The Tsunami Model Eliciting Activity:A free, hands-on, active, real-world curriculum to
introduce engineering in K-12
Kenneth Reid, Director, Engineering Education, ONUChristine Floyd, Eastwood Middle School, Indianapolis
Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) Developed through Purdue University Engineering
Education program Six guiding principles:
The Model Construction Principle The Reality Principle The Self-Assessment Principle The Model Documentation principle The Share-ability / Reusability / Generalizability Principle The Effective Prototype Principle
https://engineering.purdue.edu/INSPIRE/Research/project_summaries.html
The Tsunami MEA Developed specifically for
middle school students Designed to be completed
over multiple class periods Designed as an
interdisciplinary project Pre-engineering* Science Math Social Studies*
Originally tied to IN state standards
http://www2.onu.edu/~k-reid/tsunami/index.html
Implementation
7th grade – PLTW Gateway to Technology 2006 Required course
6th grade 2007-2008 2-3 weeks dedicated to activity
9th grade 2012
Interdisciplinary nature: interviews “These told more about the people, and global
studies told more about like what already happened, what’s happening, yeah”
“They were sad about all the natural disasters, but then I thought of all the things engineers have to do to prepare for rebuilding and manufacturing and stuff, I thought it was pretty cool how they learn techniques and how they use materials… It kinda all came together. Like how the country was coming along, then the project kinda put it all into perspective” [emphasis added]
Creativity
Let’s get started - Video:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tsunamis/tsunami-101/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/mar/14/japan-tsunami-amateur-footage-video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3AdFjklR50 (start @ 1:24) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRDpTEjumdo
Images: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/pictures/1203
09-japan-tsunami-earthquake-anniversary-fukushima/
Questions?Ken Reid, Director, Engineering Education
Chris Floyd, Science Department Chair, Eastwood Middle School, Indianapolis, IN
Other references: https://
engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Research/SGMM/Problems/MEAs_html Examples of MEAs
http://www.engineeringedu.com/contestcurr.html Tsunami MEA – 2009 Best Middle-School Curriculum