STEAMing Up the Curriculum: Hands-On Engineering byDesign™ Practices to Build Your STEAM Curriculum
Written By Tyler Shelden
The American School of Asuncion hosted the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) on April 21st - 23rd for a three-day workshop on Engineering byDesign™ best practices. This AMISA-sponsored institute operated in a hybrid model with the ITEEA guest presenters, Ryan Novitski and Brad Fessler, leading the teams virtually from the northern hemisphere. The workshop overviewed the big ideas, essential questions, and engineering practices of the ITEEA Engineering byDesign™ curriculum. The three courses covered were Inventions & Innovations, Foundations of Technological Engineering, and Technological Design. Check out ITEEA’s Engineering byDesign™ program here.
Participants from all across the AMISA region were invited to participate in this first AMISA In-Focus Institute after the pandemic. This year, participants undertook a series of short engineering design challenges (such as the chairlift conundrum, soma cubes, and the bolt n’ bottle challenge) as well as an extended challenge: a crane boom.
In this extended challenge, participants followed the ITEEA Engineering Design process to research, 3D model, and then physically build a lightweight and effective construction crane. ASA participants collaborated together in our STEAM building Makerspace and used basic building materials, such as balsa wood, glue guns, for our science, technology,
engineering, art, and math teachers creates a common understanding of the engineering design process as well as building connections between staff for interdisciplinary STEAM unit design collaboration.
ASA is committed to working with AMISA to develop STEAM practices in the Latin American region. If you are interested in developing a more student-centric Engineering Design curriculum, complete with maker experience, interdisciplinary units, and HS pathways, stay connected with the STEAM Learning @ ASA program.
ASA will be hosting its 2nd annual STEAM Educators conference this coming September. Participation is free and members from AMISA schools will be able to join virtually from anywhere in the Latin American region. This is a fantastic opportunity to build your toolkit of engineering challenges and explore emerging technologies, such as coding drama scenes in virtual reality.
Tyler Shelden
Curriculum & STEAM Coordinator
The American School of Asuncion
tyler.shelden@asa.edu.py