The core idea of the approach is that engineering need not “stand alone” in the curriculum, but can and should leverage other curricular elements, in particular literature and social studies/history stories.

Getting Started:
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"Engineering design challenges" are created by actionable items in the story and lead to inquiry based team projects that have a design theme. As an example, in the story "Island of the Blue Dolphins", the village leaves canoes on the side of a hill for escaping a potential attack. The heroine in the story has a difficult time getting one of them down the hill and into the water. A "design challenge" for the students could be to design a system to make it easier for her to lower the canoe.

We begin to enhance the learning process by using the engineering design methodology as a connector between literature, science & mathematics. Within this process is an infusion of thinking skill strategies, such as creative and critical thinking, questions and meta-cognitive reflection. The concept uses the existing comfort level of the elementary teachers and the student’s natural engineering abilities.

The process begins with literature, such as fairy tales, starting in the lower grades and leading to more sophisticated stories at older ages – stories that engage students. The underlining skills of the engineering design process are related to the science process, mathematical problem solving (process) and thinking skills. Thus the student is taught how to think skillfully.

Understand the design process and what engineers do.

·  What science are we going to learn or have we just finished.

·  How to work as a team (peer interaction).

·  Students tutoring other students. 

Are we solving the right problem?

“if I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it” Albert Einstein

Reciprocal Teaching:

 Starts with viewing through the “Engineering Lens”

The students and teachers should focus on thinking like an engineer when reading the literature.  Questions of the story line, author and characters around the design of a product or process for society should be the instrument to begin.  We should invite them to ask creative questions, make diverse observations, explore multiple viewpoints, reflect on their thinking process and seek personal connections of the literature.  Examples:  Why is this a special moment for the character in the story? How can we as engineers, created something for the characters in the story that will make their actions better?

A teacher normal engages the students with the literature they are reading by asking skillful questions and using meta-cognitive reflection to bring out interesting areas of the story line.  What we are adding is an engineering lens on the process to focus those questions from an engineering designer’s viewpoint.

Lesson design: team-teaching and teachers focusing on their own intelligence strength; using all or several of the intelligence in lessons; asking students their opinions on how best to learn.
 

 Our current education places no importance on even knowing the individual passions, or interests, of our students, and most teachers don't ask – not necessarily because they don’t care, but because they are so occupied with all the other required tasks (such as teaching for the tests) that they feel they have no time. But if we lack the time to find out who our students really are and what they like, it is hard to create an education that interests them.

What’s their learning style, Do they bring pre-conceived thoughts to the classroom?

Everything we teach should also be matched with a clear answer to the student’s constant question of “Why am I learning this?” Students should be taught to immediately use what they learn to effect outcomes in the world, and change it for the better. For example, they can use their learning to design a school of the future, or to redesign their current school.

They can use the languages they learn to work directly with foreign students. They can learn to perform professional energy and environmental audits of local businesses. They can use their knowledge and skills to create Public Service Announcements for local TV and radio stations.

• How can the students enhance this story with an invention?

• How can someone’s quality of life be improved?, How can we make a certain task easier?, How can we improve upon an existing product?

• Focus on key words that relate to science and engineering such as, habitat, weather, materials & tools, devices to help society, survival, plant material, and the environment.

• Challenge the author’s assumptions in the story line by looking with an engineering viewpoint. 

• Have students brainstorm and decide on challenge they will work on.

• If the author was an engineer, what would be added to the story?

Engage the students in the story by using questions that the students identify with some design challenges. 

As the facilitator, the requirements can be added to for steering the direction of what the design challenge solution has to do. 

• You can have them use a certain science in the design

• You can place the story in a certain location to involve science such as as the design has to survive being located on a fault line.

In our historical past their have been many problems individuals and society faced.  Using the design process, students will design an artifact or process to help solve the issue.

1. We start off with the grade level and pick a story around the theme of that school year.  In grade 5, we might be studying about Jamestown or Plymouth.

2. What design challenges can we work on that would engage our students and bring in solving a problem that people had in that period of History?

3. As an example, we can work on a better water treatment system; transportation system, fire system, making homes better insulated and weather forecasting.

Starting with questions

If the design challenges don’t jump out to you or your class, a good way to start is by using the 5 W’s (Who, When, Where, What, Why) plus How in question format to begin. As an example you can ask yourself the following questions:

• Based on your listening to the characters, what product could they use to make them better?, wiser? …

Students need questions to turn on their intellectual engines and they need to generate questions from our questions to get their thinking to go somewhere. Thinking is of no use unless it goes somewhere, and again, the questions we ask determine where our thinking goes.  

What makes a good design challenge?

Fun
Solves a real problem
Tied to science and math
Can be done with paper or using simple materials
Can create many learning extensions from it
Can add your requirements to change the location or theme to suit your learning needs