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Abstract Engineering design has been widely implemented in K-12 curricula to cultivate future workforce. In this study, seventh-grade students (N = 38) participated in theSolarizing Your Schoolcurriculum, an action-oriented program where they engaged in engineering design processes to tackle a real-world problem related to renewable energy adoption. The study sought to explore how students balanced constraints and criteria in engineering design. Over a five-day period, seventh-grade students developed plans for adopting solar energy on their school campus and simulated the plan on a technology-enhanced epistemic tool, Aladdin (https://intofuture.org/aladdin.html). Data was collected through design artifacts, log data from design processes, and surveys about their learning experience. Three distinct patterns of balancing design criteria and constraints emerged, including designing for practice, for performance, and for irrelevant goals. The group who designed for practice gave priority to criteria and constraints recorded a higher level of design performance. The study underscores the benefits of integrating action-oriented learning opportunities via engineering design processes in science education.
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An Online Interactive Tool for Exploring Water Justice with Undergraduate Students
It is vital that the next generation of public health practitioners understand the importance of ensuring affordable and equitable access to safe drinking water for all communities, and the interconnected roles that scientific research, public policy, community engagement, and advocacy play in ensuring this. Here, we describe the Water Tool, a website where student-users develop an exploratory and customizable journey through data on drinking water suppliers’ compliance with regulations, watershed pollution, and environmental justice:https://eew-sdwa-nj.streamlit.app/In the course we built alongside a New Jersey-specific version of the Water Tool, students complete three in-class assignments and a final project. They first use it to answer a basic set of questions such as, how many public water systems are there in the state? Students then find their own water provider through an interactive map and describe the provider’s source water and number of persons served. Next, they use the tool to investigate socioeconomic, biophysical, and public health indicators of environmental inequity in their area. In the final project, students reflect on the meaning of the information they compiled and how to communicate it. Through hands-on engagement with data and structured opportunities for reflection, the Water Tool enables students to learn both about how drinking water is regulated and how to assess information on drinking water quality for specific water systems. Although we designed the tool and assignments specifically with New Jersey in mind, it could be reconfigured for use in other states or more local contexts.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2127335
- PAR ID:
- 10639849
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Pedagogy in Health Promotion
- ISSN:
- 2373-3799
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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