This page contains links to navigate for seeking out engineering educational outreach activities that leverage or support engineering notebooks.
These activities can be sorted based on scale (how long they take), teamwork (who works together), embedding of the engineering notebooks, types of engineering practices (like iteration, feedback, ideation, etc.), and types of science content. Any one of these sorting methods is a good place to start, depending on the sort of activity you’re searching for and the scope of your search.
“My goal was to better connect with the students through having written conversations. They were able to ask questions, but also we could ask questions back, not to correct them, but rather to expand their thinking. They definitely did the same with ours too!”
Leah Sugrue, 2nd Year STOMPer
To get started, consider a sorting method that works for you and check out the links on this page!
For an example curriculum of 19 hour-long sessions for 3rd and 4th grade STOMP classes, check out:
Sorting by Scale:
How much time will the activity take? The time scales are on the basis of a normative hour-long learning experience, such that “Half Class” means approximately half an hour.
Intro: 5-15 minutes long, for use at the beginning of a session
Closing: 5-15 minutes long, for use at the end of a session
Half Class: 15-45 minutes long, half-ish of a single hour session
Single Hour-Long Session: fills the entirety of a one hour engineering learning experience
Multiple Session Activity: spans more than one hour-long session
Full Semester Practice: a group norm, habit, or teaching/learning practice to maintain across many sessions and throughout various activities
Sorting by Teamwork:
How do learners engage in the activity? In pairs? Individually? As a whole group/in large groups?
Individual Activity: individual work is an important element of this activity
Pair Activity: pair work is an important element of this activity
Group Activity: work in groups larger than pairs, up to the entire group of outreach participants, is an important element of this activity
Sorting by Notebooks:
Are engineering notebooks specifically embedded in this activity?
Notebooks: yes they are!
Non-Notebook Specific: no they aren’t – but that doesn’t mean they can’t be!
Sorting by Engineering Practice:
What hallmarks of engineering educational outreach are specifically targeted by this activity?
Client-centered: this activity involves addressing engineering challenges related to helping a specific client
Connecting: this activity is designed with attention to building personal connections between outreach facilitators and learners
Engineering Identity: this activity is intended to bolster learners’ personal identification with the practices, skills, and ethos of engineering
Feedback: this activity provides opportunities to develop and practice skills related to giving and receiving feedback
Ideation: this activity provides opportunities to develop and practice skills related to generating and evaluating ideas and questions
Iteration: this activity provides opportunities to evaluate engineered plans or solutions and iterate upon them for improvement
Narrative: this activity lends itself to incorporation with a motivating storyline to excite and engage learners
Planning: this activity is intended to elicit productive engineering planning related to building engineered solutions to design challenges
Reflection: this activity prompts learners to reflect on their engineering practices and/or experiences and feelings related to the work they did
Testing: this activity lends itself to informative evaluation of the success of an engineered solution to a design challenge, leading to iteration and improvement
Sorting by Science Content:
What science knowledge is constructed or drawn upon during participation in the activity?
Content (general): this activity generally constructs or draws upon science knowledge
Electricity: this activity involves concepts such as electricity, electrons, conductivity, circuits, etc.
Forces and Motion: this activity involves understanding forces (e.g. lift, gravity, drag, buoyancy, etc.) and/or their relation to motion
Materials: this activity specifically involves an exploration and understanding of material properties for engineering design
Math: this activity can specifically incorporate math! Wow!
STOMP Notebooks 