Engineering Practice: Identify as Engineers
Through engagement in authentic engineering practices, engineers develop identities as creative problem solvers. They use processes, tools, and standards for quality and ethics that align with the discipline of engineering.
“I’m Ready to Engineer”
A young boy shares with the class the reasons he thinks they are ready to engineer their solution. Watch & Reflect:
Reflection Questions
- Students think they are ready to engineer because they have done some of the phases of the Engineering Design Process, which professional engineers use.
- They think they are engineers because they have been engineering in class for a few days and are capable of those tasks, so they will be capable of future engineering tasks.
- Students are curious about what is going to happen and connect that curiosity to an attribute of an engineer.
- Use the word “engineer” to describe your students or talk to them about their work.
- Acknowledge students’ successes in engineering tasks and connect that with engineering.
- Talk in whole and small groups about what it means to be an engineer.
- Share role model engineers from the local community who share similar backgrounds as your students.
Related Practices: Communicate Effectively, Use a Structured Problem-Solving Process
Featured Unit: Designing Walls
“You Guys Are Professional Engineers”
Students test their improved parachute designs and share their new results with the class. Watch & Reflect:
Reflection Questions
She refers to students as engineers and celebrates their improved findings, telling them they should be professional engineers.
Carefully consider ways to scaffold their skills by pairing them with students with complementary skills. For example, if a student struggles with math but is an excellent communicator, you may pair them with a student who is shy but skilled in computation.
Celebrate the things those students have succeeded in during the design challenge. Have they successfully improved their design to meet the criteria? Did they share a deep thought or question that helped the group?
Related Practices: Apply Math Knowledge to Problem-Solving, Persist Through and Learn From Failure
Featured Unit: Designing Parachutes