FIE 2015 special session — Movin' along: Investigating motion and mechanisms using engineering design activities

This special session will introduce participants to engineering design activities that use mechanisms, devices that transform one type of motion to another, to support student learning about motion, a topic that recurs throughout K-12 science studies. The activities come from new and revised K-12 Engineering Teaching Kits (ETKs). ETKs are self-contained standards-based and project-based instructional units. Their format and contents reflect an integrated approach to STEAM∫d (STEM + Art + design) education. Participants will learn key concepts guiding ETK development and implementation; discuss methods for integrating ETKs and therefore engineering design concepts, practices, and models seamlessly and transparently into their curriculum; discover how engineering design and inductive learning principles help students learn and own key concepts in STEM; and work through selected engineering design activities. This special session is for those interested in exploring a philosophy of engineering education that stresses an integrative, project-based approach to instruction and practice grounded in design, the fundamental process of engineering.