InVenture Challenge – What Is Engineering? Enduring Understandings: Designing a product or process to solve a problem has come naturally to humans throughout history. Even when you do not know the steps of the engineering process, your mind follows these steps in order to solve a problem. Essential Questions: What is the engineering process? How is the engineering process iterative? How is teamwork an advantage when solving a problem? Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 1 1 Hour S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. ELAGSE6SL1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Design and build a table out of newspaper tubes. Discuss the process teams used to solve the problems and compare them to The Engineering Design Process model. Informal observation of problem-solving process, teamwork, and higher-order thinking. Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication InVenture Challenge – What Is Empathy? Enduring Understandings: Students will understand that inventors are keenly aware of the needs of others and focus on those needs when improving a device OR creating a new device to solve a problem, making life better and easier for its users. Essential Questions: What is empathy? How does an inventor use empathy to make life better for its users? Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 2 1 Hour S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. Differentiated choices for students of different abilities. Students will consider needs statements and match the invention that was created due to Ticket out the door: Students will define empathy and identify potential negative problems of inventions.
Week 4 45 Minutes ELAGSE6SL1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Students will share completed homework chart from Week 3. Teacher will lead a discussion to evaluate ideas. Teacher will introduce Invention Decision Matrix and new vocabulary. Students will complete a new Discovering Your Design Chart emphasizing empathy and considering the needs of others. Completion of Discovering Your Design Chart homework from Week 3. Did the chart show: Effort Thoughtfulness Detailed Description Original Ideas Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication InVenture Challenge – Discovering Your Design Challenge Part III Enduring Understandings: It is important to reflect honestly on personal strengths prior to engaging in a collaborative effort. Collaborative efforts require a variety of strengths to complete a multi-faceted project. Essential Questions: How do various strengths of team members contribute to a productive collaboration? Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 5 1 Hour ELAGSE6SL1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Students will complete a second Invention Decision Matrix to evaluate their second round of ideas when considering the needs of others. Students will complete a checklist to identify personal strengths and weaknesses that could affect their ability to contribute productively as part of an engineering team. Share episodes of “Shark Tank” and/or past Inventure Challenge competitions on GPBS. Realistic completion of Completion of Discovering Your Design Chart homework from Week 4. Did the chart show: Effort Thoughtfulness Detailed Description Original Ideas Empathy Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration
InVenture Challenge - Define Enduring Understandings: Students will understand that during this part of the engineering process, the focus becomes very narrow. A team works together to synthesize the data and observations gathered during the empathy stage to define ONE need and a SPECIFIC user. Essential Questions: How can the team incorporate its research into a problem statement that clearly indentifies the intended user, the problem experienced by the user, and the impact of the problem’s solution? Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 6 1 Hour S4CS8. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. Students will watch Team Sucette InVenture Pitch as a model for problem statement development. Teams will write a problem statement for Team Sucette and I-Phone prior to writing a problem statment for their own InVenture idea. Teacher will conference with teams to evaluate problem statements to ensure that they include: User Need Empathy Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration InVenture Challenge – Primary Research Enduring Understandings: In addition to researching the writings of other people (secondary sources), you can assess the relevance and practicality of a project by conducting primary research through surveys and interviews. Essential Questions: What is primary research? How does research help me better define the specific needs of the users? How does asking the right questions help me my prototype? Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 7 1 Hour ELAGSE6SL1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas Students will read and discuss information on the primary research topics of writing surveys and interviewing procedures. Students will complete “Where Do I Start?” hand-out to identify Informal observation of process, teamwork, and higher-order thinking. Students’ written evaluation of their sample survey question experience solving
Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 11 and 12 1 hour each week Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. S4CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly. b. Make sketches to aid in explaining scientific procedures or ideas. Students are required to provide a sketch of their idea. This may be done by hand on using a CAD program. TinkerCAD is free to use. GA Tech also encourages schools to use IronCAD which is free to schools participating in InVenture. Students are also encouraged to create a prototype of their InVenture idea. Georgia Tech does not require teams to have working prototypes, but it is more desirable to create one. Prototypes must be done by students and the cost of materials should not exceed $25. Teachers will evaluate the quality of final sketch and prototype of product or process. Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration InVenture Challenge - Launch Enduring Understandings: Teams will consider how best to share their innovative idea to their audience or judges. The best way to do this is through a pitch. The pitch should focus on the needs of the users and explain how it makes life better for people. Essential Questions: How can I make others care about my Estimated Pacing Standard for instruction Supporting activity Assessment of standard Week 12 and 13 ELAGSE6SL4: Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Students will evaluate pitches of GA Tech students in previous InVenture Prize episodes to help them better understand how to make their pitch polished and persuasive. Teachers will conference with teams throughout the pitch process to give them specific feedback as to how well they include: Statement of problem Intended users Description of invention How it is different and better to similar products on the market Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration InVenture Prize What Is Engineering?
Defining the Problem: Team Sucette Specific User: Describe the target population – who specifically experiences this problem or need? Deep Need: What needs do these users have? Empathy-Based Insights: Why do you think the user has these needs? Why is the need surprising or interesting? Be specific.
Infants/toddlers who need soothing in unknown or scary situations Going to the doctor for treatment or being in a new place with strangers can upset young children. It would be easier for a doctor to treat a child that wasn’t screaming and the parent and child could both be calmer. Parents of crying children, especially in public situations like on an airplane or at a store The natural instinct to suck quiets and calms young children I know parents can get stressed or embossed when their child is disturbing others. What would be a good problem statement for Team Sucette? Babies and toddlers need a safe, natural way to self-soothe when they are scared, tired, or in a stressful situation and the parent is unable to calm them with other natural methods such as hugging, patting, rocking, or singing. Defining the Problem: I-Phone A large team of engineers created the I-Phone as a solution to some problem that existed. What users, needs and empathy did they have in mind when creating this device? Specific User: Describe the target population – who specifically experiences this problem or need? Deep Need: What needs do these users have? Empathy-Based Insights: Why do you think the user has these needs? Why is it surprising? Be specific. People who communicate by phone either for work or socially to stay in contact with family and friends. People are always on the go and need a way to communicate. In emergencies, fast communication is important. If users become lost they can get help by phone. Having a phone to be able to contact someone quickly while you are on the go can make users feel safer and more secure. Being able to reach others quickly can help reduce frustration of locating a landline phone. Letting someone know you are on the way or running late can allow users to be considerate of others’ time. People who are away from home need a mobile phone device so that they can communicate with work, family and friends, and to get help in cases of emergency. What would be a good problem statement for the I-Phone? Defining YOUR Problem! Specific User: Describe the target population – who specifically experiences this problem or need? Deep Need: What needs do these users have? Empathy-Based Insights: Why do you think the user has these needs? Why is it surprising? Be specific.