Students identify and address a relevant need with impactful technology. They design and develop a personal safety device for themselves or others.
Basic familiarity with the engineering design process is of help but not required.
Students create a simple thermometer and learn about diseases that show symptoms of elevated body temperature.
No prior knowledge required.
Students create their own digital version of a test-your-strength game, known as carnival hammer game or high striker. They use motion (acceleration) sensors to measure force and understand the underlying physical principles.
Familiarity with the concept of acceleration is helpful.
Students create a heart-rate monitor that they can wear during different activities. They use the device they created to conduct experiments and learn about their coronary system.
Familiarity with technology is of help.
Students practice the engineering design process to address a relevant need in their social environment with impactful technology. Students identify a need and derive appropriate design criteria to inform their design.
Basic familiarity with the engineering design process is of help but not required.
History offers a few "great" examples of products that were built for the people who designed them and failed to address needs of other groups of the population. The history of he airbag is a popular one, as well as the history of speech recognition. And even safety belts are worth mentioning here.
The terms "fixed mindset" and "growth mindset" were first introduced by Professor Carol Dweck. Simply put, students with a fixed mindset are more afraid to fail since they perceive their skills as something "absolute". This makes failure practically unbearable, especially in social situations like in a classroom. Students with a growth mindset see failure as a growth opportunity.
Learning is not merely the convection of content, but it also entails a shift in mindset. Learning is only possible with engagement, motivation, and an open mind. Motivational dimensions like contextualization and autonomy dramatically increase students’ engagement, content retention, amount of learning per time, and levels of aspiration. Motivation is deeply linked to one’s desire to learn and one’s ability to learn (read more from Wentzel & Miele). Motivation is part of learning. Given that STEM resources have been available equally for boys and girls for some time, while participation still differs, an unintentional imbalance in appealing to learners’ motivations may be the main barrier to equality in STEM education.