Think Like an Engineer
An introductory engineering course for gifted and twice-exceptional learners
Ian Nelson
Average rating:
4.7
Number of reviews:(2,516)
What's included
10 live meetings
8 hrs 20 mins in-class hoursHomework
2-4 hours per week. Each week includes a segment called "Continue the Adventure" to give students an opportunity to think like engineers. These challenges are deliberately open-ended to encourage students to use the ABCs of Design. Students are highly encouraged to make rough prototypes of their ideas to demonstrate their thinking in three dimensions.Assessment
Classes 2 through 10 begin with an open round for students to share their projects. Think Like An Engineer is appropriate for middle school or high school credit. If your learner is taking Think Like An Engineer for academic credit, they should keep an engineering design journal where they document their work on each week's projects.Class Experience
US Grade 4 - 7
In this course, we're getting serious about dreaming and thinking big! Learners will discover how engineers find and solve problems in order to make the world a better place. This course begins with a big picture introduction to the engineering design process. We then zoom in on each individual component of the engineering design process before looking again at the process as a whole. Each class affords learners many opportunities to discuss, think about, and reflect on how engineers do what we do. The outline for the course is as follows: Class 1 - Introducing the Design Process Class 2 - Asking Good Questions Class 3 - Brainstorming Possibilities Class 4 - Choose Ideas to Develop Class 5 - The Foundations of Prototyping Class 6 - Experiment to See How It Works Class 7 - Fine-tune the Design Class 8 - Putting the Design Process Together Class 9 - Tackling Difficult Challenges Class 10 - Doing the Impossible Each live class meeting includes student-centered discussion, video case studies, and opportunities to reflect. This course is intentionally designed to meet the needs of gifted and twice-exceptional learners between the ages of 9 and 14; additionally, students ages 12 to 17 who are highly motivated to consider an engineering career would get a lot of out of this course. Every week features an engineering challenge where students will work to brainstorm and prototype their ideas. By reflecting on professional engineering practice and tackling our own design challenges, students will gain a lot of experience thinking like an engineer.
Learning Goals
Through their participation in the Think Like An Engineer course, students will:
- Describe and explain steps of the engineering design process
- Use engineering design processes to solve open-ended design challenges
- Recognize how engineering design processes can be used to solve many different problems
- Appreciate the iterative nature of engineering design
- Practice prototyping skills using readily available supplies such as cardboard and hot glue
Other Details
Parental Guidance
This course is designed for gifted and twice-exceptional learners. Please advise if your child has any specific learning needs when you register them.
Supply List
Students should have access to a home crafting space to complete projects in this course. Recommended supplies include cardboard, a hot glue gun, cutting tools, and a ruler. Students would also benefit from placing interesting items such as buttons, wheels, springs, fabric scraps, rubber bands, beads, and various clean recyclables in their "prototyping box" for use in future projects. A PDF list of challenge prompts is available upon registration.
1 file available upon enrollment
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined October, 2017
4.7
2516reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I am a mechanical engineer turned engineering educator who has lots of experience working with gifted and twice-exceptional learners. As a veteran instructor of Center for Talented Youth summer programs, I'm excited to make Think Like an Engineer accessible to online learners.Reviews
Live Group Class
$160
for 10 classes1x per week, 10 weeks
50 min
Completed by 305 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-14
2-8 learners per class
