Team CTC Engineering/Manufacturing #1 2026 ICUth by

OVERALL REFLECTION

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

We really enjoyed this experience as a whole. In the future, we would be more intentional about the check-ins throughout the process and do more team-building activities with students to build a sense of community. Our students really enjoyed hands-on activities to help them connect with the topic, so we would make sure to include more of that in any future projects as well.

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What resources do you need for the Incubation Stage?

Sticky Notes!

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students asked great questions and acted in a professional manner throughout the day. As middle school teachers, we were pleasantly surprised with how well that most students did throughout the day. If we were to do this differently, we would plan an ice breaker game for students to bring some energy into Day 1.

Ambassador Quote

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Please get a quote from the business partner.

"If I had a 4th son his name would be Continuity." - Mr. Golden

"You first have to walk through the hallways of failure before you can walk the hallways of success." - Mr. Golden

Student Quotes

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Please add a few quotes from students about their experience. Use first names only.

Micah - "When you say don't throw anything does that mean we don't have to throw away our trash"

Ayesha - "My team is fire"

Kai- "I'm proud that we all came together to present an idea."

Jack R - "You can do anything if you try."

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students did an amazing job identifying a wide range of ideas during the Idea Quota activity. It was also really cool to see them talking about their ideas as they both sorted and filtered them. As was mentioned earlier, we would likely conduct the Filtering protocol differently, simply to make students really think about why they are limiting their choices and what they want from the best possible solution.

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What resources do you need for checking in with your students?

Name tents - with a place for reflection at the end of each day

Teacher Quotes on the Experience

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

"My face hurts from smiling so much. I am so proud of our students and all of the work they did. It is amazing to see a group of students go from curiosity about a topic to becoming experts who are developing a final product." --Colleen

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

People to interview
Sticky notes
Chart Paper
Copy paper

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Chart paper
post-its
Creative DNA questions slideshow
Notecards

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

We were very grateful to have multiple opportunities to talk to Mr. Golden from CTC about safety, as well as to hear from Mike Ouendag. Having people in the field that could talk about their own experiences and give the students context for the purposes of safety measures. We were surprised by the depth and openness of our students' questions. In the context of our own classrooms, we might have the students identify the types of people that they want to interview or get information from. However, the difficulty in this lies in the availability of such people.

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

In the future, we would be more intentional about check-ins. We planned to just do it naturally, and that did not quite happen.

Idea Generating

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Idea Quota - students within their table groups used sticky notes to come up with ideas. After 10 minutes groups organized their thoughts into similar groups.

Then, groups identified 3 "filters" by which to narrow down their ideas. In retrospect, we should have asked them to identify 5 filters OR decide collectively on filters and have students narrow down their ideas one at a time.

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What resources do you need for the Solutions Stage?

Chromebooks, post-it notes, paper, note cards

Checking In

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students reflected and wrote down on their name tent their stakeholders from the DQ

Teacher Profile

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Colleen Ouendag is an ESL teacher at Harbor Lights Middle School. Kevin Eding is a 7th grade STEM teacher at Holland Middle School.

Determine importance

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

This came mostly through our interactions with real people involved in the field: Mr. Golden (CTC), Mr. Ouendag (Summit Polymers), and staff at both JR Automation and Disher.

Resources

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What resources do you need for the Validation Stage?

Google Slides

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Our students did an amazing job diving right into further developing their solution and creating a final product they could be proud of. Most students contributed consistently, with one or two exceptions. I loved that they really took the feedback they received from their pitch audience and used it to enhance their final product.

I was pleasantly surprised with how self-directed our students were. We had to occasionally interject to guide them back on track, but otherwise they were completely in charge of what they created and how it was presented.

If we had a different group that was less intrinsically motivated or with fewer natural leaders, we might do more guiding, or assign a few leaders. We might also have them share their presentation with us earlier so that we might provide feedback.

Team Building

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students played card games, ate lunch together, and also collaborated and supported each other in working on machines.

Team/Class Picture

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What went well in this stage? Overall the presentation went well, everyone was able to complete their part.

What surprised you? Micah did a fantastic job during the presentation

What would you do differently next time? Provide some additional examples of the final pitch.

Gaining Insight

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Michael Ouendag from Summit Polymers came in to speak to our students about his work and the role that safety plays. Students had the opportunity to ask questions, and heard many stories about the consequences of the failure to adhere to safety measures.

Redirection/Clarification

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

We used open ended questions to help kids keep their ideas going. This allowed them to dive deeper, think the idea from a different prospective and keep moving forward.

Feedback & Reflection

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Add additional stories that include machine safety.

What did we learn that inspired us to move into that field of work.

Critique and Revision

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students pitched their idea in front of two other groups. It was a great opportunity for them to get feedback on both their proposed solution and their presentation as a whole. We used the TAG protocol (Tell something you liked, Ask a question, Give a recommendation). From the feedback they received, they were able to clean up and add to their presentations.

