Capstone · Step 2
Capstone: Build Something Real
The project you proposed. Now you build it, in public.
- Grades 7 to 12
- Time The rest of the trimester
- Difficulty Varies, it's your project
This is what everything else this trimester built toward. You picked a track, wrote a proposal, and got it approved. Now you build it for real, and you show it at the trimester showcase where people who aren't Mr. Krigger get to see it. If your build drifts from your proposal along the way, that's normal, just say what changed and why in your written document.
What you'll learn
- Whatever your track teaches at real depth: robot programming, fabrication and design, software development, or content production
- How to run a project against a deadline you set yourself, and adjust when reality disagrees with your plan
What you need
- Your approved proposal
- Your track's certification and the tools that come with it
- Any materials you flagged in your proposal, gathered and ready
The goal
Build the project from your approved proposal. Combine two or more skills from class, or push one skill somewhere genuinely hard.
If your project changes along the way, that's fine. Say what changed and why in your written document. Silently shipping something different from what you proposed is the one thing that actually costs you points here, not the changing itself.
Base and Stretch
Base · everyone
A working project that does what your proposal said, or an explained change. Two or more skills integrated, or one taken deep. The written explanation document. Project files, photos, or build evidence in one place. Shown at the trimester showcase.
Stretch · required for HS, bonus for MS
Push past your Must-have into a Should-have feature from your proposal, or take your project to a more finished, public-facing version.
If your project uses the machines
- Eye protection near the blaster field
- Never fire at a person's face
- Nothing cutting or printing unattended
- Batteries charged at the station
- Report damage, a burn smell, or an injury right away. You will not be in trouble for reporting something.
The written document
One page, not a slide deck. This is how you show you actually understand what you built, and it's what you'll be asked about if someone stops by your table at the showcase.
| What it does | Two or three sentences |
| How it works | The actual mechanism, what talks to what |
| Skills used | Which ones, and if it's one skill pushed deep, what made it hard |
| Problems you hit | At least one real one, and what actually fixed it |
| What you'd add with more time | Be honest, not aspirational |
The showcase
Finished work from every track, shown in public, at the end of the trimester. Bring your project and be ready to run it for someone who's never seen it before.
Since your work gets published on this site, bring at least one photo or a short clip of it actually working. Not a produced video, just evidence.
What you turn in
- The working project: photos, a short clip, or files, whatever fits your track
- The written explanation document, as a PDF or DOCX
- Whatever your track produces: a code repository, the physical object, a published piece
Vocabulary
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Iteration | Building a rough version, then improving it, rather than trying to get it perfect the first time |
| Scope creep | A project quietly growing past what was originally planned, usually one small addition at a time |
| Integration | Making two or more skills genuinely work together, not just sitting next to each other |