Welcome to Day 1
Welcome to Day 1
We are so happy that you are joining us for our Difference Maker Engineering Camp! Welcome to Day 1. We hope that you are ready to have some cool experiences with science, technology, engineering and math as we learn all about how engineers make a difference in the world.
We are so happy that you are joining us for our Difference Maker Engineering Camp! Welcome to Day 1. We hope that you are ready to have some cool experiences with science, technology, engineering and math as we learn all about how engineers make a difference in the world.
Today, we’ll explore:
Today, we’ll explore:
- Empathy
- Design Thinking
- Put our skills to practice with hands-on activities
First things first....
First things first....
Please take this short survey before you get started on any materials.
Please take this short survey before you get started on any materials.
Exploring Empathy
Exploring Empathy
Source: Edutopia - https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-proven-strategies-teaching-empathy-donna-wilson-marcus-conyers
Empathy is hardwired into our brain and when harnessed, plays a crucial role in innovation, change-making, and solving systemic problems. The textbook definition of empathy is “the ability to understand what someone is feeling,” but when put into practice, empathy means so much more:
Empathy is hardwired into our brain and when harnessed, plays a crucial role in innovation, change-making, and solving systemic problems. The textbook definition of empathy is “the ability to understand what someone is feeling,” but when put into practice, empathy means so much more:
- It means being able to grasp the many sides of today’s complex problems and the capacity to collaborate with others to solve them.
- It means being as good at listening to the ideas of others as articulating your own.
- It means being able to lead a team one day, and participate as a team member the next.
Cognitive empathy expands our social imagination beyond our own direct experience. It is what gives us the will and the tools to be effective change-makers. Empathy in action is foundational in our ability to resolve conflict and make decisions with no precedents and drive positive change.
Cognitive empathy expands our social imagination beyond our own direct experience. It is what gives us the will and the tools to be effective change-makers. Empathy in action is foundational in our ability to resolve conflict and make decisions with no precedents and drive positive change.
Why is it Important?
Why is it Important?
We hear a lot about grit, determination and perseverance. But those are all about ‘me,’ the individual. Empathy means looking up from your desk, looking around you at others, and taking ownership for the community you are in -- whether it’s a classroom, a neighborhood, a country or a planet. Our conviction is that in a world defined by connectivity and change, empathy is a key currency. If we want a society or a world of changemakers, where problems no longer outrun solutions, then we have to prioritize empathy because changemaking is empathy in action.
We hear a lot about grit, determination and perseverance. But those are all about ‘me,’ the individual. Empathy means looking up from your desk, looking around you at others, and taking ownership for the community you are in -- whether it’s a classroom, a neighborhood, a country or a planet. Our conviction is that in a world defined by connectivity and change, empathy is a key currency. If we want a society or a world of changemakers, where problems no longer outrun solutions, then we have to prioritize empathy because changemaking is empathy in action.
The Difference Between Sympathy and Empathy
The Difference Between Sympathy and Empathy
I used to think that you could only offer empathy if you had been through the same or similar experience as another person. While that certainly helps, that’s not what empathy is about.
I used to think that you could only offer empathy if you had been through the same or similar experience as another person. While that certainly helps, that’s not what empathy is about.
Empathy = feeling WITH someone. The actual definition of the word says “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”
Empathy = feeling WITH someone. The actual definition of the word says “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”
Sympathy = feeling sorry FOR someone. The definition says “feelings of pity and sorry for someone’s misfortune.”
Sympathy = feeling sorry FOR someone. The definition says “feelings of pity and sorry for someone’s misfortune.”
Can you see the difference?
Can you see the difference?
When we are struggling, we long for empathy. And yet, what we often get instead is sympathy. After all, offering sympathy is easier. It’s easy to pity someone else’s struggles. We all do that without much effort. The harder, and better thing, is trying to understand someone else’s pain.
When we are struggling, we long for empathy. And yet, what we often get instead is sympathy. After all, offering sympathy is easier. It’s easy to pity someone else’s struggles. We all do that without much effort. The harder, and better thing, is trying to understand someone else’s pain.
