Using Video to Tie Engineering Themes to Foundational Concepts

Abstract

Teaching and Learning Laboratory at MIT Darshita (Dipa) Shah is the Associate Director for Teaching and Learning in MIT's Teaching and Learning Lab (TLL). Dipa's primary role is to assist in the development of curricular innovations on campus and to provide professional development around teaching and learning for graduate students and faculty. Before joining TLL, Dipa played an integral role in developing instructional materials for the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) project at the Museum of Science in Boston. Used by more than 25,000 teachers, EiE is a research-based program that reinforces elementary science topics, creativity, problem solving, and teamwork skills through hands-on engineering design challenges. Dipa also helped establish proofof-concept for Engineering Adventures, a new engineering curriculum being designed specifically for use in after-school and camp settings. Dipa previously served as a member of the education staff at The Discovery Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport, Connecticut. There, she trained and supervised science instructors, developed and taught hands-on physical science labs for Grades 3-8 in the museum and in after-school programs, and managed various grant-funded projects. Dipa received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her doctoral research focused on the development of polymeric biomaterials for heart valve tissue engineering. Jennifer E French, Teaching and Learning Laboratory at MIT Jennifer joined the teaching and learning laboratory at MIT as a Postdoctoral Associate for Mathematics Education at the beginning of the video project, on year after completing a PhD in mathematics at MIT. She was one of the team members who developed the mapping of the engineering curriculum map for the