Final ImagineIT Report
What I have learned from this whole design process is the importance of planning and reflection. It has been quite a valuable journey in which I will treasure and build from. I hope to keep this fire that MSUrbanSTEM fellowship has ignited within me to continue striving to facilitate my students to work to their fullest potential. This project allowed students to be challenged, but didn't allow them to quit. I observed students working together to achieve the objective of meeting the criteria of creating a functioning model of an artificial heart valve where water flowed continuously in one direction and any water that flowed backward was less than 30 ml. It was extremely satisfying to see all students testing their models within their groups and collaborating to redesign many times to create their ideal model.
Receiving feedback from peers and students has been very positive. I really enjoyed my students feedback! I had students write about this engineering experience and here are some quotes. "It was stressing us all out, but at the end we were so happy that we got a good grade and that we finished the activity. I can say we all did a good job working together." "Overall this was a really fun activity and we hope we do more similar ones." "It was fun to do and it's a break from the book." "Sometimes throughout the project we would run out of materials and would have to compromise. If we would have had all the materials we needed, we could have made our project better." I did observe that one of the constraints of this project was materials. I limited the materials that students could use and would change this when I do this lesson again.
"A lot of people were helping each other with each other's project." With this last quote I was truly touched by my many observations of all my students coming together. It was quite a sight how the students wouldn't let anyone fail. As a teacher it is these moments when I realize how important and worthwhile these ImagineIT projects truly are. Furthermore, I observed that all the students were actively engaged which was one of my initial goals and so pleased to see this 100% engagement in action.
What I have learned from this whole design process is the importance of planning and reflection. It has been quite a valuable journey in which I will treasure and build from. I hope to keep this fire that MSUrbanSTEM fellowship has ignited within me to continue striving to facilitate my students to work to their fullest potential. This project allowed students to be challenged, but didn't allow them to quit. I observed students working together to achieve the objective of meeting the criteria of creating a functioning model of an artificial heart valve where water flowed continuously in one direction and any water that flowed backward was less than 30 ml. It was extremely satisfying to see all students testing their models within their groups and collaborating to redesign many times to create their ideal model.
Receiving feedback from peers and students has been very positive. I really enjoyed my students feedback! I had students write about this engineering experience and here are some quotes. "It was stressing us all out, but at the end we were so happy that we got a good grade and that we finished the activity. I can say we all did a good job working together." "Overall this was a really fun activity and we hope we do more similar ones." "It was fun to do and it's a break from the book." "Sometimes throughout the project we would run out of materials and would have to compromise. If we would have had all the materials we needed, we could have made our project better." I did observe that one of the constraints of this project was materials. I limited the materials that students could use and would change this when I do this lesson again.
"A lot of people were helping each other with each other's project." With this last quote I was truly touched by my many observations of all my students coming together. It was quite a sight how the students wouldn't let anyone fail. As a teacher it is these moments when I realize how important and worthwhile these ImagineIT projects truly are. Furthermore, I observed that all the students were actively engaged which was one of my initial goals and so pleased to see this 100% engagement in action.