To start the engineering unit, I decided to use an activity that we did during one of Lee Crockett’s sessions. The previous day, the warm up asked students what they thought engineering was, and many answers included the word “mechanical.” I wanted to create a spark, so without saying anything about engineering, on the next day I did the following: I put the solution fluency words on the IWB (Interactive White Board) and read through them with the students. I did not explain them at all. They glanced at the list and looked at me with an “Ok, what’s next?” look on their faces.
Then I mentioned that I had a challenge for them: Build the tallest structure that you can build, using only 5 old science magazines and 2 rolls of tape. As they reached for the tape and paper, I told them to stop. It was like telling a roller coaster not to roll down that first hill. It took everything they had in them to take time to brainstorm. I gave them three minutes to ask questions.
At first there were no questions. If you’ve ever done this activity, you know why there are no questions. It’s because most people already have “the perfect plan” in mind. The students were no different. One of the students even said, “I’ve done this before,” and her teammates replied, “Oh good.” How fast we give up! Wanting to hear questions, I told them that they could “try things” with the paper but that they couldn’t touch the tape yet. That spawned questions immediately. Can we tear the paper? Do we have to use all of the magazines? Can we use glue? Can we tape it to the table? The excitement continued to build until I yelled, “Go!” They had 8 minutes to work on the structure.
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Some groups aimed straight up, while other groups concentrated on the base of the structure. One group even had a very architecturally interesting structure, with an Asian-inspired roof and a tunnel entryway. At about two minutes, I announced the remaining time and yelled, “This is engineering! You plan, you design, you build, you try again!” Several students exclaimed, “You have fun!” I had to take pictures of them at that point!
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After declaring a “winner,” we looked back at the board at the solution fluency words. We then debriefed (I am guilty of not doing enough of this step). They were able to point out each part of the process and relate it to the different words. They made the connection to the scientific method. They discussed what they would have done differently. They left eager to tell the next class what they “got to do in science,” while asking me “what do we get to do tomorrow?”