NSELA Virtual SLI 2021

Engineering design is a key aspect of the Next Generation Science Standards. Engineering design projects require students to build and use science ideas and grapple with competing criteria and constraints and alternative solutions to problems. But what kinds of problems should engineering design projects address in science classrooms?

In this presentation, I will develop some criteria that we are using in two projects for developing compelling engineering design challenges for students. Our criteria are that engineering design challenges should: (1) address a priority of students’ communities or global matter of concern that impacts students’ everyday lives; (2) foreground what is at stake for students for particular stakeholder groups; (3) engage with the economic, social, and political systems implicated in addressing the issues at hand for stakeholders; (4) support students in developing a caring approach to the engineering design and testing process and (5) culminate in a decision or action students conclude is necessary to promote justice.

I will illustrate these criteria applied in the context of a culminating design challenge from a high school curriculum unit and a middle school assessment.