HANDS-ON STEM
New STEM course engineers
‘a totally different way of learning’ Mayfield’s first-ever engineering design course challenges students to solve the kind of real-world problems that professional engineers grapple with, using real-world design processes and solutions. In this class, creativity and collaboration are just as important as calculations and critical thinking.
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ngineering teacher Christina Lara ’14 wastes no time in calling her Zoom class to order. “Let’s start diving into the next lesson...if everyone can just make sure they have their engineering notebooks out.” Her Engineering Design and Analysis class is the first of its kind at Mayfield, and the challenges it tackles couldn’t be more timely. Today’s lesson? Engineering a better face mask. “We’re going to start looking into a new unit with a new problem—which is really cool
in a sense,” says Ms. Lara. “We can see what the engineering aspects are that we can use for the scenario that we’re all living in currently...almost a year under quarantine.” Unit 1 covered the principles of engineering. Unit 2 dealt with the design process of creating something new. Unit 3 is on reverse engineering—improving on something that already exists. And only five minutes into class, Ms. Lara wants to see some attempts. She sends the students away to watch the CDC’s no-sew mask tutorial, and they then create a mask as instructed. Their task is to report their likes and dislikes of the finished product, ultimately looking for ways to optimize the design. Ms. Lara allots minimal instruction time for maximum retention. When she sends her students off into Zoom breakout rooms, she watches the progress of every team on a live Google Doc. She insists on assigning a timekeeper and a scribe, roles that will change over time, so everyone has a chance to engage in different roles in this collaborative course. “Engineering isn’t a solo experience, but rather a
culmination of people’s different views, ways of thinking, and ideas,” Ms. Lara explains. These teams will change periodically, too, but the initial group dynamic is very deliberate. Ms. Lara had students complete a personality assessment at the beginning of the year, so the first pairings were created with people who tended to have the same kind of work ethic. It was a somewhat “homogenic” group by design. But she always intended them to switch this up later, saying, “If you have a group that is more heterogenic, you have more opportunities to brainstorm ideas...no one is thinking the same way!” Now, the students who made the CDC-designed face coverings are returning to their Zoom classroom, and some model their designs for Ms. Lara. She then sends them off in small groups—in new team configurations— to discuss the pros and cons they encountered in their builds. When they come back to class, the students are bursting with ways to improve on the CDC mask, while keeping the most accessible elements.
Engineering teacher Christina Lara ’14, who also teaches ninth-grade Algebra, is committed to helping usher in a new generation of female STEM leaders.
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read more 2021-08-01 11:52 AM
