Like A Real Engineer!
Watch the activity overview video of a group of youth from a summer program on a field trip to learn more about how engineers work.
As you watch the video, think about these questions.
- How does the engineer use the engineering design process with youth?
- What problem solving skills are modeled here?
- What does the engineer say and do here to connect the youth to the real-world career of an engineer?
- If you were frontline staff in this video, what would you do differently to help youth see themselves as an engineer?
Now that you’ve watched the video, reflect on what you saw. How does this apply to your work?
- Brainstorm possible engineers in your community you could invite to participate at your program. What would you do and say to help the engineer align real-world application of what they do in their career to an activity in your program?
- How do the youth respond to the interactions with the engineer?
Explore Engineering Practices
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Including All Learners
The facilitator adapts an activity to include strategies that support the unique needs of his audience which includes English language learners.
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Real-World Modeling of the Engineering Process
Youth are guided through an engineering challenge with real engineers, modeling the engineering process. Watch as the lead engineer encourages the youth to work through the challenge by using engineering practices.
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Where Are You Stuck?
Notice how the facilitator nudges learners to find their own solutions as they create the algorithms that control their agents in the virtual world.