Don't forget the redesign!
After recently attending the ITEEA (Int'l Technology & Engineering Educators Assoc) conference in Atlanta, I was struck by a number of key takeaways, but one in particular that confirmed something I'd been feeling for quite a while now.
As a STEM teacher, we spend a significant amount of time going over the Engineering Design Process, which encourages the following steps, (there are many variations, but this is the idea):
image via http://shop.dowlingmagnets.com/p/engineering-design-process-magnets
This process is extremely useful in any sort of problem-solving/computational thinking kind of situation. However, in my weekly 45 min class periods with 8th graders and Legos, in a best-case scenario, we'd get to prototyping by the end of class. If we set the process up to last several classes, the Redesign portion of the process often went something like this: Discuss with your group what didn't go well in your project and decide what if anything you would have done differently, if you were to do it again.
It was a rare occasion when students actually made a prototype, tried it out, and then re-assessed where they were at and redesigned as needed. As I've gotten more engaged in the process, it occurs to me how much we really need to allow students to actually engage in the redesign part of the process. Without this, they go through an in-depth project, only to see their final product be haphazard at best, completely non-functional at worst. With time for refinement, they can actually meet the requirements of the project, and have a product that they can be proud of.
How many of us feel like we did a spectacular lesson, the first time through? For most elementary teachers who teach in a self-contained classroom, the sense of "Ooh, I could think of 10 ways to improve that lesson," is a daily reality. However, for those of us lucky enough to teach the same thing several times in a day, we make significant improvement each time we do it. We know where the stumbling blocks, questions, and mistakes are going to come and we modify accordingly. I know in my case, when I DON'T have the chance to reteach a lesson, I feel a bit like I'm throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if anything will stick, and in many ways, I'm less invested in it.
On this same level, we need to allow our students to see their way THROUGH the first failure to get to the success at the end. This is the moral of one of my favorite kids books, called Rosie Revere, Engineer. In it, Rosie makes a contraption that fails, but the crux of the book is her aunt pointing out that it WORKED until it failed. So all she has to do now is capitalize on the things that were working, and identify the things that caused failure.
My most common phrase for students struggling or stuck on a STEM project is, "So, it looks like _____ is the problem area. Do you think you need to modify what you have or completely start over?" Depending on the kid and the project, the answers go both ways. But being in the midst of the redesign process is so much more motivating than them just submitting a subpar project and walking away.
As I consider how this might apply to myself and my teachers, I may have to start thinking about a teaching journal, to help reflect on how I can improve the PD sessions I provide for teachers. How do you use the redesign process in your practice? Either for your own professional growth or for teachers you may be on a team with or coaching?
As a STEM teacher, we spend a significant amount of time going over the Engineering Design Process, which encourages the following steps, (there are many variations, but this is the idea):
image via http://shop.dowlingmagnets.com/p/engineering-design-process-magnets
This process is extremely useful in any sort of problem-solving/computational thinking kind of situation. However, in my weekly 45 min class periods with 8th graders and Legos, in a best-case scenario, we'd get to prototyping by the end of class. If we set the process up to last several classes, the Redesign portion of the process often went something like this: Discuss with your group what didn't go well in your project and decide what if anything you would have done differently, if you were to do it again.
It was a rare occasion when students actually made a prototype, tried it out, and then re-assessed where they were at and redesigned as needed. As I've gotten more engaged in the process, it occurs to me how much we really need to allow students to actually engage in the redesign part of the process. Without this, they go through an in-depth project, only to see their final product be haphazard at best, completely non-functional at worst. With time for refinement, they can actually meet the requirements of the project, and have a product that they can be proud of.
How many of us feel like we did a spectacular lesson, the first time through? For most elementary teachers who teach in a self-contained classroom, the sense of "Ooh, I could think of 10 ways to improve that lesson," is a daily reality. However, for those of us lucky enough to teach the same thing several times in a day, we make significant improvement each time we do it. We know where the stumbling blocks, questions, and mistakes are going to come and we modify accordingly. I know in my case, when I DON'T have the chance to reteach a lesson, I feel a bit like I'm throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if anything will stick, and in many ways, I'm less invested in it.
On this same level, we need to allow our students to see their way THROUGH the first failure to get to the success at the end. This is the moral of one of my favorite kids books, called Rosie Revere, Engineer. In it, Rosie makes a contraption that fails, but the crux of the book is her aunt pointing out that it WORKED until it failed. So all she has to do now is capitalize on the things that were working, and identify the things that caused failure.My most common phrase for students struggling or stuck on a STEM project is, "So, it looks like _____ is the problem area. Do you think you need to modify what you have or completely start over?" Depending on the kid and the project, the answers go both ways. But being in the midst of the redesign process is so much more motivating than them just submitting a subpar project and walking away.
As I consider how this might apply to myself and my teachers, I may have to start thinking about a teaching journal, to help reflect on how I can improve the PD sessions I provide for teachers. How do you use the redesign process in your practice? Either for your own professional growth or for teachers you may be on a team with or coaching?
Failing forward is so important. Too often our students and their teachers embrace a once and done model and it's just no realistic. I love seeing student design, test, and modify until they find success.
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