Listening Actively to Others
Listening Actively to Others
One of the most common obstacles to empathetic relationships is that effective listening is difficult, and often individuals don’t listen to one another in conversation. The HEAR strategy helps us recognize and block out that noise as they devote their attention to listening to one another. The HEAR strategy consists of these steps:
One of the most common obstacles to empathetic relationships is that effective listening is difficult, and often individuals don’t listen to one another in conversation. The HEAR strategy helps us recognize and block out that noise as they devote their attention to listening to one another. The HEAR strategy consists of these steps:
Halt: Stop whatever else you are doing, end your internal dialogue on other thoughts, and free your mind to give the speaker your attention.
Halt: Stop whatever else you are doing, end your internal dialogue on other thoughts, and free your mind to give the speaker your attention.
Engage: Focus on the speaker. We suggest a physical component, such as turning your head slightly so that your right ear is toward the speaker as a reminder to be engaged solely in listening.
Engage: Focus on the speaker. We suggest a physical component, such as turning your head slightly so that your right ear is toward the speaker as a reminder to be engaged solely in listening.
Anticipate: By looking forward to what the speaker has to say, you are acknowledging that you will likely learn something new and interesting, which will enhance your motivation to listen.
Anticipate: By looking forward to what the speaker has to say, you are acknowledging that you will likely learn something new and interesting, which will enhance your motivation to listen.
Replay: Think about what the speaker is saying. Analyze and paraphrase it in your mind or in discussion with the speaker and others. Replaying and dialoguing the information you have heard will aid in understanding what the speaker is attempting to convey.
Replay: Think about what the speaker is saying. Analyze and paraphrase it in your mind or in discussion with the speaker and others. Replaying and dialoguing the information you have heard will aid in understanding what the speaker is attempting to convey.
Can you think of a time you were empathetic to someone else? Can you think of a time when you could have been more empathetic? Or maybe a time when someone wasn’t as understanding of your feelings as you would have liked?
Can you think of a time you were empathetic to someone else? Can you think of a time when you could have been more empathetic? Or maybe a time when someone wasn’t as understanding of your feelings as you would have liked?
For example, everyone knows the story “The Three Little Pigs.” We sympathize with the pigs because we see the wolf as a ravenous villain, but is it possible to see the story from the wolf’s point of view? That’s exactly what Jon Scieszka undertakes in his book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. In this humorous retelling, the wolf didn’t huff and puff to blow the pigs’ houses down; instead he suffered from a terrible allergy and, when stopping by to borrow a cup of sugar, accidentally blew the houses down with a big and powerful sneeze.
For example, everyone knows the story “The Three Little Pigs.” We sympathize with the pigs because we see the wolf as a ravenous villain, but is it possible to see the story from the wolf’s point of view? That’s exactly what Jon Scieszka undertakes in his book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. In this humorous retelling, the wolf didn’t huff and puff to blow the pigs’ houses down; instead he suffered from a terrible allergy and, when stopping by to borrow a cup of sugar, accidentally blew the houses down with a big and powerful sneeze.
To be a difference maker and make a true impact on the world, we have to first start by listening to those who need help, connecting with them in a meaningful way, acknowledging their pain, and showing them compassion and love.
To be a difference maker and make a true impact on the world, we have to first start by listening to those who need help, connecting with them in a meaningful way, acknowledging their pain, and showing them compassion and love.
Design Thinking
Design Thinking
Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way – in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries, in our lives.
Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way – in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries, in our lives.
Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.
Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.
The five phases of Design Thinking, according to the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, are as follows:
The five phases of Design Thinking, according to the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, are as follows:
- Empathize – with your users
- Define – your users’ needs, their problem, and your insights
- Ideate – by challenging assumptions and creating ideas for innovative solutions
- Prototype – to start creating solutions
- Test – solutions
What’s the difference? Engineering vs Design Thinking:
What’s the difference? Engineering vs Design Thinking:
There is a difference between “engineering” and “design thinking”. It comes down to that engineers are problem-oriented, a design thinker is need-oriented. That’s a fundamental another approach. Design thinking does not focus on the (technical) problem but focuses on the user of a yet to be invented solution that meets his needs optimally.
There is a difference between “engineering” and “design thinking”. It comes down to that engineers are problem-oriented, a design thinker is need-oriented. That’s a fundamental another approach. Design thinking does not focus on the (technical) problem but focuses on the user of a yet to be invented solution that meets his needs optimally.
