student made stress management mask

Sean Tibor, a teacher based at
Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, has been in touch about a cool project
created by one of his students called Dilnaam D.

Sean is one of the co-hosts (along with his colleague
Kelly Schuster-Pared) of the excellent
Teaching Python podcast. I’ve been working
through the available episodes and constantly find myself grinning like the
Cheshire Cat as I’m reminded of my own experiences as a teacher (of music), and
learn how this talented duo of pedagogical pros practice the art of teaching
technology, and especially Python. I heartily recommend you take a listen.

Onto the intriguing student project…

Dilnaam’s
project is a sort of
interactive face mask, made with an
Adafruit Circuit Playground Express,
CircuitPython and Mu. The mask allows
folks to become aware of and manage their stress levels (very useful for
teachers!). Dilnaam explains:

This mask was made to demonstrate how a CircuitPlayground Express could be
used to measure body temperature and indicate stress levels. My theory is
that body temperature is an indicator of stressful feelings and that people
can better control their stress when they have a visual indication of their
own stress state.

In the picture below, we can see see Sean bravely acting as a test subject
as (presumably) Dilnaam looks on while making adjustments to the code in Mu.
A teacher acting as a test subject for their students shows a wonderful sense
of trust. This is great to see! 🙂

This scene reminds me of Wallace and Gromit,
where the silent, loyal and infinitely patient Gromit
aids the cheese obsessed Wallace
in testing intriguing inventions made from advanced technology and
household items cleverly put together in unexpected ways (usually with
unfortunate repercussions for poor old Gromit). However, I notice the Circuit
Playground Express board attached to the side of Sean’s head is glowing green,
demonstrating the test was a success (well done Sean for being such a chilled
out test subject).