Projects

This page contains links to two projects that currently serve as examples of our pedagogical philosophy. They were developed, adapted, and/or curated by Knowles Engineering members, and have been implemented in real classrooms. While these projects are not necessarily in their "final" form, they meet many of the following criteria:

What are the key elements of an engineering design project?

• Meaningfully and clearly incorporates some or all four phases of the Knowles Engineering Design Process.
• Design decisions at all phases are driven by data/evidence (quantitative/objective) or values (qualitative, subjective)
• Design decisions are explicitly communicated (e.g. claim/evidence/reasoning or student tools)
• Students iterate on a testable representation (i.e. prototype, model)
• Content is embedded in a meaningful way
• Materials are relatively easy to acquire

Other desirable elements of an engineering design project include:

• Authentic context of process and product - e.g. presentation to external stakeholders
• Ethical concerns and decision making are embedded
• Acknowledge/addresses end of life of materials