This program gives students
the opportunity to be part of the lesson development as their
design may be different then a scripted version. It engages the
students in the process. It is empowering for students to have a
voice in what they are creating and in how they show what they
know. When we teach through interdisciplinary units, it is much
easier for students to make connections and bring their thinking
to a higher level. The teachers are exposed to learning about
the Massachusetts Science Framework, strand 4, as well as
learning about what engineers do.
Major points:
Meets all the learning principles of
the Massachusetts Science Framework
Promotes higher-order thinking
skills.
Invites the incorporation of
instructional technology into the curriculum.
Engineering is differentiated:
offers an "in" for learners of all types.
Rich cross-curricular possibilities.
Integration with math is an important
way to show students how and why math is relevant
and useful in the world.
Directly connected with improvement
of living conditions/safety/health and welfare of
people.
Engages both students and teachers
in an exciting learning process.
How
does the program teach innovation or entrepreneurship?
This
program explicitly addresses innovation and
entrepreneurship in the following ways.
First:there is an explicit
focus on needs finding. Students must identify with
characters in in the story, and decide what
opportunities might exist to help those characters. As
such, the program is heavily focused on the
entrepreneurial skill of opportunity identification and
assessment.
Second:
because the program is heavily oriented toward the kinds
of thinking skills that the engineering design process
requires, it includes substantial emphasis on the kinds
of thinking that lead to innovation. In particular,
teachers and students use divergent and convergent
thinking processes and techniques (e.g., brainstorming,
criteria-based idea selection) as they develop their
ideas for how to respond to the needs of characters in
literature.
Finally: the
design of the professional development workshop is meant
to lead to curricular innovation. While participants
will be introduced to various techniques and the
framework, the participants will be responsible for
designing their own projects, and will utilize
innovation-oriented design techniques to do so.
Testimonials'
Hi Karen and Bill
I think it will be very engaging for my students,
and I'm excited to try something new for the simple
machines science units. The connection to literature
seems like it will set a whole new purpose for a
final project, and hopefully lead into new ways for
us to think about solving problems in stories.
I really enjoyed the class, and if you offer any
other 2 day classes as follow up either during the
school year or next summer I would be interested.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Catherine 7/2012
Hi Karen,
Thanks again to you and Bill for a wonderful,
engaging class. I think you gave us some fabulous
tools and strategies for incorporating engineering
into our classrooms. I'm excited to try things out
this fall. It's always great to add some new energy
to your class, and I have always felt that we lack
engineering strategies in classrooms today and it
inhibits the kids' growth in approaching problem
solving (in every aspect of their day).
I hope you have a relaxing summer!
Betsy , 7/2012
Hi Bill and Karen, Thank you Karen for doing such a
concise summary of our age group engineering
instructions. It's a usable document to share at
our PLC leadership meeting tomorrow. One
representative from each grade level attends the
leadership meeting to discuss with our principal the
items we undertake the following week at our grade
level PLC meetings. With 5 classrooms for each
grade level, K-5, this would be a nice way to
promote the Engineering strand into more active use
in our building. Thanks again, and see you on
Tuesday.
