Let the Composites Speak: Using Statics to Critically Evaluate Gerrymandering

This Innovative Practice Work In Progress Paper presents an activity built into an engineering Statics course that integrates traditional Statics concepts with relatable societal context. Specifically, this paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an assignment that combines composite bodies and centroid mapping with gerrymandering in the U.S. This module was implemented in Fall 2018 with 67 engineering students and consisted of four major parts: (I) identification of the students' hometown congressional district (the composite body), (II) calculation of the centroid of the district, (III) calculation of the center of (population) mass of the district, and (IV) reflection on the social and political implications of the (often large) distance between the locations. Students were asked to bring their district maps to class following the assignment for an in-class discussion tying Statics to gerrymandering. Following this reflection and debrief, students anonymously completed a survey to reflect on their level of engagement with the content as well as the topic's relevance to their everyday lives.