Page 135 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

120 STANDARDS FOR K–12 ENGINEERING EDUCATION?

Table 2. National Science Education Standards: Abilities of Technological Design

Grades Identify a simple problem: In problem identification, children should develop the ability to explain a
K–4 problem in their own words and identify a specific task and solution related to the problem.
Propose a solution. Students should make proposals to build something or get something to work better;
they should be able to describe and communicate their ideas. Students should recognize that designing a
solution might have constraints, such as cost, materials, time, space, or safety.
Implementing proposed solutions. Children should develop abilities to work individually and
collaboratively and to use suitable tools, techniques, and quantitative measurements when appropriate.
Students should demonstrate the ability to balance simple constraints in problem solving.
Evaluate a product or design. Students should evaluate their own results or solutions to problems, as
well as those of other children, by considering how well a product or design met the challenge to solve a
problem. When possible, students should use measurements and include constraints and other criteria in
their evaluations. They should modify designs based on the results of evaluations.
Communicate a problem, design, and solution. Student abilities should include oral, written, and
pictorial communication of the design process and product. The communication might be show and tell,
group discussions, short written reports, or pictures, depending on the students’ abilities and the design
project.
Grades Identify appropriate problems for technological design. Students should develop their abilities by
5–8 identifying a specified need, considering its various aspects, and talking to different potential users or
beneficiaries. They should appreciate that for some needs, the cultural backgrounds and beliefs of
different groups can affect the criteria for a suitable product.
Design a solution or product. Students should make and compare different proposals in the light of the
criteria they have selected. They must consider constraints—such as cost, time, trade-offs, and materials
needed—and communicate ideas with drawings and simple models.
Implement a proposed design. Students should organize materials and other resources, plan their work,
make good use of group collaboration where appropriate, choose suitable tools and techniques, and work
with appropriate measurement methods to ensure adequate accuracy.
Evaluate completed technological designs or products. Students should use criteria relevant to the
original purpose of need, consider a variety of factors that might affect acceptability and suitability for
intended users or beneficiaries, and develop measures of quality with respect to such criteria and factors;
they should also suggest improvements for their own products, try proposed modifications.
Communicate the process of technological design. Students should review and describe any completed
piece of work and identify the stages of problem identification, solution design, implementation, and
evaluation.

Grades Identify a problem or design an opportunity. Students should be able to identify new problems or
9–12 needs and to change and improve current technological designs.
Propose designs and choose between alternative solutions. Students should demonstrate thoughtful
planning for a piece of technology or technique. Students should be introduced to the roles of models
and simulations in these processes.
Implement a proposed solution. A variety of skills can be needed in proposing a solution depending on
the type of technology that is involved. The construction of artifacts can require the skills of cutting,
shaping, treating, and joining common materials—such as wood, metal, plastics, and textiles. Solutions
can also be implemented using computer software.
Evaluate the solution and its consequences. Students should test any solution against the needs and
criteria it was designed to meet. At this stage, new criteria not originally considered may be reviewed.
Communicate the problem, process, and solution. Students should present their results to students,
teachers, and others in a variety of ways, such as orally, in writing, and in other forms—including
models, diagrams, and demonstrations.

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