Understanding Engineering Design in the Context of Making: Teacher and Student Perceptions of Design Thinking in a Classroom Maker Activity

• In Event: 53.082 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: 53.082-3 - Special Topics in Engineering and Computer Science: Engineering Design, Computational Thinking, and Assessment

Abstract

This paper reports on 8th grade students’ perceptions of engineering design in the context of a classroom maker activity. In their engineering course, students designed, fabricated, and tested prosthetic bones for use in a movie in collaboration with a professional stuntman. Using classroom observations and student focus groups, student conceptions of the process of engineering design are explored in contrast to the teacher’s instructional goals and the engineering design standards included in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Suggestions for educators working to teach engineering through making are shared.

Authors

• Alexandria Killian Hansen, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Danielle Boyd Harlow, University of California - Santa Barbara