities.

Let the Mentor review the submitted ideas and provide feedback & suggestions to students.  Let the ATL in-charge provide necessary tinkering resources for students to bring their ideas to life.  The Mentor and the ATL in-charge can together guide students in the tinkering activities.  This way, we can get more students to begin their journey with the ATL.

The following tools can be used to create a physical Idea Box or an online Idea Submission Form:

The Idea Box, as the name suggests is a physical box with an opening slit at its top.  Students can write down their ideas on an Idea submission sheet, or a chit of paper, fold it and drop it into the box.  Here's an Idea Box designed using TinkerCAD 3D Design tool.  

1. Create a 3D Model of an Idea Box using any 3D modeling tool such as TinkerCAD CodeBlocks or TinkerCAD 3D Design.

2. Convert the 3D model of the Idea Box into a physical box using a 3D Printer available in the ATL. 

3. Download and print the Idea Submission Sheet and have several copies placed next to the Idea Box in the ATL.

4. Let ATL students fill up the Idea Submission Sheet on a piece of paper, fold it, and drop it into the Idea Box.  

The Idea Submission Form is an online version of the Idea Box.  It is an online form that students can fill-up to submit their ideas.  Here's an Idea Submission Form created using Google Forms.    

1. Create an online Idea Submission Form using Google Forms.

2. Let ATL students fill up the online Idea Submission Form and submit using a computing device or kiosk in the ATL.

Role of School Management:  Conduct an Idea Competition in the ATL.  

Role of Students: Articulate your idea clearly using the idea submission sheet / idea submission form and submit them in the Idea Box / Idea Submission Form.  Ask for feedback and suggestions from the Mentor and get tinkering resources from the ATL in-charge to prototype the submitted idea.

Role of Mentor(s): Review ideas submitted by students periodically and offer inputs & suggestions for refinement.  Conduct tinkering training sessions and guide students in realizing their ideas using tinkering resources available in the ATL.

Role of ATL In-charge:  Provide tinkering resources needed by students to take their ideas forward.

Set up one of the two in your ATL:

1. Physical Idea Box

2. Online Idea Submission Form

Submit the link / screenshot(s) / video-recording of the Idea Box / Idea Submission Form you have set up in your ATL.