My students are middle schoolers from a diverse group of backgrounds socio-economically, racially and culturally. I harness this diversity by minimizing direct instruction to give them an opportunity to discuss, share and plot their own pathway through various design challenges and they really grab onto these real-world opportunities.
The students love working in small teams to hone their skills in problem-solving, collaboration and creating the products of the future.
Because they are middle schoolers, they spend a good part of their time figuring out who they want to be in this world. It is an amazing time to give them projects that involve student choice and the ability to invent and create.
My Project
All of our 6th and 7th graders take a pre-engineering course which develops their skills in brainstorming a solution to a real-world problem, creating a prototype, evaluating their solution and presenting their process and solution to an audience. As part of this process, students develop skills in SketchUp. Our 8th grade students take their 3D modeling skills even further, developing more complex drawing skills as well as designing a product for themselves or the improvement of the school.
As 3D modeling and printing are quickly becoming an integral part of the engineering and design process, we would love to provide our students with a way to see their computer models come to life.
This not only allows them to see tangible results of their design and thereby better evaluate the usefulness of their solution, but to also have an object to take home and remind them of the design process.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Roberts and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
