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Introducing Industrial Engineering and Systems Thinking to Middle School Students with Authentic Engineering Problems

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Conference

2015 ASEE Workshop on K-12 Engineering Education

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 13, 2015

Start Date

June 13, 2015

End Date

June 13, 2015

Page Count

8

Page Numbers

18.18.1 - 18.18.8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--17113

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/17113

Download Count

609

Paper Authors

author page

William J. Schell IV P.E. Montana State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8626-1671

author page

John Glime Granite School District (UT)

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Abstract

WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WAPlease complete this form, save it as a PDF file only and upload it through the ASEE PaperManagement system as shown in the K12 Workshop Presenter’s Kit.All notifications will be by email from the ASEE Paper Management system.NOTE: To ensure that emails are not obstructed by spam blockers, please make sure to WHITELIST theemail addresses: monolith@asee.org and conferences@asee.org and s.harrington-hurd@asee.org.Direct questions to Stephanie Harrington-Hurd, ASEE K-12 Activities Manager, at s.harrington-hurd@asee.org. Additional workshop details are available at: http://www.asee.org/K12Workshop.Thank you! Deadline Friday, January 23, 2015 by 5:00PM EST Presenters will be notified of acceptance status by March 14. Late submissions will not be accepted. Advanced Workshop Registration will open December 6, 2013. SUBMISSION INFORMATIONProvide the first and last name of each presenter, including affiliations. If there is more than onepresenter, designate one person as the organizer and provide only that person’s contactinformation. The organizer is responsible for communicating to co-presenters.Number of Presenters: 2Presenter Name(s):1) Last Schell First William Affiliation Montana State University2) Last Glime First John Affiliation Granite School District - UtahContact Person’s Name: William SchellContact Person’s Email: wschell@ie.montana.eduContact Person’s Phone: 406.224.0857Contact Person’s Alternate Phone: 406.994.59382015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 1 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WAPlease provide a one-paragraph bio for each presenter (in the order listed above). The bio shouldnot exceed 70 words and should be written as you would want it to appear on the ASEE websiteand program materials.WILLIAM SCHELL (PE, PEM) is an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Management SystemsEngineering at Montana State. He earned his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from theUniversity of Alabama - Huntsville. During more than fourteen years in industry, he held positionsfocused on process improvement and organizational development with Fortune 50 and Inc. 500companies, designing and implementing many large scale change initiatives to improve businessperformance.2) John Glime teaches 6th grade in Holladay, Utah. He earned his Master of Education fromWestminster College where his research investigated effective use of classroom technology.During his twelve years teaching, he has taught a range of socioeconomic and racially diversestudents in three different elementary schools, including 3 years in a Title 1 school. He is ESLcertified and teaches all subject areas including math, science, and language arts. WORKSHOP INFORMATIONProposed Title:Introducing Industrial Engineering and Systems Thinking to Middle School StudentsAbstract: Please provide a concise description that includes the workshop’s learning objectives(maximum 750 characters). The abstract is used on the ASEE website, program materials, andotherK-12 Workshop promotional activities.Many of the greatest challenges facing our society require interdisciplinary collaboration andapproaching problems from a systems thinking perspective. Yet almost our entire educationalsystem focuses on discipline specific approaches that break complex problems down to simplecomponents to be solved individually. Oftentimes when these solutions are reassembled,significant unintended consequences occur. This workshop utilizes industrial engineeringapproaches to introduce educators to age appropriate tools and methods that can bring a systemsthinking perspective to problem solving. Participants will see how a systems level problem andsystems thinking approach can address large swaths of the core curriculum. Examples andactivities are utilized that fit a wide range of middle school students with diverse backgrounds andabilities.Workshop Description. Please provide a detailed description of the proposed workshop that, atminimum, explicitly addresses the following (maximum 4,000 characters): a. Learning objectives2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 2 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WA b. Hands-on activities and interactive exercises c. Materials that participants can take with them d. Practical application for teachers and outreach staffThis workshop will provide middle school educators with a hands on and interactive session thatwill present the foundation of systems thinking and provide grade appropriate scenarios to utilizewith their students. Session participants will hear concise presentations on systems thinking, learnabout industrial engineering tools that can be used to approach systems level problems, and workin small teams to examine a complex problem where systems thinking develops improvedsolutions (compared with those created from a single perspective). At the conclusion of theworkshop, participants will be able to: 1. Describe the Industrial Engineering profession and systems thinking. 