Engineers Make a Difference: Motivating Students to Pursue an Engineering Education

Sustainable Energy Engineering Teacher's Guide

Roller Coaster Engineering Teacher's Guide

Teaching Engineering Made Easy: A Friendly Introduction to Engineering Activities for Middle School Teachers

Lesson 1: Have colored building materials. If you are using straws, get the ones with color. Same goes for pipe cleaners, paper clips, CDs and whatever else you are planning to use. I noticed several moms coming to the materials table and only taking a certain color of the supply that they needed. Even with only a few minutes left to finish their project, they were still extremely selective of color.

Lesson 2: Encourage them to name their project. Towards the end of the workshop, we completed a helmet building activity (similar to an egg drop). Acting as biomedical or materials engineers, each girl drew a face on her egg and gave it a name. Because of this simple exercise, each girl took more ownership of the project and built a better helmet for their “person”. The girls were being creative, focused on the goal and intent on saving this little person that had just been brought to life. Some of their egg people were even planning to hang out when the day was over. I'd call this visualizing success.

Lesson 3: When your group is working well together, they are extremely competitive. One of our group activities required the girls to work as a team to flip a sheet over (sounds easier than it is). They struggled the first time but the second time they got it quickly. I told them the record time was two minutes and they begged to be allowed to beat the record. Remember that they are middle school girls so when their excitment climbs and the screaming begins, be sure to have your earplugs handy.

This workshop can be a remarkable event if you remember that little things can make a big difference.

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