Training Materials - Oregon



Training Guide for Middle School

Engineering Design in Oregon Science Classrooms

Day 2

Interactive teacher workshop on using the Engineering Design Process to improve teachers’ effectiveness at teaching science

Copyright 2013, Oregon University System, All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents – Day 2

Objective: Help make a “trainer” successful in leading an interactive teacher workshop on using the Engineering Design Process to improve teachers’ effectiveness at teaching science.

Day 2, Welcome (8:00-8:10)………………………………………………………………….4

Day 2, Unit 1 (8:10-9:45) ………………………………………………………………..……4

How the Engineering Design Process applies to teaching and learning science in middle school

• Engineering design in the Oregon standard

• Engineering Design Process for Middle School

• What the students should learn about the process

• How the process can be used to enhance the learning of science as a sister to the scientific inquiry process

Day 2, Unit 2 (10:00-11:45) ……………………………………………………………........10

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Earth and Space Science (Bioswales)

• Introduction including connections to Oregon standard

• Hands-on activity in groups

• Small Group Discussion

Lunch (11:45-12:30)

Day 2, Unit 3 (12:30-1:45) ……………………………………………………………..……16

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Physical science (Ultimate Speed Challenge)

• Introduction including connections to Oregon standard

• Hands-on activity in groups

• Small Group Discussion

Day 2, Unit 4 (1:45-2:00) …………………………………………….………………….…..20

Troubleshooting as an opportunity for learning science

Day 2, Unit 5 (2:15-3:15) …………………………………………….………………….…..20

Formative Assessment of Engineering Design process

Day 2, Unit 6 (3:15-4:15) …………………………………………….………………….…..20

Integration of engineering design into lesson plans

Day 2, Wrap Up (4:15-4:30) …………………………………………………………..…….21

Workshop Script

Day 2, Welcome (8:00-8:10)

• Introductions – Facilitators/Participants

• Workshop Goals (on slide and poster)

• Logistics – description of baskets

• Workshop and Folder Overview

• Group Norms

• Day 2 Agenda review (slide)

• Explain colored dots or numbers on name tags if using them to assign people to break-out groups

Day 2, Unit 1 (8:10-9:45)

Facilitator Timeline

8:10-9:45 – How the Engineering Design Process applies to teaching and learning science in middle school (Activity)

8:10-8:40 – Commingling Core and Content

8:40-9:00 – Engineering Design Process for Middle School

9:00-9:45 – What the students should learn about the process

8:00-8:10 Participant Agenda and Overview

Give the participants a general outline for the day so they know what to expect. If you are facilitating a 1-day workshop, review the training materials in common (Day 1 workshop) and modify today’s agenda as needed. Be sure to:

• State the purpose of the workshop and explain how participants will work together

• Ask participants if they are familiar with engineering design and have used it in their classrooms

Agenda

8:00-8:10 Overview and Welcome

8:10-9:45 How the engineering-design process applies to teaching and learning science in middle school

9:45-10:00 Break

10:00-11:45 Bioswales: Hands-on Lesson featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Earth and Space Science

11:45-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:45 Ultimate Speed Challenge: Hands-on Lesson featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Physical Science

1:45-2:00 Troubleshooting as an opportunity for learning science

2:00-2:15 Break

2:15-3:15 Formative Assessment of Engineering Design process

3:15-4:15 Teachers Incorporate the Engineering Design Process into their Lesson Plans

4:15-4:30 Closing Activities

8:10 – 9:00 Engineering Design in the Oregon Standards

Engineering Design Standard – The Engineering Design Process, in the Oregon Standard, is different at each grade level of the middle school band. It is essential that these standards be addressed in contexts that promote scientific inquiry, use of evidence, critical thinking, making connections, and communication.

Preparing for the lesson

1. On strips of paper, write the following: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, and 8th Grade.

2. Place the sheets in a bowl.

3. Arrange participants into 3 groups. If you are running a large workshop, have five or six groups of 3 teams and five or six bowls of paper strips.

