Keyboards sprout new life as planters in award-winning project

The creative minds of five DeMello Elementary School students served as keys to success as they transformed old computer keyboards into new homes for plants.

Their efforts earned the rising sixth graders first prize in the recent Project Invention Convention at Bridgewater State University and the chance to present the project at the Monday, July 22 School Committee meeting.

The convention encourages students in grades five to eight to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics by teaming up to work tougher to create an invention.

For their creation, five fifth graders Juniper, Jamison, Makenzie, Anthony and Samara decided to give new life to old materials.

After considering potential ideas, they focused on a closetful of computer keyboards gathering dust after the schools switched to Chrome Books. The computer hardware had been recycled, the students learned, but the keyboards languished behind.

How, they wondered, could they be given a new and purposeful life?

After some brainstorming, an idea sprouted: The keyboards could be used to nurture seeds into plants.

With steps that included removing the keys, plugging the holes at the bottom, placing sprouts on damp paper towels and pulling the sprouts through the keys, they created a growing tray that could nurture plants.

The effort blossomed successfully, said Liz Voci, a technology teacher at the DeMello and Cushman schools, who guided the students through the process. In fact, some of the beans grown in the trays were subsequently replanted in her garden, she said.

The planter project did not end their re-invention efforts. They also used the keys that had been removed from the boards as pieces for a game they described as a combination of Scrabble and Monopoly. The students hope this game could be used by elementary school students to learn more about the science of plants.

Their first-place win was especially impressive, Voci noted, because the fifth graders were in the youngest group of competitors.

School Committee members unanimously praised the students for their accomplishment and Voci for her support. “I’m flabbergasted,’’ committee member John Nunes said. “My computer skills don’t exist. That is something I would not have thought of.’’

As with many generations of inventors before them, the students made sacrifices for their work. In this case, the students reported, they gave up three of their five weekly recess periods to hone their creation.

“I’m so proud of them,’’ Voci said.