Training Guide for High School

Training Guide for High School

Day 2

Engineering Design in Oregon Science Classrooms

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

Objective: The Training Materials, based upon the Oregon Science Standards, will provide a training manual for a trainer to lead 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) ………………………………………………………………..……5

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

· Engineering design in the Oregon standard

· Engineering Design Process for high 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 (10:00-12:00) ...………….………………..………………………..………..10

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Life Science (Biofuel from Algae)

· Introduction including connections to Oregon standard

· Hands-on activity in groups

· Small Group Discussion

Lunch (12:00-12:30)

Day 2, Unit 3 (12:30-2:00) …………………………………………………………..……17

Example hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Physical Science (Littlefoot’s Ride)

· Introduction including connections to Oregon standard

· Hands-on activity in groups

· Small Group Discussion

Day 2, Unit 4 (1:45-2:00) …………………………………………….………………….…..22

Troubleshooting as an opportunity for learning science

Day 2, Unit 5 (2:15-3:15) ………………………………………….………………………..22

Formative Assessment of Engineering Design process

Day 2, Unit 6 (3:15-4:15) ………………………………………….………………….…….22

Integration of engineering design into lesson plans

Day 2, Wrap Up (4:15-4:30) …………………………………………………………..…….23

Workshop Day 2 Script

Day 2 Welcome, 8:00-8:10 Participant Agenda and Overview

· 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

Agenda

8:00-8:10 Overview and Welcome

8:10-9:45 How the Engineering Design Process applies to teaching and learning science in high school

9:45-10:00 Break

10:00-11:45 Hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Life Science (Biofuel from Algae)

11:45-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:45 Hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Physical Science (Littlefoot’s Ride)

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

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

Facilitator Timeline

8:00-8:10 – Welcome Back and Overview of the Day

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

8:10-8:55 – Commingling Core and Content

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

9:00-9:20 – What the students should learn about the process

9:20-9:45 – How the process can be used to enhance learning science as a sister to the scientific inquiry process

Day 2, Unit 1 8:10 – 9:00 Engineering Design in the Oregon Standards

Commingling Core and Content – The Engineering Design Process, in the Oregon Standard, is the same at each grade level of the high 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. Arrange participants into groups of 2-3.

2. Make sure that the Oregon Core and Content Standards handouts are available at each table.

3. Make sure that each group of participants has paper and pencils or markers.

Presenting the Lesson (8:10, 20 minutes)

1. Have each group draw a representation of the high school Core and Content Standards (20 minutes). The drawing can include words, callouts, illustrations and pictures and be on several sheets of paper. The drawing may be very rudimentary but that’s ok. The point is for this diagram to help another person understand the high school standards.

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 or carousel activity.

Engineering Design Core and Content Standards Tour

· Each small group will rotate to 5 other stations of participant work (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 students should learn about the process (9:00)

Show the Slide, “Engineering Design Process for High School” to have a quick reference on the Engineering Design Process. For more detailed descriptions of the process, download and review the High School Primer (http://www.ous.edu).

The most basic level of the Engineering Design Process, a level that all high school students should be comfortable doing, is to identify and define a problem or need. They should be able to propose potential solutions, evaluate the solutions, design a prototype, and evaluate the 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 that meet the engineering criteria on the challenge sheet.

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 Engineering Design Process 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 high school 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 and using the concept of trade-offs to compare solutions in terms of criteria and constraints?

5. Designing and constructing at least one proposed solution?

6. Testing proposed solution(s), collecting and processing relevant data and incorporating modifications based on data from testing or other analysis?

7. Analyzing data, identifying uncertainties, and displaying data so that the implications for the solution being tested are clear.

8. Recommending a proposed solution, identifying its strengths and weaknesses and describing how it is better than alternative designs as well as identifying further engineering that might be done to refine the recommendation?

9. The Engineering Design Process 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 apple or orange?

· 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?

Let the participants know that this is a warm up exercise and not intended to be used by their students. Two 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 Life 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 – Biofuel From Algae 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

Biofuel from Algae

The Biofuel from Algae activity is best presented as a demonstration activity because it takes algae two weeks to grow. The full lesson of the Biofuel from Algae design activity requires that students build a prototype of an algae machine and then improve upon its design by identifying weaknesses and generating solutions that address those problem areas. When they determine the best design, they use the Engineering Design Process to build a prototype of their new design and evaluate its effectiveness by analyzing algae growth rate.

Workshop participants can view the prototype that you have built, study it to determine the problems, and take measurements to analyze its effectiveness. Based on their research, measurements and a pre-completed classroom data set of the algae growth rate, they will redesign the machine on their handout. Time and materials constraints do not allow for individual groups to build their redesigned machine.

Depending of the set-up of the prototype, the following are possible problems:

· No aeration of bottles is occurring (essential set-up). Aeration moves the algae in the bottle which allows more access to light and nutrients. Aeration also allows for the exchange of CO2 and O2.

· No protection from the elements (outdoor essential set-up).

· Amount of light received is not optimized (all set-ups). This affects the rate of photosynthesis.

· Not all bottles are receiving the full amount of light due to shadowing (all set-ups). This affects the rate of photosynthesis.

· Not enough space is provided for aeration (all set-ups). This limits the algae circulation and prevents all algae from getting exposure to light, nutrients and CO2.

· Temperature of the algae is not being monitored or controlled (all set-ups). Temperature affects the rate of metabolic processes like photosynthesis.

· Algae are settling at the bottle (all set-ups). The algae are not getting exposure to light, nutrients and CO2.

· The air exchange is not consistent between the bottles (air pump/light set up).

Key Concepts

Participants will find that many factors influence the algae’s ability to grow. Concepts that will emerge are:

· Amount of algae

· Amount of fertilizer

· Hours of light per day

· Light intensity

· Amount of water

· Container type

· Temperature

· Light height

· Total starting solution

Workshop Materials - Because you will build the algae machine and grow the algae ahead of time, the only materials for the workshop are for the testing section covered in Step 10. The effectiveness of the algae machines can be assessed in a number of different ways. You can decide what kinds of data you want your participants to collect or you can leave it up to them to devise their own data collection techniques and analysis. Read the Data Collection Methods handout to compare techniques and decide which method is best for your workshop.

· Light meter or spectrometer

· Lemont Turbidity Test

· Microscope and grill slide

· Graduated cylinders

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. Be sure you have a copy of the Design Worksheet for Teachers for your reference and the Initial Prototype Data Sheet for data collection.

3. Make copies of the Article, the completed Data Worksheet, the Design Handout, and Data Collection Methods for each group of teachers.

4. Build the algae machine prototype at least two weeks ahead of the workshop and grow the algae. It is recommended that you follow Algae Machine Setup Instructions for your prototype. You can set-up your prototype in any number of ways, just remember it needs to have flaws so that participants have the opportunity to identify problems and generate solutions.

5. On the day of the workshop, set up your prototype machine on a table.

Presenting the Lesson (10:00, 40 minutes)

1. Arrange participants into teams of two.

2. Pass-out the Biofuel from Algae Article, and give everyone a few minutes to read through it.

3. Pass-out the Design Handout and read the scenario to the participants.

4. Show participants the algae machine prototype. Have them sketch it, including labels, in the space provided under Initial Prototype.

5. Within their groups, teachers should identify current problems for the initial prototype.

6. Pass out the Data Worksheet for the initial prototype. Working in their groups, participants should study this data and determine the optimal set-up values for an algae machine. They should write down these values in the space provided on their worksheets. If a light fixture is not going to be available during the workshop, teachers will not need to determine light intensity or light height.