Engineering Practice: Communicate Effectively

Engineers communicate ideas to their teammates, other engineers, their clients, and the public. They use various media (text, speech, graphics, models, and numbers) to explain their designs and processes.

“We Made It!”

A group of students work to make a magnetic levitation train. At first they struggle when their magnets attract when they need them to repel. Eventually they are able to figure it out and celebrate as a group. Watch & Reflect:

Reflection Questions

  1. Students share the way that their plan has and has not been working. They use scientific terminology, giving them practice using the technical terms they have learned in the unit
  2. Their communication serves their larger goal by helping them make sense of their design and share their thinking with one another in clear ways.

  1. Use sentence frames to provide starting point for students when speaking to one another.  
  2. Encourage the use of multimodal communication—gestures, manipulating materials, writing, and drawing their thinking. 
  3. Consider the language needs of all learners and accommodate accordingly. Use tools like the materials glossary to support students’ use of technical terminology.  

Related Practices: Apply Science Knowledge to Problem Solving, Envision Multiple Solutions, Make Evidence-Based Decisions
Featured Unit: Designing Maglev Systems