Designers know that what we design and make is more often than not based on a specific need. I needed to come up with a solution to continue to conduct my experiments in the event that the observation room is unavailable. The solution needed to provide me with a situation that would be as close as possible to that of the observation room. The most important point is to observe the subject in the experiment without being seen by that subject.

My original solution was to create a folding divider one-way glass screen. However, transporting and storing this screen seemed cumbersome. Hence, this first solution was simplified to a single one-way glass screen and a stand that would be easy to transport and store. The materials used to make the observation screen were readily available and inexpensive—just what a student needs.

Materials:
• 1 A1 frame (plexiglass is recommended to avoid the glass breaking)
• 1 roll of one-way mirror film
• 1box (the stand)

Instructions:
• Clean frame thoroughly and apply film
• Measure thickness of the frame and cut grooves into the two shortest sides of the box from top to bottom the same width as the thickness of the frame (3 inches from the front of the box)
• Reinforce the joints with tape (1)
• Place frame in grooves





The fact that the screen leans back in the grooves creates enough shadow on the observation side and enough light hitting the the subject side to allow the screen to function correctly.

Voila! Now you have a portable observation screen.