Learning about Learning and Engineering: Engineers, Students, and Educators Co-Design Challenges for a Science Center

We present two case studies of cross-community collaborations of museum educators, engineers from industry, and undergraduate engineering students tasked with co-designing engineering challenges for a science center’s drop-in engineering tinkering program. Each collaboration worked over a semester to research, brainstorm, design, develop, implement, and refine design challenges that represent authentic design practices of the collaboration’s industry engineers. The first collaboration involved engineering students from an education outreach club along with engineers from a software company, and the second collaboration involved engineering students from a product development course along with engineers from a sound reinforcement company. Qualitative methods were used to study the collaborations through preand post-surveys, observations via video-recording and field notes, and artifacts (e.g., notebooks, write-ups, and presentations). We find that the various members of the collaboration contributed in different ways to the design processes: the educators contributed educational accessibility and the industry engineers and engineering students contributed engineering authenticity, both shaping the criteria and ultimately the final design challenge. Using a human-centered design process and engagement with visitors at the science center, the multidisciplinary collaborators grew to appreciate co-design as a mutual learning experience involving interaction and contributions from the learners. This implies the importance of engaging curriculum designers with the learners in-situ. The student teams rated that, as a result, they had increased awareness of community needs and were able to make a difference as engineers. The student teams’ perceptions of engineering were reinforced, highlighting engineering as much more than a technical profession and stressing the accessibility and rewards of the engineering aspects of perseverence, curiosity, and creativity.