4. Make sure that the Engineering Design pages of the Oregon Science Standards are available at each table.

5. Make sure that each group of participants has a chart pack (flip chart), ideally on an easel, and one or more markers.

Presenting the Lesson (8:10, 20 minutes)

1. Have each group choose a strip of paper out of the bowl (5 minutes).

2. As a group, participants will draw a representation of the Engineering Design Standard that go along with the grade level they selected (15 minutes). The drawing can include words, callouts, illustrations and pictures. It can even be on several sheets of paper if needed. The drawing may be very rudimentary but that’s ok. The point is for this diagram to help another person understand the standard for that particular grade level. For example, if a group selected 7th Grade, they will draw their interpretation of the core standard “Engineering design is a process of identifying needs, defining problems, identifying constraints, developing solutions, and evaluating proposed solutions.” And also the content standards:

• Define a problem that addresses a need and identify constraints that may be related to possible solutions.

• Design, construct, and test a possible solution using appropriate tools and materials. Evaluate proposed solutions to identify how design constraints are addressed.

• Explain how new scientific knowledge can be used to develop new technologies and how new technologies can be used to generate new scientific knowledge.

Facilitator Instructions (8:30, 30 minutes)

When each group has finished creating their picture or series of pictures, have them complete a Core and Content Standards Tour/Carousel.

Engineering Design Core and Content Standards Tour

• Each small group will rotate to 5 stations of other participant sketches (5 minutes each).

• At each station, participants will review the Core and Content Standards for each grade level.

• Rotating groups will provide feedback with sticky notes.

• Groups review feedback (5 minutes).

What the students should learn about the process (9:00)

Show the slide, “The Engineering Design Process for Middle School” to have a quick reference on the Engineering Design Process. For more detailed descriptions of the process, download and review the Middle School Primer ().

The most basic level of the Engineering Design Process, a level that all middle school students should be comfortable doing, is to identify and define a problem or need. They should be able to propose potential solutions and design a prototype.

Assessing students’ understanding of the Engineering Design Process is important to understanding how to best create learning environments that successfully use engineering design in the classroom.

Index Card Chair Engineering (9:05, 5 min)

Objective

Build an index card chair that can support the weight of an apple, orange or unopened can of soda.

Background

The action of solving problems also opens up the creative process for students, thus enhancing the engagement of students in the classroom learning. Reports indicate that when students are building and creating things in the classroom, the engagement level is consistently intense. It does not allow a student to simply sit back and wait to be told what to do, but instead requires that the student create, test, and evaluate for themselves. This in turn leads to genuine decision making, which should be an integral part of the entire curriculum. The goal of problem solving is to educate students to be able to use engineering and/or scientific processes no matter what the problem is that they encounter.

Preparing to Present the Lesson

1. Hand out the materials. Each group will need:

• 3”x5” index cards (6)

• Scissors

• Large apple, orange or unopened can of soda

• Index Card Chair Challenge sheets (found in the Workshop Handouts file)

2. Identify a work area that can accommodate the construction and testing of the chairs.

Presenting the Lesson (9:05, 20 minutes)

1. Explain the lesson. Tell participants that they’ll be working in pairs to design a chair that can support the weight of an apple or orange out of index cards. You can also use an unopened can of soda if that is more convenient.

2. Hand out the Index Card Chair Challenge Sheet.

3. Have participants brainstorm two chair designs.

4. Keep the participants on time. Give a few minutes of warning when the activity is about to end.

5. After the participants have built their chair, line the chairs up side by side on a table and see which chairs can hold an apple or orange.

Sharing and Cleanup (9:25, 20 minutes)

1. After the activity, have participants reflect on designing their chair and share what they feel students should learn about the Engineering Design Process. Be sure each group has their EDP handout on their tables or that you still have the slide available on the overhead projector. Encourage the participants to think about each step of the process and create their list. Be sure that each group has a flip chart available to record their answers to the following questions. Let the participants know the time at the half-way mark and then again a few minutes before the time is up.