What is prototyping?
What is prototyping?
A prototype is a working model of a product that is used for testing before it is manufactured. Prototypes help designers learn about the manufacturing process of a product, how people will use the product, and how the product could fail or break. A prototype is not the same thing as a model. A model is used to demonstrate or explain how a product will look or function. A prototype is used to test different working aspects of a product before the design is finalized.
A prototype is a working model of a product that is used for testing before it is manufactured. Prototypes help designers learn about the manufacturing process of a product, how people will use the product, and how the product could fail or break. A prototype is not the same thing as a model. A model is used to demonstrate or explain how a product will look or function. A prototype is used to test different working aspects of a product before the design is finalized.
For example, a team of engineers designing a new cell phone might produce several cardboard and paper models to illustrate how the final product would look and feel. They may survey the general public to gain feedback about how the cell phone could look. The team might build a sturdier plastic prototype to test how easily the cell phone could break when dropped. If the prototype does not meet the team's design requirements, then they may complete an "iteration." Iteration is when engineers try again and re-design, re-build and re-test. Engineers often iterate many times before determining the final solution to a problem. Once a successful prototype has been developed, the engineering team can use it as a mock-up for full-scale manufacturing.
For example, a team of engineers designing a new cell phone might produce several cardboard and paper models to illustrate how the final product would look and feel. They may survey the general public to gain feedback about how the cell phone could look. The team might build a sturdier plastic prototype to test how easily the cell phone could break when dropped. If the prototype does not meet the team's design requirements, then they may complete an "iteration." Iteration is when engineers try again and re-design, re-build and re-test. Engineers often iterate many times before determining the final solution to a problem. Once a successful prototype has been developed, the engineering team can use it as a mock-up for full-scale manufacturing.
By building a prototype, you should be able to determine if your chosen design solution is feasible and which aspects of your design need special materials or further refinement. You will also ask other people to test your prototype to help you identify any problems a user might encounter.
By building a prototype, you should be able to determine if your chosen design solution is feasible and which aspects of your design need special materials or further refinement. You will also ask other people to test your prototype to help you identify any problems a user might encounter.
Different Attachment Techniques
Different Attachment Techniques
Since prototypes are often comparatively inexpensive to produce (they can omit certain functions or details or make use of cheap materials), you can create and compare several possible design variants or do multiple design rounds in order to refine the product design step by step with intermittent user feedback.
Since prototypes are often comparatively inexpensive to produce (they can omit certain functions or details or make use of cheap materials), you can create and compare several possible design variants or do multiple design rounds in order to refine the product design step by step with intermittent user feedback.
While we all love glue and tape, sometimes that’s not feasible to use in a design or isn’t the best method for our prototype.
While we all love glue and tape, sometimes that’s not feasible to use in a design or isn’t the best method for our prototype.
Here are a couple of examples of ways you could build or attach components of any prototype you make:
Here are a couple of examples of ways you could build or attach components of any prototype you make:
STEM@HOME Challenge: Special Olympics & Compassion Meditation
Activity adapted from Stanford: https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/c0052/STEM@HOME Challenge: Special Olympics & Compassion Meditation
The purpose of this challenge is to practice our empathy and design thinking skills by learning about the Special Olympics and developing a way for others to learn about the participants in this event.
The purpose of this challenge is to practice our empathy and design thinking skills by learning about the Special Olympics and developing a way for others to learn about the participants in this event.
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the organization or know an individual who participates in the Special Olympics? There are as many as 200 million people with intellectual disabilities around the world and many of them participate in this program.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the organization or know an individual who participates in the Special Olympics? There are as many as 200 million people with intellectual disabilities around the world and many of them participate in this program.
Materials Needed:
Materials Needed:
- Pencil
- Paper
- Family members or friends to interview
- Internet Access (optional)
- Access to various marketing or communication platforms (optional)
Instructions:
Instructions:
- Empathize: Read through the biography of Loretta Claiborne on the following pages. You can also read more about Lore on her website: http://www.lorettaclaiborne.com/
- Research more about Loretta or the Special Olympics as you desire. What other stories can you find?
