Love Learning Stem

How to Use a Digital Engineering Journal

Wondering how to take the wonderful world of stem challenges and the engineering design process paperless? In this post, I will spell how to use a digital engineering journal to use for any design challenge for kids in elementary. 

using a digital engineering journal for kids

 

 

What is a Digital Engineering Journal?

Kids in elementary go through the engineering design process as they solve real-life problems in stem challenges. They figure out the problem, brainstorm, and research how to solve it, plan the materials and how to put it together, test out the design, sketch it out, and write reflections all in one space to document the learning that takes place. To learn more tips on teaching stem during while remotely teaching, click here.

 

Many have completed these journals on paper, but more and more teachers are going paperless for one (or all) of these reasons:

 

  1. Schools are distance or blended learning and kids need to document their learning to share with a teacher. Often times, the easiest way to accomplish this is a shared document online.
  2. Teachers are more thoughtful about how much paper is being printed and would like to consume less.
  3. Students are more engaged using technological tools during their learning experience.

How to Use a Digital Engineering Journal

 

In the steps down below, you will be able to read the steps down using the example of the Eiffel Tower Stem Challenge. This is just an example of how to use a digital engineering journal, but you can also use this free digital journal. Click here to sign up to receive that free resource. 

 
If you are creating your own engineering journal, then create a new slide for each of the steps. Title each page with the step and a visual to help the student identify it. If students are new to the engineering design process, it would help to include a simple, one-sentence description of what the students do during that step of the process.

 

Step #1 Ask

In this step, students will be given the problem, and they will need to identify the criteria and constraints for the design challenges. In the digital journal, you can present a video of a Screencatify video explaining what the stem challenge is. Then you can have the students answer the questions in written form or a video format using FlipGrid. To learn how to use FlipGrid, click here. 
 
Here are some questions students can answer in their writing or video. 
  • What are the criteria and constraints of the project?
  • How will your materials be limited? 
  • How do you know if your project is successful? 
 
ask in engineering design process

 

ask in the engineering design process

 

 

Step #2 Research

 
As the students move into the research stage in engineering, students should be researching ideas or thinking about how to solve the problem. You can provide them with websites to visit to learn about materials, how to build for that stem challenge, or using mathematical computation to solve the problem. 

To get around the technology, students can collaborate using break out rooms or a shared Google document. To learn how to create a shared Google document, you can click here.

research in engineering design process

 

 

 

Step #3 Plan

 

Once students have completed the research and have an idea of what they’ll be building, they can start sketching and planning the steps on how to build. 
 
Your students can show their sketches in multiple ways. Here are some ways my students do. 
  • sketch using the shapes tool in Google Slides
  • upload sketches they’ve completed on paper
  • create a video describing how they will build using the materials they have chosen

 

plan in engineering design process

 

 

 

Step #4 Build

 

Students will be completing the building at home with their guardians. If your school is one to one and all students have been given a device and provided with good internet, then you can ask the students to take images and videos of their design and upload them in a digital engineering journal. 

 

 

Step #5 Test

 
For the next stage, the Evaluate/Test Stage, you can have the students test at home and have their parents record or take photos. Many of my students did this. Their parents either emailed me the photos/videos, or the students uploaded it into the spot just for that in the engineering journal I had created for them. 
 
I did not make it mandatory for all of the students to send me any videos or photos. If they were not able to document that way, they could always describe it in writing. 
 
Another way that you can test out the boats via Distance Learning is by having your students show up during a live session with their boats and water containers. You will then see your students test each of their boats. 
 
I absolutely love this option for testing boats because all of the other students will also see what the results are for their peers. A great conversation could be had at the end of that stem project. 

 

test in engineering design process

 

 

 

Step #6 Communicate

 

 

 

 
Your students can share by creating multimedia presentations or they can answer reflection questions orally in the live session. Another way that this can be done during distance learning is for students to upload their video explanations on Flip Grid. On that platform, the students can even respond to their peers’ presentations by providing video feedback as well. 
 

 

 

Extra Tips for Using Digital Journals

 

As I used digital journals with students, I noticed I would come across the same issues over and over again. Read the following to see how to troubleshoot before any issues arise.

 

 

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