What should students know about:

1. Defining a problem that addresses a need?

2. Identifying criteria, constraints and priorities?

3. Describing relevant scientific principles and knowledge?

4. Investigating possible solutions?

5. Designing and constructing a proposed solution?

6. Testing a proposed solution and collecting relevant data?

7. Evaluating the proposed solution in terms of design and performance criteria, constraints, priorities and trade-offs?

8. Identifying possible design improvements?

9. The EDP in general?

Additional questions if groups finish early:

• When you were given the challenge, what did you do or think?

• What different designs did you see and which ones were the most effective? Why?

• How many designs did you try to build before you got one that could support the can of food?

• Did you brainstorm different solutions? Did that help you make a decision as to what would be the best chair to build?

• Would it have helped to have other tools to build your chair?

• What would happen if the chair failed?

3. Let the participants know that this is a warm up exercise and not intended to be used by their students. Three engineering design lessons/activities are provided for classroom use. Two of the lessons will be covered later today and one is available online.

Dismiss for break at 9:45.

Day 2, Unit 2 (10:00-12:00)

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Earth and Space Science

The hands-on activities in this workshop are only partial lessons and participants do not have enough time to develop a deep understanding of the engineering design concepts introduced. However, participants will learn the Engineering Design Process and how it relates to scientific inquiry during the hands-on portion of the workshop.

Facilitator Timeline

10:00-11:45 – Bioswales Design Activity

10:00-10:40 – Presenting and Completing the Lesson

10:40-11:00 – Sharing and Cleanup

11:00-11:25 – Scientific Inquiry vs. the Engineering Design Process

11:25-11:45 – Small Group Discussion

Bioswales Design

The Bioswales Lesson Plan includes an optional exploration step where students experiment with different filter materials such as cheesecloth, sand, soil, gravel, limestone, and paper to better understand their properties and abilities. They can use what they learn to inform the subsequent design step to determine the combination and sequence of materials that best clean polluted water. The Lesson plan provides two other options: (1) A data analysis activity based on provided data and (2) Skipping the exploration step and move directly to the design step.

To save time, workshop participants will follow the second option above and use a pre-completed classroom data table that provides experimental results for several filter materials. Participants will use this data on the Bioswales Data Table, Completed and the Engineering Design Process to design their filters.

Key Concepts

By reading the data tables, participants will find that many factors influence the filter’s ability to filter the water and prepare to jump into the Engineering Design Process and enhance the learning of science.

Workshop Materials - Prepare to have participants work in groups of four. For a workshop of 40 participants, you will need 10 sets of materials – see the Lesson Plan. Adjust these quantities according to the expected size of your workshop.

Preparing to Present the Lesson

1. Read through the entire lesson and be ready to discuss the data collection portion and how it was done.

2. Make copies of the following for each group of teachers.

a. Bioswales Lesson Plan

b. Bioswales Vocab Alert!

c. Bioswales Article

d. Bioswales Exploration Activity

e. Bioswales Class Data Table, Filter Materials

f. Bioswales Data Analysis Activity

g. Bioswales Data Table, Completed

h. Bioswales Design Activity

3. Prepare a test containers for each group of teachers as described in the Lesson Plan.

4. Prepare the dirty water solution by adding tea and lemon juice as described in the Lesson Plan.

5. Prepare the other materials as described in the Lesson Plan.

6. Show participants the materials that will be tested

7. Distribute materials to groups.

Presenting the Lesson (10:00, 40 minutes)

1. Point out the following materials in the participants’ packets or pass them out:

a. Bioswales Article (one per person)

b. Bioswales Data Table, Completed sheet (at least one per group)

c. Bioswales Design Activity handout (at least one per group)

2. Give them a few minutes to read the Bioswales Article.

3. Summarize the options provided for an Exploration Step in the Lesson Plan, mentioning the data collection methods and data analysis procedures that can be used in the classroom. Explain that because the focus of the workshop is engineering design the exploration step is being skipped in the workshop to focus the available time on the design step.

