A toolkit to support 8- to 11-year-olds in using the engineering design process across out-of-school settings (Resource Exchange)
Susan M. Letourneau, Sonja Latimore, Lisa Ellsworth, Melissa D. Aldridge Carlson, Louise P. Flannery, Peter Ciavarella, Trevor Taylor · 2024
Abstract This resource exchange describes a free toolkit that introduces children ages 8-11 and their families to the engineering design process through hands-on experiences in museums, makerspaces, and at home. The toolkit builds on research within the maker movement that highlights the importance of engaging learners in addressing problems that are personally meaningful, and the critical role that caregivers play in supporting and guiding children's learning across out-of-school settings and over time. The toolkit includes workshops that use familiar themes (like Animals, School, Home, and Clothing) to guide children in creating prototypes to solve everyday problems; an app that offers additional support both during the workshops and at home; take-home activities to help children get started making at home and practice the engineering design process; and resources to help caregivers support their children's learning in the makerspace and at home. Workshops and at-home activities were designed to use accessible materials that families have access to at home (such as recyclables, fabric, tape, rubber bands, etc), and to allow families to work at their own pace with support from facilitators and/or the app. Toolkit resources were iteratively developed and tested through a design-based research process that involved media producers, researchers, and staff at multiple makerspace sites across the US. Learning outcomes for children include engagement in defining a problem to solve, brainstorming and planning solutions, building a prototype, and testing and iterating their design, and using the app or at-home activities to continue practicing the engineering design process over time. Goals for caregivers also include increases in knowledge, interest, and confidence in supporting children's engineering design projects. The toolkit is free and publicly available; links to download all resources are included in the conference paper.