Directions: This is for a STEM Education course; this is due within 30 hours! Must use original work and in-text citation. Must answer each discussion question in 150 words and each response using 100 words. Please refer to attachment Chapters 3 & 5 *

Discussion Question 1: Engineering design process instruction often culminates in students creating an item, such as computer code, a robot, or a structure, etc. What are 2-3 possible items students could create as a solution to an engineering design process lesson? Share any links or resources you find during your research.

Response 1: Stefanie wrote: The engineering design process starts by identifying the client’s need, researching the problem, imagining what possible solutions exist, make a plan, creating the prototype, testing and evaluating the prototype, making any improvements or redesigns if necessary, and finally presenting the finished product to the client (Cooper, Carlson & Schaefer, 2008). This design process allows for engineers to organize their ideas and define potential solutions. When students think like engineers, they must think about all of the issues that come with any design challenge; is the project needed, what are the relevant economic and social conditions of the population being targeted, and what are the project requirements and constraints (Cooper, Carlson & Schaefer, 2008).

Space exploration in the future will need to include investigation into plant growth for long-duration missions on the moon (Dunbar, 2010). NASA and the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) presented the NASA Engineering Design Challenge asking students to design, build, and evaluate lunar plant growth chambers (Dunbar, 2010). Students in kindergarten through the 12th grade had opportunities to participate in grade appropriate challenges and lessons.

Keeping a desk or a locker organized is not an easy task. Students can use the engineering design process to build a locker organizer for themselves, or a desk organizer for their teacher. A teacher shares that their desk being disorganized is preventing graded papers being returned in a timely manner (Wilson-Lopez & Sias, 2017). The problem has been identified. Once the problem had been identified, they then identified the criteria for the organizer and the possible constraints. The brainstorming then began and ideas for design were developed. Students then worked together to evaluate all of the ideas and narrow them down to ones that fit within the constraints presented. Testing of solutions began. Based on the testing results, the students were able to optimize their solutions and present the best result to the client, in this case, their teacher. The teacher was pleased with the result and the students were happy to get their papers back in a timely fashion.

Engineering design process lessons, much like the previous teaching methods, ask students to identify a problem they see in their everyday life and come up with solutions to those problems. When we teach our students these skills, we are creating a generation of problem solvers, not people that just problems. When I had people that reported to me, I asked them not to bring me any of their problems unless they had already thought of some kind of workable solution that I could then remove any existing barriers. Teaching students to think this way as early as kindergarten can change the world.

Response 2: Troy wrote: The engineering design process adds creativity to a problem-solving activity. This process challenges students to solve a problem through open-ended questions and failure (Engineering Design Process, n.d.). Failure is a part of life and this provides an opportunity to teach students skills to deal with and overcome failure. When students use the engineering design process, they work through a series of steps different from the scientific method. The engineering process involves defining a problem, researching, understanding requirements for success, brainstorming, choosing an idea, building a prototype, test, redesign, retest, and communicate (Science Buddies, 2021). As students work through these steps, there is no one right answer. They use their creativity to solve a problem.

The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) website is a great resource to find projects to fit this learning process. A teacher can filter grade level and disciplinary core ideas. With each project, NSTA already aligns the learning objectives with NGSS. All worksheets, materials, and everything needed to implement a lesson are found on the website. I feel this is a great tool to start implementing engineering design into the classroom. Some engineering design lessons include building solar water heaters, how seeds travel, and finding solutions for beach erosion. A couple of activities I have used in the past were the Mousetrap Car and the Energy House. Students would design a car from a mousetrap to travel at least 20 feet. In my upper levels, we put a new requirement of having the mousetrap car stop in a circle. The students would design, test, and redesign before the final run. The Energy house was a favorite of my freshmen. They were very creative in designing houses to stay in a temperature range. We actually did this twice a year, one in August and one in January. It was the same concept, but with different requirements.

Discussion Question 2: Which of the instructional methods are you most confident with implementing? Explain. What instructional method are you reluctant to incorporate that could increase the meaningfulness of your lessons for students? What can you do to become more confident with that instructional method Please refer to attachment Chapters 3 & 5 *

Response 1: From Instructor: Christian Worldview Connection

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13, NKJV)

The last part of discussion this week focuses on building our confidence in using instructional methods. While scripture speaks much about the confidence that should come through faith, perhaps the ultimate “confidence building” verse is Philippians 4:13.

CAT: Resource sharing

Identify your preferred method and share a resource (link) that could help a colleague become more confident in using that method.

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