4. Have participants fill out the criteria, priorities and constraints on the Bioswales Design Activity handout. You might want to set the criteria as a whole—or the teacher groups can decide for themselves what their filter goals should be. Either way, try to be as specific as possible. For example: instead of saying the filter should clean the water, say the filter should lower the turbidity to 50 ml or more.[1] Other criteria to consider include how long it should take the water filter to work. Reviewing the data table should help the teachers develop their criteria.

5. Teachers, working in groups, will use the data table to brainstorm two different filter designs. They should sketch their ideas in the space provided on the Bioswales Design worksheet.

6. Have them begin building and testing according to the instructions on their Bioswales Design handout.

7. Go over the questions on the Filter Material Research handout at the end of the activity.

Sharing and Cleanup (10:40, 20 minutes)

1. After the activity, have participants share what they have learned. Ask about things the participants will have noticed or had difficulty with such as:

• What science concepts are involved?

• What factors made your filter work better or worse?

• What different designs did you see and which ones seemed the most effective? Why?

• What happened when more filter material or layers were added?

• Did the order of the filters seem to make a difference?

• What was the most difficult part of this activity?

• What could be done to improve it?

2. Encourage the participants to develop generalizations for which designs worked the best and why.

3. Summarize the main ideas and reinforce the science concepts learned while applying the Engineering Design Process.

4. To cleanup, have participants take apart their filters, wash off the sediments you can reuse such as the sand, gravel and limestone and leave them to dry. Throw away any soil, used paper or cheesecloth and put-back any reusable materials. The rest should be thrown away or recycled if possible.

Facilitator Tips and Tricks

• Encourage participants to experiment with different designs.

• Offer encouragement. People may be inclined to give up or think they are not good at engineering if their design does not work the first time. Tell participants that there are no wrong answers. Give examples such as Thomas Edison and his team tried many designs for a light bulb before they found a workable solution. Engineers typical continue to redesign their work to improve it and make it better (this is the last step of the EDP).

• Discuss both positive and negative modifications with the designer participant.

Scientific Inquiry vs. the Engineering Design Process (11:00, 25 minutes)

Using the Bioswales activity as an example, allow participants to reflect upon and discuss both the scientific inquiry process and the Engineering Design Process and connect them to teaching and learning science.

Although teachers will be eager to talk about their experiences, it’s also important for the facilitator to keep the discussion on track and ensure that each participant fully understands the differences between the two processes. Facilitators will have to judge if the conversation is going in the right direction and make adjustments to the direction if necessary.

This portion of the workshop is important as participants will use this to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, how the Engineering Design Process applies to the lesson, and how they can use it to enhance their teaching. Using the flip-chart at each station, have the group at each table work together to answer one or more of the following questions. This portion of the workshop is designed to take 20 minutes. Give each group about 3 minutes per question if they are answering six questions, 6 minutes per question if they are answering three, etc. Keep the tables on schedule by letting them know the time remaining. Here are some questions that you can use:

1. What are some of the characteristics of the Engineering Design process?

2. How does the Engineering Design Process differ from Science Inquiry?

3. What are some of the benefits to using the Engineering Design when it comes to student learning?

4. What other activities have you done in class that you can modify to use the Engineering Design process?

5. What challenges do you anticipate and how might you addresses these challenges?

Note: If you’re not sure that all participants will be able to see the screen that shows the above questions while they’re meeting as groups, create a handout with these questions and distribute it to the groups.

If they run short of time, they can cover the remaining questions during a similar breakout period after the second lesson/activity later in the day.

When the 20 minutes is up, you should summarize what you have heard, and reflect on the discussion questions as well as the overarching messages about using the Engineering Design Process to improve the teaching of science (5 minutes). Encourage your participants to exchange email addresses and continue the conversation all year in their districts.

If participants have completed the projects at their tables, have them clean their area before the break. To cleanup, have participants put-back any unused paper, scissors, and pencils. The rest should be thrown away or recycled if possible. While the participants are cleaning and at break, remove their flip chart notes and get ready for the next workshop unit.

