Blog Post 2
When I was younger my family loved to ride dirt bikes, you could hardly wait for the day when you would get your very own. When that day finally came for me, I was excited and could hardly wait to go for a ride. We headed down to the sand dunes and rode all day long, and just as it was time to leave my dirt bikes engine seized up. This was devastating for me it was broken how would i ever ride again! When we arrived home my dad unloaded my dirt bike called me over and we fixed my dirt bike. He taught me that things can be fixed. This experience drew me to the field of engineering where I learned that not only can things be fixed they can also be improved. I have learned these past experiences are very important in teaching, you can use them to intrinsically motivate students in your classroom. In Engineering and Technology education we teach the engineering process so students will learn to invent, fix, and improve things. Asking students to fill out a get to know you paper at the beginning of the semester and then using these answers to help them develop a project in the classroom that is congruent with their personal interest is a great way to connect the students and standards.
Things I like to do in my spare time.
hanging out with my kids
Justin that is such a fascinating story about how you fixed your seized engine in just one night. You must be a very handy mechanic, and your dad as well. like how you would have them fill out a get to know you letter and let them develop projects congruent to their personal interest. Well done sir.
ReplyDeleteI think that learning is related to our identities, including who we want to be and who we want to be accepted by. For example, I've had students who didn't want to look "smart" because they would look nerdy in front of their friends.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that, from an early age, it seems like ETE was a part of your identity. For example, if you wanted to be like your dad, he taught you that hands-on experiences were valuable. You had very positive experiences with building things and it was socially acceptable for you to do that.
My question is: How can you provide that same type of learning environment for people whose identities do not involve engineering? For example, there are many girls/women like me who grew up with dolls and who were discouraged from getting their hands dirty as a "boy" thing. How would you make engineering interesting to people like them?
Just thinking out loud here...thanks for a great posting. I'm glad your past experiences have led you to where you are today.