Using Google Maps to help teach Civil Engineering to Middle School Students

Using Google Maps to help teach Civil Engineering to Middle School Students

Students learn about the world’s tallest towers, focussing on the tallest skyscraper in the world, the Burj Kahlifa and the basic design principles that makes it successful. Students engage with Google Earth to take a virtual tour of the building and watch a video on how Google produced the virtual tour. Then, students are given a civil engineering design challenge. The challenge involves building a tower out of limited materials and time that will withstand a hurricane force wind. Students take an online, self-grading quiz on terms and concepts.

Key questions

• What is a civil engineer?
• What is the tallest tower in the world?
• What design considerations must a building consider to withstand the forces of nature?
• Which structural designs work better than others?

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10.4 Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative and Assessment Article Summary

9.3: 5 Technology-Integrated Lesson Plans

Why teach engineering in elementary/middle school?
There are many reasons to teach engineering in elementary and middle school.

• Children of this age have an innate curiosity about how things work and are fascinated by taking things apart and putting things together to learn how they work. By encouraging this creative and inquisitive expression we can help to keep these interests alive, and encourage them to pursue these activities in the future.
• Engineering projects integrate well with other disciplines. Using real-world, hands-on projects, students naturally engage in science and math activities, as well as all other subjects as a result of their research and investigations. From graphing data and learning scientific principles, to communicating their results with the world through multimodal approaches, students are engaged in real world, relevant applications of all subjects.
• Engineering fosters problem-solving skills collaboration, independent thinking. These are skills that are required for 21st Century careers, and should be a central part of the curriculum.
• Engineering concepts are taught through project-based experiences, which encourage students to think outside the box, problem solve and collaborate. It brings concepts from one dimension into the real world.
• Engineering and technological literacy are essential for preparing our students for careers of the future. Our society is increasingly dependent upon technology and engineering, a trend which is only growing stronger. To compete in the world market, we must prepare our students with skills that will ready them for careers, some of which don't even exist today. We must do what we can to create independent thinkers and problem solvers. Engineering is a great way to accomplish this.

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10.3 My Philosophy of Teaching

Purpose

My goal in the classroom is to inspire and facilitate student exploration and discovery. Through the use of modeling and executing integrated digital experiences, I have found it to foster creativity, innovation, collaboration and communication skills. Students learn to problem-solve, develop critical thinking and decision-making capabilities. Guided inquiry and project-based learning helps students to locate, organize, synthesize and share knowledge about real-world issues.

With much attention being given to the need for preparing students for 21st century careers, a robust education in STEM is critically important. According to the NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers), the “continued economic prosperity and national security of the United States” relies upon a strong foundational understanding of STEM concepts and practices, and that the elementary and middle school is the prime time to lay this foundation for students.

Presentation

In the classroom, using a variety of media to present the lesson is crucial. Equally as important is students sharing what they have learned through technology, as it is an essential 21st century skill.

Staying on top of the latest trends in public school education is important to me. I also believe that it is important to be a lifelong learner. In addition, I believe in giving back to the community through professional speaking engagements and workshops.

Curriculum

Delivering learning experiences which are aligned with the CCSS and the NGSS is essential. Lessons should always begin with the desired results, followed by determining acceptable evidence. This allows for planning meaningful learning experiences and instruction that sets the stage for successful learning.

Assessments are formative and summative,  including traditional tests and quizzes, yet  moving beyond to student rubrics, project notebooks, journals, self-assessments, peer-to-peer assessments and more.

Questions I ask when planning for learning:

1. What do my students need to know and be able to accomplish?
2. How will my students demonstrate that they know and are able to do it?
3. How are my students going to learn what they need to know and be able to do?
4. How will I know that they have learned?

Classroom Environment

At the heart of a solid STEM program lies a solid foundation for student empowerment. In the classroom, the following is apparent:

• Clear expectations set by the teacher
• A well-defined and supportive framework for the learning activities which are created from instructional goals
• Meaningful technology is used to support learning
• Differentiated learning occurs consistently through a variety of learning activities
• Assessment is authentic, using a variety of modes and includes student self-assessments and peer-to-peer evaluations.

Motivation, Engagement and Conduct

Motivating and sustaining student interest, engagement and appropriate conduct is always my goal. Of course, letting the class flow and having fun is also important!

Having students who are self-directed, interested and engaged in their activities allows for deeper learning and a higher level of involvement and expression. This can be accomplished with learners of all types and abilities through differentiation and variety of hands-on activities.

Theory, Application and Diversity

As an educator, I have a firm belief in infusing all learning experiences with multiple paths to learning and and allow for different modes of presentation and assessment. Each student is different, and learns differently. Applying Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Students learn uniquely within intelligences which include visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal. Applying these has become much easier with the advent of meaningfully integrated technology and thoughtful planning for learning on all levels.

AR.3 Article Review - Rubrics

CBE—Life Sciences Education Vol. 5, 197–203, Fall 2006

Approaches to Biology Teaching and Learning Rubrics: Tools for Making Learning Goals and Evaluation Criteria Explicit for Both Teachers and Learners Deborah Allen* and Kimberly Tanner† *Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716; and † Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132

In an attempt to drive higher order thinking and deeper understanding of course content, rubrics provide a way for students and teacher alike to have clarity around expectations and performance objectives. The rubric allows students to understand the standards clearly and improve their performance on the tasks. For teachers, it helps to set a guideline for assessment that has clearly defined standards, making grading more objectifiable and less opinion-driven.

In designing a rubric, one must consider first the following questions: 

“What do I want students to know and be able to do?

“How will I know when they know it and can do it well?”

“This is essential not only for developing the rubric, but also in confirming the choice of the particular assessment task as being the best way to collect evidence about how the outcomes have been met.” 

Allen and Tanner discuss the differences between constructing  analytical and holistic rubrics and the complexities of creating the right one to obtain the desired evidence that outcomes have been met.They mention online rubric sites, such as Rubistar that can be used to generate rubrics. After this, they talk about analyzing the data collected from the rubric. I found this to be a little academic, but appreciated that they talked about using double digit rubric scores to analyze a student’s responses to an essay prompt about ecosystems. I think that this is a better approach than a regular multiple choice test, because it reflects higher order thinking and connections to the real world, whereas the multiple choice test is static and flat, offering a lot less information about the student’s actual learning other than rote memorization.

The article concludes with talking about why it is good to use rubrics, from both the teacher and student points of view. Although it takes considerable time to create a rubric, it is a great assessment tool, especially given changing teaching strategies. Rubrics can help to ensure that students are being assessed properly and that the educational outcomes of the teachers are met. It also provides a tool for the student to reflect on their learning, and for students to know the expectations of the learning experience up front which can help them to succeed.