April 2021
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431 Reads
This Engineering in Action article presents a socially relevant lesson designed to intentionally teach secondary students core engineering concepts related to the practices of Engineering Design and Quantitative Analysis [presented in the Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning (2020)]. This lesson also situates learning in the context of computation and automation as described in Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy (ITEEA, 2020) and addresses the standards focused on human-centered design and technological innovation/impacts. The lesson example includes (a) class discussions to engage students in a socially relevant problem (the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic) within the context of safety in public settings and (b) a design activity to help students learn and apply core concepts related to Engineering Practice (i.e., Computational Thinking, Prototyping, and Systems Analytics) as well as knowledge related to communication technologies. At the end of this lesson, students are expected to (1) design a social distancing lanyard for public events (See Figure 1), (2) explore methods of measuring distances between people via radio signals, (3) ideate several designs that meet the needs of their identified user, and (4) create a working prototype (including both digital and physical elements) of their chosen design. Additionally, students should be able to showcase their engineering practices as well as how knowledge of their user and communication technologies informed their design.