2. Explain how Industrial Engineering tools can be utilized to promote systems thinking in middle school students. 3. Develop solutions to sample complex problems using a systems thinking approach 4. Prepare students to solve authentic engineering problems using a systems thinking approach. 5. Judge the effectiveness of student generated solutions to authentic engineering problems from a systems thinking perspective. 6. Identify authentic engineering problems which are applicable to their diverse student population and require a systems thinking approach for solution development.The core of the workshop will have participants working in teams to solve a sample systems levelproblem, supported by the facilitators. This approach is discussed in more detail in the authenticengineering section below. The group work will be supported with a series of brief presentationson a systems thinking framework to problem solving and key industrial engineering tools, such asroot cause diagrams and process maps, which can be applied to the systems level problem beingworked. These tools will assist students in seeing multiple perspectives and analyzing trade-offs.All tools presented will be further documented with take-away materials that attendees can use intheir classroom. In addition, the workshop will address the prerequisite skills and mindset neededto successfully apply systems thinking approaches with middle schoolers and how the approachcan be adapted for varied student readiness levels.The workshop materials go beyond mere topical content and a sample problem. Participants willalso be provided 1) three additional problems that they can bring into their classroom, 2) a step-by-step methodology for expanding sample problems or developing their own systems thinkingproblems for classroom use, 3) a grade appropriate rubric tied to key common core areas for usein evaluating student developed systems solutions, and 4) access to an online repository wherenew problems can be shared as they are developed by the community.2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 3 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WAAt its essence, systems thinking provides educators with an interdisciplinary approach to help theirstudents see how the materials learned in class apply to their world. This macro to micro approachprovides an avenue to grab students attention with a topic they care about and then show them howthe approaches learned in math, science and language arts can be utilized to generate solutions totheir problem. Participants will see how a systems level problem and systems thinking approachtie directly to Common Core State Standards in language arts and mathematics, and to WashingtonState’s K-12 Next Generation Science Standards. Some examples include: drawing inferencesabout populations (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.B.3), developing compelling arguments andrecommended solutions using clear reasoning and relevant evidence (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1.C), and using systems thinking skills to develop solutions to societal problems(EALR 1: SYS). Educators will leave the workshop feeling comfortable with the knowledge thatan implementation of these strategies in the classroom will also maintain a fidelity to the CommonCore.Authentic Engineering Connection. Identify and describe how you will explicitly address theways in which your lesson or activity is representative of the processes, habits of mind andpractices used by engineers, or is demonstrative of work in specific engineering fields.i At leastone of those must be within the first four listed, below; i.e., do not only check “other”. Check allthat apply: Use of an engineering design process that has at least one iteration/improvement Attention to specific engineering habits of mind Attention to engineering practices (as described in the NGSS/Framework and as practiced by engineers) Attention to specific engineering careers or fields related to the lesson/activity Other (please describe below)Provide a description of how you will explicitly address these aspects of authentic engineering inyour workshop (maximum 2,000 characters):The workshop will introduce authentic engineering through the use of real world systems levelengineering problems that are appropriate and relatable for a middle school audience (e.g. use ofdams for renewable energy, choosing paper or plastic at the store, creating an accessible Wi-Finetwork in apartment housing, building a winning professional sports team, etc.). The workshopillustrates the iterative nature of engineering design by showing how large-scale engineeringproblems are traditionally approached in a discipline specific manner, examining the shortcomingsthat can occur from that approach, and then applying a systems level approach to overcome someof those limitations. Participants will have the opportunity to apply the iterative nature of designby first approaching a problem from a specific discipline perspective and then revisiting it twomore times as additional disciplines and concerns are added to the system. This will be done bybreaking participants into teams representing specific disciplines (each team will be given2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 4 