Guest Educator, Jana Gerard: Pocket Manifestos
Every year, the ISTE Playgrounds are a total whirlwind. They’re built for educators to just wander, wonder, and get their hands dirty experimenting with the future of learning. For my session, I wanted to tackle a challenge that’s been on my mind for a while: How do we stop treating the Humanities as an afterthought in STEM?
Too often, “The A in STEAM” gets reduced to just making an engineering project look pretty. I wanted to flip that script. My goal was to show higher ed and teacher prep educators how to bring ethics, empathy, and storytelling directly into tech design.
The vehicle for this big conversation? A quick, hands-on maker project we called the Pocket Manifesto.
The Challenge: Tech with a Soul
When educators stopped by our station, they grabbed a “Humanity Card” with a specific design constraint—like designing for a world without spoken language.
The task was simple but profound: write a one-sentence ethical design manifesto on a folded piece of paper, then build a hidden paper circuit beneath it. When you fold the card shut and press down firmly on your words, the circuit completes, and a hidden light illuminates your message from behind.
It was a beautiful, literal reminder that the best technology always starts with a human story.
The Real Game-Changers: Fabric Tape & Reusable Power
Let’s be real for a second—running a fast-paced, drop-in maker station for an hour can be stressful if the materials are finicky. I
’ve built paper circuits with traditional copper tape for years, but for this session, I used the Chibitronics Conductive Fabric Tape.
Honestly? It is an absolute game-changer.
If you’ve ever watched a student (or a fellow faculty member!) get frustrated because copper tape tore around a corner, or because a tiny wrinkle broke the connection, you need to try the fabric tape. It’s incredibly forgiving, smooth to lay down, and handles corners like a dream. It completely lowered the barrier to entry at my station, so we spent our time discussing deep design ethics instead of troubleshooting broken tape lines.
We paired the tape with the new Chibitronics Launchpad Batteries and Launchpad LEDs. The absolute best part about this combo? They are completely reusable!
In higher ed and teacher prep, sustainability and budgets are always top of mind. Being able to show educators a circuit that can be easily taken apart, repurposed, and remixed for the next class challenge is exactly what makes these tools a sustainable win for everyday classrooms.
Lighting Up the Classroom
By the end of the hour, our table was covered in paper scraps, glowing cards, and incredibly energized educators. Seeing professors and future teachers realize they could weave ethics and circuitry together in minutes was the ultimate reward.
Right: Dr. Jie Qi (Co-Founder and CEO of Chibitronics Inc.)
If we want our students to navigate an increasingly complex world, we have to teach them to design with empathy. Thanks to a little fabric tape, a clever switch, and some brilliant Chibitronics LEDs, we sent educators home with a physical reminder that tech is at its best when it shines a light on our shared humanity.
Did you get to check out the Playgrounds at ISTE this year? What does “The A in STEAM” look like in your neck of the woods?
Dr. Jana Gerard is the Director of the Learning and Teacher Center at Northwest Missouri State University.
In a session called Reimagining the A in STEAM, held at the Higher Ed Playground at ISTELive 2026, Jana invited participants to build a “Pocket Manifesto” with a humanities twist.
In collaboration with Jie Qi of Chibitronics, participants added circuits to add light to their personal stories.
