Teachers and Students Piloting Newly Revised NASA eClips™ Engineering Design Packets

Educators from the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center for Integrative STEM Education (NIA-CISE) recruited teachers from across the country to field test and provide feedback on the newly revised NASA eClips Engineering Design Packets (EDP). The “Elementary Engineering Design Packet” (students in grades 3-5) and “Secondary Engineering Design Packet” (students in grades 6-12) introduce students to a formal design process. The open-ended nature of the packets enables them to be applied to any design project and used with any curriculum, whether a formal or nonformal setting. In addition, packets are accompanied by an Engineering Design Packet Implementation Guide and a rubric that can assist teachers with implementation and evaluation.

On March 1, 2022, and April 18, 2022, the NIA-CISE Education Team hosted webinars where they introduced 10 educators to the Engineering Design Packets and the process that will be used to provide feedback on the packets. A recording of the presentation and supporting resources were also provided to 21 educators who were unable to attend the webinar.

Pilot educators will customize the EDP with a design challenge of their choosing. Customized packets, along with a record of the time needed to become familiar with the Implementation Guide and time needed for students to work through the packet, will be shared with the NASA eClips’ external evaluator, Dr. Bradford Davey of Technology for Learning Consortium, Inc. In addition, pilot teachers will also complete a comprehensive survey of their experience and share anecdotal data from students. The valuable feedback provided by educators will be used to improve the packets so they will be ready for release for the 2022-2023 school year.

The NASA eClips project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AB91A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Please visit https://nasaeclips.arc.nasa.gov/ to learn more.