Think Like an Engineer

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.