General Goals

• A hands-on experience in solving "real-world" problems.
• A definition of what the students will learn about math, science, engineering and design.
• A team-based activity which will ideally involve students, engineers, and teachers in a cooperative learning venture.
• A connection to national standards for middle school curricula.
• An interdisciplinary approach to make students aware of connections between engineering, math, science, the humanities and social sciences.
• Collateral instruction to address the impact of engineering on society.

Desired Content

• Outcomes: How the activity will enable students to grasp the connections between middle school physical science concepts and engineering applications.
• Assessment: Performance standards and a method of assessment
• Assumed math, science, computing background and potential computer use.
• Materials: The materials needed for the project, including cost, availability, feasibility in various school settings, and potential for re-use.
• Time: The total time required, number of class sessions, ways to divide the project into increments, and ease of integration into the existing curriculum.
• Grade levels: The grade levels for which the project is most appropriate.
• Teacher's Guide: An outline to help teachers implement the project concept.
• History: Information on any previous implementation of the project.
• Sources: Attribution of sources or collaborators, with useful references.

Key Features

1. Each project concept has three levels of activity / exploratory, intermediate, and advanced. Goals have been set for each level, allowing teachers and student teams to work in stages, from basic investigation through actual construction.
2. Each activity level has desired outcomes or performance criteria to mark progress toward the achievement of learning objectives. Each project comes with an evaluation "Rubric" to help teachers visualize progress toward the attainment of goals, and a "Reflection Sheet" to gather student feedback at each stage in a project.
3. A "Just for Teachers" page looks at the underlying math, science, or engineering principles, the problem-solving process, materials and methods of construction, and collateral resources.
4. Each IDEAS project has a Curriculum/ Standards/Connections page, relating the activity to national curriculum development standards.