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Novel Engineering Challenges
Need ideas for Panther Period? Try the Cardboard Challenge. Or Novel Engineering Challenge that combines literacy and engineering!
The library has multiple copies of Island of the Blue Dolphins and Tuck Everlasting. We also have a few copies of Weslandia, an upcoming picture book challenge and Poppy by Avi. The City of Ember, Number the Stars, and Hatchet are all novels that 6th grade reads.
Novel Engineering Challenges
Novel Engineering is an integrated approach to teaching engineering and literacy. As part of Novel Engineering, students develop projects based on texts they read in English Language Arts or other content classes, such as history. The characters become their clients and students pull from the text to scope problems and set constraints as they engage in engineering design.
An integrated approach to teaching Engineering and Literacy
An integrated approach to teaching Engineering and Literacy
Inspired by kids and grounded in research, Novel Engineering is an innovative approach to integrate engineering and literacy in elementary and middle school.
Students use existing classroom literature - stories, novels, and expository texts - as the basis for engineering design challenges that help them identify problems, design realistic solutions, and engage in the Engineering Design Process while reinforcing their literacy skills.
What Novel Engineering looks like
What Novel Engineering looks like
Read a book and identify problems - Through discussion and attentive reading, students collect problems that characters face.
Scope problems and brainstorm solutions - Students consider the needs of the story's character/client and the context/constraints imposed by the text as they brainstorm possible solutions.
Design a solution - Students work in teams to plan and build a functional prototype that addresses the character's needs and constraints.
Get feedback - Students test their solutions as they build and get feedback from their teacher and/or peers.
Improve designs - Students use information gathered during testing and presentations to improve and revise their designs.
Share - Teams can either present their final solution or reflections on their process to the class, write a story that includes their solution, or make an advertisement for their solution.
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