Design thinking and engineering design is often taught as a linear, structured approach, but with Paper Mechatronics, tinkering is key. During two different July workshops a group of teachers and some young girls explored a more creative approach to learning design: blending crafts with electronics, coding, and mechanisms. Infosys Foundation USA Pathfinders Summer Institute 2018 […]
Fig. 1: The paper-on-cup experiment with SmartIRSmartIR is a smartphone app that I am developing to support infrared (IR) thermal imaging applications, primarily in the field of science and engineering, based on the FLIR ONE SDK. The development offici…
The cover article of the August issue of The Science Teacher features an intriguing shiver of sharks, data about those sharks and other marine animals, plus the perfect way to get your feet wet with data analysis: Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) and Ocean Tracks. Bill Finzer, one of the authors of the Science […]
Everyone lives in a watershed, regardless of whether you reside where it’s hot and dry or wet and rainy. As the U.S. Geological Survey says, if you’re standing on land, look down, you’re in a watershed. The 23 teachers, staff developers, and center directors who met this summer at the Concord Consortium offices in Massachusetts […]
Can children as young as kindergarten understand what makes a solid become a liquid, or a gas? Can they comprehend the dynamics of particle motion? Our Sensing Science through Modeling Matter project believes they can, with the help of playful, animated stories and an online app that is now available in the App Store. Sensing […]
Fifty statistics educators from ten countries gathered on July 10, 2018, in Kyoto, Japan, at the International Conference On Teaching Statistics (ICOTS) for the inaugural data science education Special Interest Group (SIG) organized by Tim Erickson of EEPS Media and William Finzer of the Concord Consortium. The large group included university professors, software developers, curriculum […]
Four students head to the local park to play cards or Bananagrams on their lunch break. For the rest of the day, they sit quietly around a circular table in our Concord, Massachusetts, office, their computers practically touching around the tight space. Some with ear buds in, they are all focused intently on their screens, […]
How do dragons inherit wings and horns? What role do proteins play in dragons with translucent white scales? During a weeklong summer “camp” in Maynard, Massachusetts, designed for middle school students interested in online gaming and genetics, nine students in grades 6-8 played Geniventure to find out. They also applied genetics concepts to solve puzzles, […]
To prepare students for the 21st century workforce, we must teach them to work effectively in teams, keeping in mind that team members may be in the same room or on different continents. Although working collaboratively is widely recognized as an effective and efficient way to use a company’s manpower, most classroom work continues to […]
Fig. 1: Integrated design and simulation in Energy3DIn workplaces, engineering design is supported by contemporary computer-aided design (CAD) tools capable of virtual prototyping — a full-cycle process to explore the structure, function, and cost of a…