Pictures from our Ed+gineering activities during the Spring 2021 Semester.
Collaboration 1
Twenty-two cross-disciplinary teams of education and engineering students planned and delivered Zoom-based engineering lessons focused on the design of a working bird feeder. Through this lesson, the teams introduced the field of engineering, different types of engineering, and the engineering design process to 4th and 5th graders from three local schools. After the lesson, the elementary students tested their bird feeders in their yards for two weeks and shared their observations and conclusions about the effectiveness of their designs with their ODU student partners.
Collaboration 2
Sixteen teams of education, engineering, and 5th grade students met via Zoom once weekly for 5 weeks to design, build, and code bio-inspired COVID-companion robots.The COVID companion robots were required to use light, sound and movement to provide comfort or assistance during the global pandemic. The teams’ robots ranged widely in their functionality, from pulling tissues for fatigued patients to simulating purring and milk lapping to alleviate loneliness in the form of a robotic cat. Audience Choice awards were presented to a designer in each student group: engineering, education and elementary student. 5th grader, Ariana, won the elementary student award with her parrot-inspired COVID companion designed to keep its human owner entertained, even in the loneliness of times.
Collaboration 3
Eight teams of engineering students and preservice teachers briefly introduced engineering and fluid mechanics to students in a partnered 4th grade classroom during their virtual visit to two local elementary schools. In this initial visit, the teams explained 12 different fluid mechanics concepts that are evident in everyday practical applications and collected elementary students’ areas of interest. In the real-time virtual lesson that followed, ODU students explained what engineering is, what an engineer does, and the engineering design process (EDP) by engaging elementary students in a hands-on engineering challenge that aligned with their interests.
