"An Open-Sesame for Budding Engineers", Input/Output, ME Departments, February 2006

input/output

by Harry Hutchinson, Executive Editor

An Open-Sesame for Budding Engineers

Think of the power of Sesame Street. Who doesn't know Big Bird? Now, some people hope to bring the Public Broadcasting Service's magic to engineering.

They're developing a TV series called Design Squad that aims to bring out the engineer in preteen viewers, both male and female. The idea, which started at WGBH, the public television station in Boston, is to pit two teams of teenagers in competitions to design devices that accomplish tasks. Imagine Survivor meets MacGyver.

An eight-minute proof-of-concept reel shows highlights of a race to design and build a system for filling and sealing water balloons. Designs are rated on speed, form, and function.

Problem-solving habits of mind: A PBS series in development plans to speak to the hidden engineer in preteenage boys and girls.

According to one of the series' producers, Marisa Wolsky at WGBH, major funding for the series is $2.65 million from the National Science Foundation, and the last piece of funding needed for production is falling into place, but not quite ready to disclose. The producers plan to shoot episodes this summer and make the first broadcast during National Engineers Week in 2007.

Dan Frey, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and engineering systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he conducts research into practices that improve the design process, is the series' content director. The executive producer is Kate Taylor. Geoff Adams, a producer, will also direct.

Frey worked with the advisory board on a curriculum for the series and enlisted MIT undergrads to test proposed challenges. According to Frey, an ASME member, one of the questions about each proposal is, "Does the challenge admit multiple quality solutions?"

So far, the proof-of-concept reel and three prototype episodes have been shot. Frey has had hands-on involvement in defining challenges and even in deciding the basic materials that will be provided to the teams. Beyond the basics, like a few motors perhaps, the teens have to decide what they will use and get it. Each team will have a budget.

When the production schedule heats up for 13 episodes, Frey expects to take a more advisory role. He pointed out that he has a day job at MIT.

The educational messages of the series will be supported off the air. Supplements to the shows include a Web-based magazine, an educator's guide, and a Web site that will encourage kids to try some of the Design Squad challenges on their own.

This is not the first foray into engineering by WGBH. The station produced a series called ZOOM, in which a cast of children carried out activities, anything from jokes to scientific experiments, suggested by viewers. Although it ceased production last year, the series is still on the air.

One of the off-screen activities spawned by the show, in cooperation with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the sponsors of Engineers Week, has been ZOOM Into Engineering, which offers training and materials for engineers to lead engineering workshops with youngsters. Projects in the activity book include an egg bungee jump (The egg has to stop 2 inches off the floor.) and a geodesic dome made with toothpicks and gumdrops.

Before the ZOOM connection, there was Thinking Big, a series of four shows hosted by David Macaulay, author of The Way Things Work. Episodes looked at large structures—domes, bridges, tunnels, and dams—and were produced for adults. WGBH worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers to develop related materials and activities geared for children.

According to the producers, Design Squad will draw on scientific and mathematical principles associated with communication, manufacturing, construction, transportation, and bioengineering. Shows will incorporate elements of the design process, including methods of identifying a problem, brainstorming, testing, and redesign. One team on the reel finds that epoxy, which seemed like a good idea at first, won't seal water balloons because the joining surfaces are not dry.

The series will also demonstrate what its literature calls "problem-solving habits of mind." The term covers a range of mental tools, from an ability to make use of math, science, and engineering information, to the discipline to learn from mistakes and to respect the contributions of others.

Are the ideas basic? Yes, and that's what makes them valuable. Are they common practice? Probably not. These are qualities that distinguish creators.