In one of the first lessons we brainstormed what we imagined would be a good design for a strong, floatable boat using the materials that I showed them. Here is a student’s brainstorm with labels and a sketch.

Throughout this unit I prioritied self-reflection and self-assessment as an imperative part of building a sense of community where we take responsibility for our actions and contribute to the community. Engineering is such a collaborative field and I wanted my students to see how important that is. This is a post-lesson exit slip for students to self-assess how they worked in a team.

Here is another example of a student’s self-reflection on how it went working in a team. This student had a difficult group, and I was happy to see that she was honest with reflection.

This worksheet, along with the following worksheets below, are examples of teams working together to complete their materials inventory. Their job was to explain the qualities of the materials they chose and why they made sense for their boat.