- Define: Begin to think about how we can better share out the stories of other participants like Loretta. A good first place to start is to find out what other people might already know and think about the Special Olympics.
- Consider interviewing family and friends. Come up with questions that allow you to elicit stories rather than yes or no answers.
- Take the information you gathered from your interviews and create a Point of View statement like the following:
_______ needs a way to __________ so she/he can ______________________.
_______ needs a way to __________ so she/he can ______________________.
Example 1: Jeffrey needs a way to talk to people with intellectual disabilities because he feels awkward and uncomfortable around them.
Example 1: Jeffrey needs a way to talk to people with intellectual disabilities because he feels awkward and uncomfortable around them.
Example 2: Devon needs a way to start conversations with people who are different from her because she is shy and never knows what to say.
Example 2: Devon needs a way to start conversations with people who are different from her because she is shy and never knows what to say.
- Ideate: Generate potential ideas for prototyping. Brainstorm a list of ways that information is conveyed to people. Examples include telling stories, creating videos, creating public service announcements, creating advertising campaigns, designing posters, developing skits, writing songs, creating websites or blogs, tweeting, etc.
- Combine your prototyping ideas with your point of view statements. What is your wildest idea, the safest idea, and the most feasible idea?
- Prototype: Select your favorite idea and generate a prototype. Is it a flyer you can sketch out on paper or create in Canva? Is it an educational video? A website? Remember that prototypes are rough and rapid.
- Test: Share your prototype with those you interviewed. Collect their feedback. How can you improve your prototype based on their suggestions?
- Submit your solution to our contest by filling out the form below by Saturday, July 18:
- Your Name
- A photo or video of your prototype
- Your point of view statement
- A general description of your prototype and why you selected it.
STEM Challenge: Shoe Design Competition
STEM Challenge: Shoe Design Competition
Today, thousands of different types of shoes exist in our world and just as many engineers are working to develop new styles and improve existing designs. Engineers consider many variables when designing shoes—material type for durability and function, anticipated shoe stresses and strains, the health and safety of the shoe wearer, and the shoe's aesthetics. Engineers often work with podiatrists to design high-tech shoes that are safe, comfortable and stylish! Mechanical engineers apply principles of physics to analyze, design and manufacture mechanical systems, including new shoes. Materials engineers—specialists in the structure of materials and their properties—select and design the best combinations of materials for specific shoe purposes.
Today, thousands of different types of shoes exist in our world and just as many engineers are working to develop new styles and improve existing designs. Engineers consider many variables when designing shoes—material type for durability and function, anticipated shoe stresses and strains, the health and safety of the shoe wearer, and the shoe's aesthetics. Engineers often work with podiatrists to design high-tech shoes that are safe, comfortable and stylish! Mechanical engineers apply principles of physics to analyze, design and manufacture mechanical systems, including new shoes. Materials engineers—specialists in the structure of materials and their properties—select and design the best combinations of materials for specific shoe purposes.
Materials Needed:
Materials Needed:
- Paper
- Pencil
- Flip flop
- Various prototyping materials
- Family member or friend
- No one to interview? Pick one of these clients!
Instructions:
Instructions:
- Understanding different shoe design principles. Let’s talk about different types of shoes! In your kit, you’ll find a flip flop. Begin to compare and contrast it with an athletic or casual shoe of your own. Consider:
- What materials are each shoe made of?
- What are the different parts/components of each?
- What is the purpose of each shoe design?
- What occasions are appropriate for each? What makes one better suited for each?
- What sorts of people would wear each of these?
- What design elements do you notice?
- How much do you think it costs to make each shoe? How much do you think each shoe sells for?
As you can see, there are a variety of different shoes that serve different purposes and people!
As you can see, there are a variety of different shoes that serve different purposes and people!
- Calculations of a shoe. Every good shoe designer has to understand the math behind construction. Use the Area and Perimeter of Irregular Objects worksheet on the next pages to learn more about different shapes and how they influence shoe design.
- Shoe design competition. Find a family member or friend to interview and design a shoe based on their needs. Use the following worksheets titled New Shoes: A Design Challenge to help guide you through the process. If you don’t have someone to interview, read the profiles of a few patients linked above and do some research to understand what they look for in a pair of new shoes.
Reflection
Reflection