Novel Engineering is an integrated approach to teaching engineering and literacy. As part of Novel Engineering, students develop projects based on texts they read in English Language Arts or other content classes, such as history. The characters become their clients and students pull from the text to scope problems and set constraints as they engage in engineering design.
Teachers play a pivotal role in supporting their students' engagement by providing a supportive, responsive environment that will allow students to build on their ideas as they work on complex problems. Instead of prescribing a particular solution or process for students, we believe that teaching engineering involves listening to, understanding, and responding to student thinking. Design is about realizing the ideas of individuals and Novel Engineering gives students the space to explore their ideas through design projects.
In a read aloud for the Reading Units of Study, second grade students used the book Those Darn Squirrels. In Mrs. Martin's class, students brainstormed the problem in the story. They then designed a plan for how they could solve the problem of Old Man Fookwire with the squirrels stealing the bird food from the birds. Before they could begin designing their structures, they had to get their plan approved. Some students built traps for the squirrels, some designed intricate bird feeders, and others created food sources for the squirrels so they wouldn't eat others' food. This is yet another way to engage your students in the engineering process.
Woo hoo, Anna! Another great book idea is 3 Little Pigs/ The Three Little Javalinas!
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