WGBH is producing a PBS television series, with accompanying web and outreach activities for 9- to 12-year-olds, to inspire a generation of budding engineers. Design Squad: Nate's Roadtrip (working title) will be a 10-part television series that is building on WGBH's prior award-winning work. The series goal is to engender enthusiasm and promote understanding of, and interest in, engineering and technology.
Behind the fun that this lively show envisions is a serious educational purpose--to get kids to think like engineers and understand how to use science and technology to solve real-life problems. The television programs will be complemented with an extensive companion web site, as well as materials and training for engineers to mount Design Squad events in public venues and run workshops in schools, afterschool programs and libraries. The web site will create a platform for an online community where young participants will share their own projects, see what others have made, and send in questions to the host. Outreach activities will be supported by WGBH's ongoing relationships in the educational and engineering community, including the Girl Scouts, International Technology Education Association, NASA, and the Intel Computer Clubhouses.
Viridian inSight will conduct summative evaluation of the project to measure project impacts including knowledge of science and engineering concepts and the design process; attitudes towards engineering; awareness of and interest in engineering career opportunities; and the extent to which kids perceive engineering as creative, rewarding, and socially relevant. Design Squad: Nate's Roadtrip Video Blog is slated to premiere February 2010 and the television show is slated to premiere in October 2010.
) PI: Marisa Wolsky Awardee: WGBH Educational Foundation Award Number: 0917495 Award Expires:08/31/2012 Program Officer Name: Valentine H. Kass Program Officer Email Address: vkass@nsf.gov Program Officer Phone Number: (703)292-5095 Design Squad Nation was a 10-part series of TV shows and video blogs that built on the success of the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning PBS reality competition series Design Squad to get ‘tweens and teens involved in engineering. Driving the action were Judy and Adam, two twenty-something engineers working with kids across America to make their wishes come true through engineering. Whether it was a park for skaters at the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona or a playground for kids in a rural village high in Nicaragua’s northern mountains, Design Squad Nation showed that engineering is not about hiding away in some lab; it is about being active, taking risks, collaborating with interesting people, and using science, math, and technology to solve real problems. Online, the project provided children with a forum to brainstorm, submit project ideas, and respond to the ideas of others through sketches and real world prototypes. And offline, its 40 hands-on engineering activities and public events enabled children to exercise their own design skills at home, tapping into their ingenuity and teaching them how to think like engineers. More specifically, Design Squad Nation achieved the following project goals: (1) address a critical need in engineering education and children’s media, (2) provide support for the educators who work directly with them, and (3) increase students’ knowledge of engineering and the design process. (1) Address a critical need in engineering education and children’s media Our rebranded series, with its new format, was recognized with two esteemed awards the Emmy Award for New Approaches Daytime Children’s Television and the Parents’ Choice Gold award for Television. In addition, the project was covered in such top tier news publications as New York Daily News (circulation 512,520) and The New York Times (circulation 876,638) and national broadcast outlets such as a category on Jeopardy! (viewership 8,383,518). Even more gratifying, the winner of our Trash to Treasure contest was honored at the White House Science Fair in October. On the Web site, we created an online community for sharing user-generated content. In local communities, we staged public events that get kids and families engaged in hands-on design challenges. Through our outreach, we provided approaches for modeling the design process with kids through training opportunities; educational resources; and support for teachers, engineers, and informal educators. In collaboration with our 90 partners, since the launch of Design Squad Nation, we participated in and/or supported 26 events, reaching 33,191 kids, parents, and educators. We were also involved in 11 events targeted at educators (conferences and other professional development opportunities) and 35 trainings throughout the country, reaching 3,265 educators and engineers. (2) Increase students’ knowledge of engineering and the design process Concord Evaluation Group conducted two summative evaluations to measure the impact of the TV show and the project’s educational resources (classroom materials, video assets, interactive components, and hands-on activities). The specific impacts measured included: knowledge of science and engineering concepts and the design process; attitudes towards engineering; awareness of and interest in engineering career opportunities; and the extent to which engineering was perceived as creative, rewarding, and socially relevant. In their studies, CEG found that after using Design Squad Nation resources, middle school kids were significantly MORE likely to… Demonstrate an understanding of key science and engineering concepts and demonstrate an ability to identify and discuss the science concepts they applied. Demonstrate an understanding of the engineering design process and demonstrate an ability to explain and use the engineering design process. Understand the type of work that engineers do. Believe that engineers have cool jobs. Believe that engineers come up with new ideas and inventions. Understand that engineers design and build things to meet people’s needs. Believe that engineers help make people’s lives better. Report an interest in designing and buildings things in their classrooms and during the summer. After using Design Squad Nation, kids were significantly LESS likely to… View engineering as boring. Believe that men are better at engineering than women. Believe that only "super smart" people can be good at engineering. In addition, roughly half the kids reported that they… Were more interested in engineering after completing the DSN challenges. Thought it would be "cool" or "very cool" to be an engineer someday. (3) Provide support for the educators who work directly with kids CEG’s studies also found Design Squad Nation had a positive impact on teachers. The majority of teachers reported that after using the project’s resources they: Were more interested in integrating hands-on design challenges into their classrooms. Were more comfortable providing engineering activities to their students. Knew more about engineering careers Were very likely to use the resources again. Were very likely to recommend the resources to other teachers.