Small group discussion (11:25, 20 minutes)

1. Encourage participants to discuss how they can implement the Engineering Design Process into their lesson plans. Keep them on time and dismiss for lunch at 11:45.

Day 2, Unit 3 (12:30-2:00)

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Physical Science

Ultimate Speed Challenge

The hands-on activities in this workshop are only partial lessons and participants do not have enough time to develop a deep understanding of the engineering design concepts introduced. However, participants will learn the Engineering Design Process and how it relates to scientific inquiry during the hands-on portion of the workshop.

The full lesson of the Ultimate Speed Challenge requires that students perform scientific inquiry to investigate different materials with which to build their cars. When they determine the best materials, they then use the Engineering Design Process to design and build the fastest car. To save time, workshop participants will be given a pre-completed classroom data set of the scientific inquiry portion of the lesson. Participants will use this data and the Engineering Design Process to design the fastest car.

The challenge in this activity is to build a prototype ultimate soapbox racer, a coaster car that goes as straight and fast as possible down a hill and one meter runway. The car that crosses the finish line with the greatest speed is the winner.

Facilitator Timeline

12:30-2:00 – Ultimate Speed Challenge Activity

12:45-1:05 – Presenting and Completing the Lesson

1:05-1:25 – Sharing and Cleanup

1:25-1:50 – Scientific Inquiry vs. the Engineering Design Process

1:50-2:00 – Small Group Discussion

Key Concepts

Participants will find that many factors influence the car’s stability and ability to travel in a straight line. The activity does not focus on a particular concept but rather allows open inquiry as a way to jump into the Engineering Design Process and enhance the learning of science. Concepts that will emerge are:

a. The more mass it has, the faster it will travel.

b. The higher the center of mass, the less stable.

c. The axels cannot be too close together or too far apart.

d. The more balanced the design (right and left sides are the same) the more likely it will travel in a straight line.

e. The less friction the car encounters, the faster it will go (skinny tires, more aerodynamic design, etc).

Preparing to Present the Lesson

1. Read through the entire lesson and be ready to discuss the data collection portion and how it was done. The lesson has been modified to meet the time constraints of the workshop. Instead of the participants building 4 cars, they only build one car.

2. Make copies of the The Ultimate Speed Challenge article and the completed data table for each group of teachers.

3. On a counter or table-top, lay out the materials you have available for the coaster cars. (See the Lesson Plan.) Also put out other materials and tools you want the participants to have the option of using.

4. Put together two or more test fixtures for the workshop as described in the Lesson Plan and Ramp Building Instructions. Don’t forget the stop watches.

5. Gather your copies of the Design Activity Handout.

Workshop Materials per Group- Prepare to have participants work in groups of two or three. See the Lesson Plan.

Presenting the Lesson in 8 Steps (12:30, 35 minutes)

1. Explain the lesson. Tell participants that they’ll be working in pairs to design the fastest car based on the inquiry data table. Point out that the materials provided coincide with those listed on the data sheet and that they may use the available materials in any way they want to meet the challenge. Be sure to tell participants that they will have about 25 minutes to complete the task and 10 minutes for group racing.

2. Have participants get into teams of two.

3. Hand out the Ultimate Speed Challenge Article, the inquiry data collection sheet and the Design Handout.

4. Give the participants a few minutes to read the article.

5. Have participants fill out the criteria, priorities, constraints, and trade-off section of the Design Handout.

6. Working in groups of two, have participants brainstorm two different coaster car designs. They should sketch their ideas in the space provided on the worksheet.

7. Keep the participants on time. Give a few minutes of warning when an activity is about to transition (building time is ending, challenge is beginning, move to a new station, etc.)

8. After the participants have built and evaluated their design, start preparing for the big race. Have the participants modify their best design (if needed) to race against one another. The fastest car wins. You can optionally find the fastest time on their completed data sheet if time is running low.

