Guest experiences and readings - Destiny

     This past week I had some great interactions on the floor with our guests. Specifically, I spend a good amount of time with a toddler at the light table. She was looking at the stackable bears and trying to pull it apart. I crouched down and asked her if she could open it? She shook her head no. I then pulled the x-ray and put it on the table. I explained what it was and how doctors take pictures of our bodies that look at the inside of our bodies like this. I asked her to shake the bear she was holding and think about what she was hearing. Then I asked her what was inside while pointing at the x-ray. She then pointed at each bear (descending order from outer to inner bear) while saying "Daddy, mommy, brother, and sister." I said yeah and how do you know that? She just shyly pointed and shook the bear again. I then asked her if she has ever gotten an x-ray and she answered no so I told her that I had gotten one a few days ago so that the doctor could look at my lungs. We then moved on to colors and shapes with the magnet tiles.

      I also had some difficult interactions as well. At the church event, I struggled to interact with the kids because they were not interested in talking to me. They had teen volunteers that were chaperoning the children. I noticed that because the young kids were already being interacted with by someone, they were hesitant to interact with the sparks. It was understandable but also challenging because it put me out of my element and made interactions hard. I had to break a comfort barrier for both myself and the kids first before I could interact. My strategy was to be quiet and slowly insert myself into the kid's exploration first before starting a conversation.

     This week's reading was a great explanation of how the engineer design process is accessible for all ages. People have such a fear of teaching about engineers, and their process of problem solving because it is mainly uncharted territory for teachers of younger grades. All that is needed is guidance and a breakdown of how it all works. Having the field trips to aid the teachers as well is the best way to bridge that gap while involving the students. As said in the engineering processes reading, "Each of the titles of these practices contain two clauses; the latter is included to foreground practices prevalent in engineering. Engineers not only ask questions throughout their work but also need to define the problem to be solved. Engineers may construct explanations about how a system or technology works, but they do this as they strive to create solutions to the problem at hand." This stood out to me because it brings light to the important parts of the design part of the process. The readings were awesome to read and helped me to realize why we are doing these field trips.