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WAsupporting background information) and then merging teams into larger groups as the exerciseprogresses. The workshop will investigate several engineering practices including aspects ofengineering design (defining a problem, developing potential solutions) and the interdependenceof science, engineering and technology. Key habits of mind will also be emphasized through thematerials presented in the example problem. These include asking questions, building models,interpreting data, applying mathematics and designing solutions. The field of Industrial andManagement Systems Engineering (IMSE) and its toolkit will be explored throughout the exercise.This provides an opportunity to introduce this important field to an audience typically not familiarwith the discipline.Diversity. This year is the American Society for Engineering Education’s “Year of Action onDiversity.” It is essential that we have a diverse engineering workforce to solve diverseproblems. To do that and to have an engineering-literate public, it is essential that we reach everypreK-12 student with high-quality engineering education, drawing on issues of access and equityin the classroom and in the curriculum. Reviewers would like to know how your proposedworkshop will address diversity.Provide a description of how you will explicitly address diversity – e.g., diversity with respect togender/sex, ethnicity or race, special education inclusion, socio-economic status, or LGBT status– in your workshop (maximum 2,000 characters):The engineering profession strives to solve society’s problems. However, whose problems arebeing solved? Too often it is not those of underrepresented groups or the most vulnerablemembers of our society. One reason for this lack of focus is that it is difficult for a member ofone culture to understand the needs and nuances of another culture. Therefore engineers need tobe developed from all cultures, especially when the goal of public education should be to createequality of educational opportunities for all students. A diverse group of engineers will possessthe needed empathy and understanding to work on the problems closest to them, which theyunderstand best. This means that low socio-economic and culturally diverse neighborhoods willbenefit directly from producing engineers. Therefore it should be the goal of schools everywhereto allow this to happen. The unique expertise and backgrounds of the facilitators will be utilizedto present systems thinking as an approach that is inclusive of diverse backgrounds. Byaddressing macro analysis of engineering in a middle school setting, we introduce students toengineering in a way that takes away a general perceived notion of engineering as a difficultprofession that is only for the very top academic performers. While academic performance iscertainly important, this approach can demystify the purposes of engineering and enable studentsfrom all backgrounds to see the benefit of pursuing a career in engineering. Since engineeringcan be utilized as a tool for positive social change, the workshop introduces system analysis ofproblems for a broad range of students which will allow them to see how engineering plays apart in their life. By providing middle school students ways to find relationships to their own2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 5 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WAexperience, the workshop can create a bridge to the micro analysis of engineering of which somany students are intimidated by.Are there any online components to the proposal or presentation? (Note that these onlinecomponents may only be available to presenters or those who have their wireless subscriptions,since wireless may not be available during the workshop sessions.) No Yes Please describe:Grade Level Target Audience (check all that apply): Primary (EC–2) Elementary (3–5) Middle School (6-8) High School (9-12)Maximum Number of Participants:25 If this number is greater than 25, please describe how your workshop will equally engage all participants. N/AAll Seating is Classroom (tables and chairs).Audio Visual Equipment Requests:Note: An LCD projector, screen and podium with attached microphone are provided. Requestsfor additional equipment or resources (e.g., internet connection or laptops) will incur extracharges. If you do not have additional requests, please indicate with “Not applicable.”Two Post-it® style flip charts with easels Reminder:Presenters must register and pay the registration fee to support their workshop attendance and audio/video costs.2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 6 of 7 WORKSHOP PROPOSAL FORM 2015 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education “Authentic Engineering: Representing & Emphasizing the E in STEM” Presented by Dassault Systems Saturday, June 13, 2015 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Sheraton Seattle | Seattle | WA Thank you for completing this proposal form! Please review this document prior to submitting it to ensure that all items are complete. ASEE USE ONLYDate Received:Received By:Proposal ID Number:2015-ASEE-K12-Proposal-Form_SystemsThinkingforMiddleSchool_final.docx Page 7 of 7

Schell, W. J., & Glime, J. (2015, June), Introducing Industrial Engineering and Systems Thinking to Middle School Students with Authentic Engineering Problems Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Workshop on K-12 Engineering Education, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/1-2--17113

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