Project Based Learning

Growing up as a kid, I had a few favorite toys.

I really liked my Legos. I was able to build no shortage of cool things with Legos. Whether they be model planes, model rockets, or a real functioning robot, Legos were a way that I could both be creative and practical in what I was building.

I also really liked my model rockets. At a young age I began to build and launch real model rockets (awesome video from one of my launches below). This piqued my interest and curiosity in aerospace related stuff and convinced me that one day I’d try and design SOMETHING that flew (more on that later).

The reason for this sort of long winded anecdote is that I’ve come to believe that for STEM/STEAM education to be successful, it must be applications based and actually fun and engaging.   Legos and rockets and many other of the activities I picked up both in school and boy scouts provided the catalyst for my interest in engineering and creative problem solving and are perfect examples of this thinking.

STEM education is more of an initiative than a grouping of subjects. With that in mind, the approach to STEM education matters more. According to Education Week, there are several hallmarks of a good STEM lesson:

  1. Attempt to solve a real world problem: this should be an issue either affecting people in the world at large or a student’s community.
  2. Use the Engineering Design Process: the process involves gathering background information on the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, narrowing down possible solutions, and implementing the best one.
  3. Make lessons hands on and open-ended (within reason): in this case the students should be learning by doing rather than by observing.
  4. Involve students in teamwork and group work: teamwork is extremely key in these types of activities as it allows people with diverse ideas and perspectives to solve a problem, as well as teaching specialization.
  5. Apply math & science theory taught in class to the process: to me this is the most important part in that it shows how that abstract and difficult theory can be put to good use helping real people.
  6. Allow for multiple right answers: if you look in the real world, you’ll notice that there is usually more than one way to skin a cat (as my old XC coach said). Unlike in pure math and science where the concept of one right answer can be discouraging, the goal of these projects is to teach that there is often more than one way to solve a given problem.

There are a multitude of different resources out there with good ideas for STEM projects (like this) but all STEM projects come back to the same set of ideas.

While STEM projects are generally thought of as K-12 activities, they are present in college, particularly for engineering majors, as well. Engineering can be kind of difficult and abstract sometimes, hence why projects are more important than tests at times because they teach application of theories and the creativity required to solve actual problems.

This weekend I participated in a STEM project. In my major (aerospace engineering) there is an elective class called AERSP 204H – Flight Vehicle Design and Fabrication also known as “The Sailplane Class” (heretofore referred to as sailplane). Currently we’re building a human powered aircraft to win the kremer prize speed challenge.

This weekend we travelled to the University of Dayton to participate in the “IT FLIES” competition. The University of Dayton has a pretty sweet flight simulator that can be used to simulate many different types of aircraft. We brought a digital model of our aircraft to upload to the simulator’s computer so that we could test out its flying properties. We were competing against students from the University of Dayton as well as the University of Manchester (yes in the UK).

Me flying a Cold War bomber in the Merlin Flight Simulator

Me flying a Cold War bomber in the Merlin Flight Simulator

Both programming the flight simulator model and building the actual aircraft are great exercises in the application of theory to the fabrication of an actual end product. For those of us (like myself) who are freshman who don’t know too much about aerodynamics or structural dynamics, the class gives us a unique opportunity to learn by the seat of our pants in a hands on method.

One thought on “Project Based Learning

  1. Corey Capooci

    I couldn’t agree with you more. I think that application of theory is an outstanding way to understand and respect the subject matter that you are working with. This the reason many people choose to be STEM majors, in order to build and design for tomorrow. I know it is the reason I chose to be an engineering major. I wanted to be able to work with my hands and become adept at creating functional and useful projects that can help aid society. I’m all for project based learning.
    Your aerospace class also sounds really cool. I hope the competition went well.

Leave a Reply