Employability Skill

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Communication and Collaboration

Critical Thinking

Authentic Audience

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

CTC Panel and Fleetwood

Parents were also present

Entry Event

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

We started our day looking at and categorizing zoomed in images of safety gear. Students made great hypotheses!

Standards & Skills

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Communication and Collaboration

Critical Thinking

Our Driving Question

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

What can we design to highlight the importance of machine safety to students pursuing engineering and manufacturing?

Develop Ideas

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students expanded on their ideas from the incubation step. After our test pitch they used the feedback that was provided to continue to develop a deeper solution.

Design Challenge/Project Description

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students created a summer program to educate students on the importance of safety in manufacturing and engineering.

Deciding

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Each student was given 2 dot stickers to use for voting. We sent one table group at a time to vote in order to limit opportunities for peer pressure. This allowed us to identify the two solutions that our group of 20 would focus on.

Narrowing Down

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Groups used their groups of ideas that to create a poster that they presented to the larger group

Voice and Choice

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students had a unique opportunity to work as a large group for most of the week, once it came down to it students we able to pick which solution that they wanted to go with.

Uncover Need to Knows

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students went on a tour of the Skilled Trades Manufacturing Lab at GRCC. After, they mind-mapped (Big Paper + Mind Map) what they heard about/questions they had. Students did this silently; groups had one marker, which they would pass around the group. Each person would write and idea before passing it on to the partner (borrowed from Rip-Slap-Pass). They had the option to write what they saw, heard, or questions; alternatively they could draw something. They could add new ideas or build off of previous ideas. Then, students did a Gallery Walk to the other posters to identify what they had in common with other groups, as well as what surprised or interested them about other groups' posters.

Gaining Empathy

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students individually worked on empathy maps about a chosen stakeholder and then shared out to the groups. From this, students were able to develop a list of stakeholders that would be impacted by their driving question.

Project Title

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Engineering and Manufacturing

Stakeholders

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Students used their empathy maps to identify stakeholders. Some they identified were: students, employers, coworkers (of students fresh out of an engineering/manufacturing program), families/parents, CEOs and administrative staff, etc.

Driving Question Understanding

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

We first read through the Driving Question and ensured that our students understood all the words. Then, we asked students to identify what 1-2 words students thought were the most important in the question. Students mostly focused in on "machine safety" or "safety," which suited our purposes perfectly.

It also helped to have students complete the Draw the Problem. This gave us some insight into how students interpreted different parts of the question, as well as what potential problems they foresaw within the question.

Final Presentation

futureprepd2 — 2026-04-30 19:20:58 UTC

Include a video of your final presentation.

Day 1:

2026-06-22 19:35:18 UTC

Students completed their entry event (provided below) and then went on tours of Disher and JR Automation. When we came back to campus, we completed a 6 Word Memoir of our experience and identified our Hopes, Fears, and Norms.

Solution Explanation

futureprepd2 — 2026-06-23 13:49:12 UTC

Our students' solution was to create a summer training program for students to learn about different fields within engineering and manufacturing, including the safety protocols and equipment for each field. This would be a 5 week program, where each week would focus on a different field. They divided the goals for different grade bands so that each grade band would focus on progressively more advanced safety measures. They would have guest speakers come to schools to tell students about the summer learning opportunity and invite them to sign up.

Creative DNA

2026-06-23 17:17:06 UTC

Students started Day 2 by learning about their Creative DNA. They divided a post-it note into 4 boxes, and labeled them Red, Green, Yellow, and Purple. They were given a set of questions that followed the format, "If you __________, check the ______ box." In doing this, students were able to discover if they were more of a decision maker, presenter, brainstormer, or investigator. This will then inform how they might best fit into their group's process later on, as well as where they might need to push themselves to grow more.

Day 1 Tours

ouendagc — 2026-06-24 14:46:36 UTC

Students toured Disher and JR Automation (not pictured). They learned about the design process in both places, and also about the safety features, protocols, etc.

Artifact Analysis & Learning with Mr. Golden

2026-06-24 20:06:38 UTC

Jamie Golden was kind enough to show and model various machines with students on days 2 and 3. On day 2, students conducted an Artifact Analysis to identify how he used various machines. He also taught students about electricity with a movement demonstration, and had them use a variety of machines themselves.

Draw the Problem

2026-06-24 20:17:18 UTC

In order to ensure that students fully understood the problem they faced, but also to identify what specific problems each students saw within the driving question, we had students Draw the Problem. Each student received a note card. On one side, they wrote the parts of the problem, and on the reverse, they drew the problem as they saw it.

Practice Presentation

2026-06-26 13:48:09 UTC

This was our first attempt at presenting and pitching our solution.