STEM SPECIAL
August - December 2017
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Story:
When I asked engineering students in my university why they decided to pursue a degree in engineering, most of them answered that “it was because [they’re] good at math and science.” However, engineering is not limited to just being good at math and science, for there is so much more that goes into engineering than the technical side. We want to erase this stigma and focus on teaching younger students what engineering really is and inspire them to pursue this field for the more accurate reasons. My team created an engineering curriculum for 2nd graders to not only correctly teach them about engineering but also to spark an interest into the engineering field.
My Impact:
My roles for this project were Interviewer, Secondary-Researcher, and Usability-tester.
PROCESS
Execution: What I either participated in or I took sole ownership of for this project
Objective: The goals or purpose of what I executed
Result: What actually happened from the Execution
OBSERVATIONS
Execution: At my professor’s suggestion, attend and observe an engineering education event provided a platform for students to discover STEM
Objective: Figure out if it was or was not an effective way to instill an excitement for STEM
Result: Find that this is a crucial building block for later in a kid’s life that is currently not being supplied. it is not a specific type of STEM toy or puzzle we need to design but rather an activity-based design to implement into primary-level classrooms
INTERVIEWS
Execution: Talk with children ages 5-10 and their parents while they’re interacting with specifically designed STEM toys. Also talked with engineering education and child psychology professors for their insight on STEM education for primary level students.
Objective: Discover the pain points with STEM toys and gather insight on how to keep students’, in this age group, attention
Result: Discovered that once students complete a STEM toy kit or finish a challenging puzzle, immediately they get bored and do not return to the activity. Additionally, students in this age group will not participate in STEM activities or even have interest if their friends are not interested either
FINDING THE PROBLEM
Execution: Undergo data analysis through synthesis
Objective: Discover the underlying problem that ties all the users and stakeholders together
Result: Because students in this age group have short attention spans, teachers need to figure out how to make an immersive and collaborative activity with creative storytelling to not only foster imagination and creativity but also incorporate entertaining problem-solving experiences
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Execution: Read literature suggested by engineering education and child psychology professors
Objective: Learn some cognitive activities and exercises as examples for what we can improve
Result: Current activities used to implement STEM methods in the classroom are based on old ideas of engineering inspired by strictly math and science. Some current teachers may be hesitant or just refuse to conform to a new way of implementing STEM into the classroom.
DESIGN
Execution: Design activities that accurately mimic real-life problems while also utilizing fun characters like mythical creatures and animals
Objective: Keep the primary students engaged and foster creativity
Result: Design a curriculum for the students through hands-on activities without actively lecturing and teaching them how
CREATING PERSONAS
Execution: Create personas that reflect the user group and stakeholders
Objective: Present a clearer idea of who we are trying to serve and how they would interact with the final solution
Result: Came up with primary level student personas, one in school and one home-schooled, as well as different teachers, one open to the new idea of STEM implementation and one hesitant of STEM teachings. This covers all the basis of personality of our users and stakeholders.
BUILDING A STORYBOARD
Execution: Present a story line that shows the difference of the current method of STEM teachings versus implementing our current design
Objective: Show how our design will help improve the STEM teachings in the school system
Result: Our design helps students retain engineering practices as well as have a better idea of what engineering practices actually are in the real world
USABILITY TESTING
Received no Consent for Pictures
Execution: Present our initial design of our curriculum to a primary school teacher
Objective: Receive feedback and recommendations to change
Result: Language needs to be put in simpler terms and that is easy for teachers to follow and prepare for and guide as well as make it clear for the teachers of these students to seamlessly implement it into their classrooms
FINAL SOLUTION
My team was able to problem solve and develop our user-centered design that we and our stakeholders believe will teach 2nd grade students simplified cognitive engineering and design processes. As a result, we, as older individuals, are slowly losing our creativity and adapting to doing what we're told rather than figuring out our own unique way of thinking. With our curriculum, students will have a more developed creative mind that will assist them in fabricating unthinkable designs to this problem. The program is malleable, and it can be manipulated to fit different settings, so regardless of a school’s disposable income the models of design can always be taught.
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SKILLS
Iterative prototyping
Storytelling
TAKEAWAYS
I learned how important it is to remember how to design not just for the user but also the stakeholders. In this case even though we wanted to focus on instilling engineering practices and definition into the primary-level students, we also needed to be mindful of who will be introducing and teaching these concepts to the students.