Imagine It

Timeline
Description:
As I head into the spring semester, my Imagine It will be taking a new direction.
Originally, my Imagine It was the focused on the idea that engineering students would make
more progress if they could embrace the idea that failure is a necessary part of success. While I
still strongly believe failure is a key to success, I now believe that acknowledging failure in a
classroom setting is too challenging for students. Throughout my investigations in the fall
semester I was shown my original Imagine It requires students to go against cultural norms.
Students would have to face the stereotype threat, personal and social intrinsic biases, and
become comfortable with depending on others for help. It is scary. Thus, my reframed Imagine
It is:
Knowing when you have been helped AND identifying when you have shifted your thinking.
Trying to embrace failure is scary but a smaller part of that is getting help or changing ones
thinking. This two steps are both required to complete complex projects; however,
acknowledging someones help is more of a thank you to someone else as opposed to an
acknowledgement of your shortcomings. Identifying a shift in thinking is a more abstract
concept but is a start to seeing the process of success; being able to state what you first thought
and then how that lead you to your next step. This is not acknowledging you had a failure just a
shift in thought. My hopes are that students leave my class with the ability to:
1. Actively seek help from all sources (peers, teachers, etc.).
2. Challenge and question initial beliefs about a problem.
3. See work as a process with multiple iterations.

Timeline:
Date

Activity

Benchmark

Mid February

6 Foot Bridge: Before each break students

will thank someone who helped them
Will give each group a thank you
card

1. Actively seek help from all

sources - providing a thank
you to acknowledge help

Mid March

Mini-bot: Students will program a mini bot

and record the people who helped them
Each group will have to record in
their notebook the help they
received
Bonus if students can indicate how
their thought was modified

1. Actively seek help from all

sources - recording the
points where you receive
help allows you to see how
vital it is
2. Challenge and question
initial beliefs about a problem
- marking changes in
thoughts will verify where
modifications occur

Mid April

Marble Sorter: Students will build and

program a robotic device that sorts three
types of marbles
(Tentative idea) Teacher will not
answer any questions and students
must rely on each other for support.

1. Actively seek help from all

sources - removing teacher
will make students broaden
their support network

Mid May

Von/ Peterson Robot Day: Students will

work collaboratively to design, develop,
and implement a robotics competition

All - project/ problem is

messy and relies on many
factors.

Learning Steps:
The following diagram shows the progression from acknowledging help, requesting help,
changing behavior, modifying designs and documenting work. Teaching/ re-teaching activities/
strategies have been highlighted in purple.