ERIC Number: EJ1277295
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2158-0502
EISSN: N/A
Eighth Graders Empowering Others with Engineering
Grannetino, Joshua
Technology and Engineering Teacher, v80 n4 p26-31 Dec 2020-Jan 2021
Creating a community rather than an institution is a goal that all educators should strive to meet. To do this, school districts try to unify their student bodies by bringing attention to an obstacle too many children face--bullying. In the Technology and Education (TE) classroom, topics involving bullying can be difficult to include in everyday lessons. At a middle school in Chester County, PA, a TE teacher presents a unit on assistive devices to his eighth-grade class to show how engineers use creative design techniques to evoke confidence in kids who may feel left out by their peers. The lessons presented in the assistive-device design unit provide students with the experience of going through the design process. First, the class will learn about how industrial designers engineer products to be ergonomic. Then students conduct research and brainstorm different assistive devices to gain background knowledge about the devices they will soon be building. These preliminary steps prepare the students to build a model of their creation, which they will eventually test. The project portion of this unit also provides multiple pathways for the students to exercise mastery of the design process. The project is evaluated on the integration of a child-friendly theme, the device's performance, and product-engineering techniques.
Descriptors: Grade 8, Student Empowerment, Bullying, Middle School Students, Engineering Education, Learning Activities, Assistive Technology, Design
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association. 1914 Association Drive Suite 201, Reston, VA 20191-1539. Tel: 703-860-2100; Fax: 703-860-0353; e-mail: iteea@iteea.org; Web site: https://www.iteea.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 8; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A