Table 1 Content of the 36-h STEM-ED empowerment course.
From: An importance-performance analysis of teachers’ perception of STEM engineering design education
Day outline | Engineering design | Activities | Photos |
|---|---|---|---|
Day 1: Introduce courses, hands-on activity, and STEM knowledge | • Identify need • Problem definition • Gather information | (1) Introduce computer-aided design and manufacturing. (2) Explain STEM-ED education. (3) Show videos of various elastic cars. (4) Introduce basic STEM knowledge used in this course. (5) Assemble basic mechanical parts of an elastic car. |
|
Day 2: Introduce basic mechanism design, 3D drawing application, and digital manufacturing tools | • Generate ideas • Communication • Decision • Modelling | (1) Introduce basic concepts of steering and torque release mechanism. (2) Learn 3D drawing. (3) Develop ideas of an elastic car. (4) Generate 3D drawing. (5) Learn digital machines (3D printer, laser cut machine, and CNC). |
|
Day 3: Make and test elastic car | • Modelling • Feasibility analysis • Evaluation • Decision | (1) Assemble and adjust the wheels of the elastic car. (2) Test the elastic car. (3) Redesign the elastic car. |
|
Day 4: Test elastic car and introduce teaching strategy | • Modelling • Feasibility analysis • Evaluation • Decision • Communication | (1) Test, Adjust, correct, optimize the elastic car. (2) Introduce teaching strategy of STEM-ED course. (3) Prepare presentation materials. |
|
Day 5: Present each team’s car design and perform the race activities. | • Communication • Implementation | (1) Present car design. (2) Perform car race activities. (3) Answer questionnaire. |
|
