principles and how much engineering appealed to the students . Her posttests will ask similar questions to look for shifts in student mindsets and to assess how much their core understanding has grown .
While observing the students ’ work , Bartow Jacobs took field notes on how well students worked together . The unit was designed so that students never achieve final success and are never simply done ; if they managed to get their kicking machine to put a block in a certain place , a new challenge was added or they were given fewer glue sticks to work with or no longer allowed to use a certain material . The important thing , says Bartow Jacobs , is the process .
One of the biggest challenges for students at this age , she says , is getting an idea and not running with it . But over the course of the unit , with Dillaman ’ s emphasis on rapid prototyping — questioning ideas and trying to generate new and different ones — groups have been willing to modify , adapt , and even rethink their original concepts . The first challenge — making the icy Allequippa Street hill passable for motorists — provides an excellent example .
“ They wanted to build a moving walkway or an elevator ,” says Bartow Jacobs . “ Those are great ideas , but they ’ re not addressing the challenge .”
She adds , “ Understanding constraints can help you solve the problem .”
A Model for Research at Falk
In addition to advancing the goals laid out in Jacobs ’ grant , Bartow Jacobs calls the NSF project “ a model for research at Falk ” and hopes that it can serve as a framework for future research projects at the school .
“ It was important to have Autumn [ Dillaman ] involved in the project from day one ,” she says . “ This was truly a shared development of the ideas . This was a collaborative team working together to improve the school .”
That deep collaboration stands in contrast to prior models of research at Falk , in which a research team from the School of Education or outside Pitt would arrive with a research question already firmly in mind . There ’ s nothing wrong with that approach , says Bartow Jacobs , but involving Falk educators in the central design of this study marks an exciting new possibility .
“ Our goal for research at Falk is to take a truly collaborative approach ,” she says . “ In this model , a research state of mind is part of the culture of the school .”
In that sense , the research team is itself experiencing a process of discovery and iteration not unlike the collaborative processes the fifth graders have employed in designing their kicking machines .
“ We haven ’ t done this before ,” Bartow Jacobs tells the students . “ You ’ re helping us learn what the parameters are .”
Engineers Who Look Familiar
In addition to administering pretests , Bartow Jacobs asked students to draw pictures of what they thought an engineer looked like . She then examined the pictures for markers of gender and race to gain a picture of what — and who — the students see when they picture an engineer .
That was something the team wanted to address when recruiting mentors to help students work through the design process . Jacobs reached out to a number of student groups at the Swanson School , including its chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers , Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers , and Society of Women Engineers .
“ One of the ways that research has shown we can confront these disparities in gender and race in the field is to use mentors to show people others who look like them ,” Jacobs says .
Having that diverse set of faces in the classroom was a critical element of the project , says Dillaman . A majority of the Swanson School mentors were women , and a number were women of color .
“ It was powerful to see students of color seeing these engineers ,” Dillaman says , “ and recognizing that engineering is not just something men do .”
Making Thinking Visible
With just a few minutes left , groups put the finishing touches on their kicking machines . Then the timer goes off and it ’ s time for each group to present its machine .
But before they fling their blocks or release them down a ramp , a spokesperson for each group gives the class some background information , explaining the team ’ s thinking and describing some of the issues they ’ ve had to address in preparing to land their block in the center square . One group found that fabric alone was not enough of an obstacle , but folding the material over a square of aluminum foil provided the necessary friction . Another group describes getting the block into the square on their trial runs but doing so too abruptly ; their block would have ended up with whiplash . Dillaman had challenged them to look for a more elegant solution .
After one group ’ s kicking machine launches , Dillaman asks , “ What might you do to fine-tune it ?” Students in other groups raise their hands with suggestions .
Even for the groups that have landed their blocks smoothly and consistently , today ’ s test is just one step in the design process . Tomorrow will bring a new challenge and another chance to iterate . ■
FALK LABORATORY SCHOOL | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 35