Element H

Approximately 15 million students will be enrolled in high-school in the Fall of 2020, of which 45 percent will attend online, with an additional 48 percent not yet determined. Students across the nation need full access to experience both virtual and hands-on components of the PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design curriculum whether in a brick-and-mortar setting or via remote instruction. How can we provide a practical solution that aligns with the CDC Considerations for Schools, for an individual kit, that would facilitate PLTW curriculum and not require families to shoulder an additional financial burden for the procurement of hands-on materials?

For Element H, our team must develop a plan to test our prototypes either virtually or in-person (as possible). Even though our EDD course is virtual this summer, we hope to have designed a way to test at least one item from our design criteria. As far as other measures we will use to test, we will survey teachers to see if the material list could accomplish the PLTW Instant Design Challenges and the Automata project as well as obtain feedback from school administration regarding budget or delivery constraints. Field testing or market research will be conducted to test the ease of use. Ease of use will be defined by how long it takes for students to read the instructions and perform the activity (five to ten minutes) between unboxing and when they can provide a physical artifact of the activity. After testing and feedback, we should have results that we can use to revise or iterate on our design.

1. The kit should be easy to use for students - out of the box ready to go and learn.

2. The kit should provide a Solution for the remote instruction of Intro to Engineering Design for the Instant Design Challenges and Automata (at minimum). - updated 7/20/20 to reflect “Instant Design Challenges” rather than “Unit 1”, as the new curriculum has been placed into the Courses in our myPLTW accounts, and we aren’t as familiar with the needs of those new lessons yet.

3. The kit should have a measurable impact on the level of student engagement measured through course uploads to instructors and engagement with course content online via virtual instruction.

4. The kit should be free to students & inexpensive for school districts (max of $40).

5. There should be clear, efficient, sterile methods that align with CDC directives for assembly and pick-up of kits by families.

6. The size of the kit should be approximately the size of a shoebox.