Canku Ota Logo

Canku Ota

Canku Ota Logo

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

 

October 5, 2002 - Issue 71

 
 

pictograph divider

 
     
 

Sally Ride Toys With Engineering

 
 
by Katie Dean
 
 
credits: Wired News
 
Toy Challenge logoMr. Potato Head, Etch-a-Sketch and Lite-Brite. And who could forget the Slinky or Lincoln Logs? Each of these playthings began as a creative idea engineered into a cherished toy. A similar process occurs for larger engineering feats like bridges, buildings and space shuttles.

Astronaut Sally Ride is challenging middle-schoolers to think like engineers by designing a toy for a competition called ToyChallenge. In the process, she hopes to encourage more girls to pursue careers in the field.

"We need to impress upon girls that engineering is creativity, it's curiosity, it's common sense and it's cool stuff," said Ride, who was the first American woman to blast off into space. "It's not just geeks with pocket protectors."

The contest is based on a first-year engineering course at Smith College called ToyTech. Students in the program work with teachers to design toys that can be used to help teach scientific principles to their classes.

Ride -- who founded an organization called Imaginary Lines with the mission to support girls interested in science careers -- heard about the project and thought the same idea could be used to encourage budding scientists at the middle school level.

Middle school is critical, Ride said, because "that's where you lose 'em. Maybe it's not cool to be the best in math class, or not cool to be a rocket scientist."

Nevertheless, encouraging girls to pursue science careers is essential because "we need to take advantage of all the talent our country has to offer.

"If you look around at the technical workforce, only 9 percent of engineers are women, still," she said. "We need to get a lot closer to 50 percent."

ToyChallenge is open to kids in grades five through eight. Students work in teams of up to six people with an adult coach. At least half of the team members must be girls.

Registration costs $25 per team and the deadline to register is Nov. 15.

In phase one, teams choose a toy category, brainstorm an idea and develop it. They must describe and draw sketches of their creation. Ten teams will be awarded prize money based on their idea's originality.

In phase two, all teams are encouraged to fashion a prototype of their toy. Toys will be displayed at a national showcase at Smith College in June.

There are some pretty sweet prizes, too. Grand-prize winners can win a trip to Space Camp for one week, a VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center, a Hasbro action figure of themselves or a private question-and-answer session with an astronaut.

There are no plans to turn any of these toys into real products, however.

"The design process, whether you're designing a toy or a skyscraper, is the same," said Domenico Grasso, chair of Smith's Picker Engineering program. "Toys are only a vehicle to get them excited about the design process."

Mitchel Resnick, a professor at the MIT Media Lab, said that many of the kids' best learning experiences happen when they are creating and designing things themselves.

"If you only present design challenges in a narrow way, then only certain kids will become interested," Resnick said. "But providing challenges that allow kids to try different approaches, it opens up the opportunities for kids to design things they care about and therefore they'll become engaged in the design process."
One former high school math teacher said she loves the idea.

Cynthia Lanius now runs the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education at Rice University. When she was a teacher, she ran the school's chapter of the Junior Engineering Technical Society.

Lanius regularly invited engineers to talk to students, but said, "It was very hard to find hands-on types of projects where students could get a real feel for engineering."

She said that the ToyChallenge sponsors "have hit upon a project that is both engaging, but also gives students a real sense of what doing engineering might be like.

"If they can actually sort of practice a bit, that's a really good way to get young people interested in the subject."

pictograph divider

     

Home PageFront PageArchivesOur AwardsAbout Us

Kid's PageColoring BookCool LinksGuest BookEmail Us

     
 

pictograph divider

 
  Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.  
     
 

Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.

 
Canku Ota Logo   Canku Ota Logo

The "Canku Ota - A Newsletter Celebrating Native America" web site and its design is the

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 of Paul C. Barry.

All Rights Reserved.


Thank You

Valid HTML 4.01!