Sharing and Cleanup (1:05, 20 minutes)

1. After the race, have participants share what they have learned. Ask about things the participants will have noticed or had difficulty with such as:

• What science concepts are involved?

• What factors made your car go the fastest?

• What different designs did you see and which ones were the most effective? Why?

• What happened when more mass was added?

• Did it matter where the mass was placed?

• Did it matter where the axles were placed?

• Was it hard to get the car to travel in a straight line?

2. Encourage the participants to develop generalizations for which designs worked the best and why.

3. Summarize the main ideas and reinforce the science concepts learned while applying the Engineering Design Process.

4. To cleanup, have participants take apart their cars and put-back any reusable parts. The rest should be thrown away or recycled if possible.

Facilitator Tips and Tricks

• Encourage participants to experiment with different designs.

• Offer encouragement. People may be inclined to give up or think they are not good at engineering if their design does not work the first time. Remind participants that there are no wrong answers.

• Discuss both positive and negative modifications with the designer participant.

The discussion questions can be the same as those used in the similar discussion earlier in the day or you can focus on attention on questions that weren’t covered well earlier. Here are some questions:

1. Identify the characteristics of the Engineering Design Process.

2. How does the Engineering Design Process differ from Science Inquiry?

3. What are benefits to using the Engineering Design Process?

4. What other activities have you done in class that you can modify to use the Engineering Design Process?

5. What problems do you anticipate with your students and how can you resolve these issues?

6. What is your biggest roadblock to using the Engineering Design Process?

If they run short of time, they can cover the remaining questions during a similar breakout period after the second lesson/activity.

When the 20 minutes is up, the facilitator should summarize the project, and reflect on the discussion questions as well as the overarching messages about using the Engineering Design Process to improve the teaching of science (5 minutes). Encourage your participants to exchange email addresses and continue the conversation all year in their districts.

If participants have completed the projects at their tables, have them clean their area before the break. To cleanup, have participants put-back any unused paper, scissors, and pencils. The rest should be thrown away or recycled if possible. While the participants are cleaning and at break, remove their flip chart notes and get ready for the next workshop unit.

Small group discussion (1:50, 10 minutes)

Encourage participants to discuss how they can implement the Engineering Design Process into their lesson plans. Keep them on time and dismiss for break at 2:00.

Day 2, Unit 4 (1:45-2:00)

Troubleshooting as an opportunity for learning science

Make presentation based on single-slide and encourage discussion

Day 2, Unit 5 (2:15-3:15)

Formative Assessment of Engineering Design process

Divide the participants into groups of 2-4 each.

Participants form small groups to go over a set of questions using the provided handout relating to formative assessment of students’ understanding of the steps in engineering design.

Day 2, Unit 6 (3:15-4:15) Using Engineering Design in Your Classroom

Facilitator Timeline

3:15-4:15 – Participants form small groups to discuss using engineering design as a learning paradigm in their own lessons

Divide participants into groups of 2-4 participants (3:15, 30 minutes).

• Have each group choose a lesson that one or more of them teach and encourage them to discuss how engineering design could be used as a learning paradigm.

• Have each group use a flipchart to capture their ideas as well as issues.

Have groups report out summaries of their conclusions and have the group discuss (3:45, 15 minutes).

Day 2, Wrap Up (4:15-4:30)

Wrap-up 3:45 (15 minutes)

Facilitator reviews items place on the bike rack during the day.

Review goals and expectations. Have table groups discuss the expectations. See if they are the same now or if they would like to add any.

Pluses and Wishes – Have each participant write what was good about the day and what they wish for on a sticky note. Plusses are what they liked about the day and wishes are what they would like to see done differently. Ask if there are any questions. If you are conducting the last day of the workshop, let them know that they will bring one or two of their lesson plans and integrate what they have learned into their lessons.

Dismiss for the day. Remove the flip chart notes and congratulate yourself for getting through the day.

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[1] In this activity, turbidity is measured indirectly by measuring the maximum depth of water through which a printed pattern can be seen. Thus lower turbidity is measured as a greater distance.

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