The Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts University has, for the last twenty years, been striving to improve education at all ages through the inclusion of engineering topics to the curriculum. By adding innovative, hands-on, project-based activities they have witnessed students becoming more connected to the material and, as a result, more inspired to learn. Leveraging LEGO products as one of the platforms for engaging students, the CEEO has made a name for itself through the development of new educational technologies, research into student and teacher practices, and in-classroom outreach efforts.
This talk and interactive icebreaker will highlight the efforts on which the CEEO has been focused and the positive outcomes and changes they have seen in the last decade. It will include a hands-on activity in which participant experience first-hand how activities structured in this way capture students' attention, challenge their thinking, and provide a platform for enabling multidisciplinary work in creative, out-of-the-box ways. Showcasing examples from first-grade through graduate school, across topics ranging from engineering, math, and science to literacy, psychology, and art, you'll be left wishing "Why wasn't this around when I was in school?"