Building Engineering Interest and Sandcastles through Collaborative Instructional Design

A collaborative research project between students and faculty in the California Polytechnic State University College of Architecture & Environmental Design (CAED) and the School of Education was undertaken to bring motivation for design, engineering and construction careers into local elementary school classrooms. The project was initiated by faculty in the Architectural Engineering (ARCE) department of the CAED which includes departments in Architectural Engineering, Architecture, City & Regional Planning, Construction Management and Landscape Architecture. These departments can provide students and faculty proficient in the areas of building design and construction. Faculty and teacher candidates in the School of Education provide the knowledge and skills needed to introduce technical concepts and practices for the present and future education of elementary school students; thus creating rich fields for collaboration. Through a series of lessons fourth through sixth grade students learned and applied grade level appropriate knowledge and skills in the design and construction of two structures. A clearly defined process of roles required to build a bridge was first used to introduce design and construction concepts. This was followed by repeating the roles and steps through a less constrained process to design and build a sand sculpture. The culminating event was a contest held to build the sand sculptures. Pre- and post-assessments of students at the elementary school were conducted to investigate students' prior knowledge of the distinct work of the professions and if providing a practical application for math and science concepts enhanced student learning. Teacher candidates and cooperating teachers were surveyed to assess their familiarity with the professions, the application of science and math to the professions and their perceptions surrounding their students' abilities and interests. The paper describes the program, lessons learned and the assessment data.