In Search of Deeper Learning by Jal Mehta & Sarah Fine

Author:Jal Mehta & Sarah Fine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Science Electives for the Real World

Another set of classes that students described as particularly powerful were the design, engineering, and green engineering electives. In the design and green engineering classes, students used design processes to develop real-world projects for real-world clients. One of the most celebrated examples was the creation of a pedestrian alert system in Ethiopia. The goal of this project was to reduce the number of road traffic incidents; the group chose to focus on Ethiopia because it had one of the highest road-fatality rates in the world. One of the students had also been born in Ethiopia; he helped to broker a connection with a school in Addis Ababa to gain a greater understanding of the local conditions and context. With the help of an initial $10,000 grant from a nearby university, the students built a machine that could sense the speed of an oncoming car and tell pedestrians whether it would be safe to cross. The machine works on solar power and can be created with recyclable parts. To develop this work, the students found mentors at two prestigious universities, as well as among professional engineers and designers. These mentors helped them through many rounds of critique and iteration, including an extended critique session at a design firm in the city. Their teacher also had spent sixteen years as a designer before teaching high school, an experience that shaped her knowledge and sensibilities. The project was eventually featured in a White House science fair and the students were recognized by President Obama. Obama, one said, “has surprisingly soft hands but his handshake has a firm grip.”10 Not all projects were this successful, but it was a remarkable example of what high school students can produce when given the opportunity.

The design and engineering courses took a different approach to knowledge and its acquisition. If the logic of most core classes was “here is a body of material that you need to learn because it might be useful later,” the logic of these electives was “figure out what you are trying to build, then acquire the knowledge that you need to make it.” Engineering did have a sequenced course of study, and the earlier courses were more organized around content (with applications); later courses were more project-driven on the assumption that students already knew much of the basic content. Overall, though, the people running the engineering program took the stance that what you know is less important than what you can do with what you know. The engineering teachers, Mr. Baker and Ms. Peterson, recalled introducing an instrument, a caliper, and asking students to figure out how to use it. Students went to YouTube, traded ideas with each other, and eventually figured out how to use it. Here we ask about the purpose of this inductive approach:

Interviewer: Wouldn’t it be more efficient for you just to show them how to do it?

Mr. Baker: It would be, but that’s not what I want them to know.

Interviewer: Why not?

Ms. Peterson: And they don’t remember it.

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