Handouts are available for download at the end of the transcript.

Video Transcript

Hi Science Teachers,

Welcome to Science Teacher Summer School, Episode 5.

I’m Kent Lui, and something you may not know about me is I took swim lessons as an adult. Up until that point, I was doing what my mom taught me – which basically meant I was doing it all wrong. The first time I learned how to kick properly, it was like woah! I can go so much faster Now, let’s get to work.

Today, our question comes from a viewer:

“How does one gradually prepare students to do an engineering project on their own? For instance, in writing you might start with asking students to pick a topic and then a thesis and then sources, then an outline, you might then teach transitions and the basic 5 paragraph essay and expand from there. I guess I’m asking what would be the equivalent process for one’s first engineering project?”

Thanks for your question, Fawn. My students do a few engineering projects each year – from calorimeters, to solar ovens, to balloon powered cars, and to something I call physical messaging.

I always follow these 5 steps: Define, Research and Build, Test, Repeat, and Report. First I will define problem for students and the constraints they must adhere to. For example, in the balloon car design project, the problem I define is that students must build a balloon car that travels the furthest straight-line distance. Thus, if the car moves in a curve, we still just measure the straight-line distance from beginning to end. Besides defining the problem, I define the constraints too, like final design must run on land (in other words, it must be a car and not a plane or blimp) and there can be nothing else powering the car besides balloons. And, I also ask students to make cars made of recycling or reusable materials – so no plastic wrap or styrofoam allowed. I find the definition stage to be the most important part of the project: well defined problems and constraints help students create better projects and help me mark it too.

Next, students research & build a prototype. They’ll need to look at materials and plans that already exist out there. For the balloon car, I typically put on a youtube video that already shows how to build a balloon car out of simple materials and, quoila, the students have their first prototype.

Then, students test their prototype. They need to record their results and tell me. But, this is not the end – it’s only the beginning.

After, and this is important, they must repeat the build process and create a new prototype. This is where the real learning starts. Think of the first prototype as a rough draft of an essay. The second draft is still not polished, and it may take me 3 or 4 versions before I’m done. Well, the idea goes into making more than 1 prototype. Students look at the results of their first prototype and then try to modify it to get a better result. Perhaps, they can change the materials used. Or, perhaps they have to change the size of their prototype. In some projects, I ask students to build and test 3 different prototypes – and, I give a small mark for each one to show. This is so that students know that I value the process of iterative prototyping and not just the final product.

Lastly, and this is at the end of the project, I have students report on what they learned. What was their final result? What worked well? What would they have done differently? What prevented them from doing even better? Sometimes, I get students to write CER statements for each prototype just so that they can practice how to communicate their findings effectively.

If you’re interested in some of the projects I’ve done in the past, check out the resource section on realsciencechallenge.com

That’s all the time we have for this episode. Please leave your questions in the comments section below. Join me next time, when I’ll be talking about some strategies to get your students to write effective conclusions using CER. You don’t want to miss it.

Thanks for watching. And, remember to science everyday.

Resources

Handout(s): 11 – Sample Challenge – Semaphore | 29 – Solar Oven Inquiry Project | 31 – Mud Battery Inquiry Project

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