Location: Rocklin
Day & Time: Wednesday 9:30-10:40
Grade: 3rd-4th
Mentor: Frizzle Frizzle
Email: inspiredbyamg@gmail.com
Magic School Bus: Engineering Lab
Magic School Bus: Engineering Lab is a hands-on engineering course introducing students to the world of engineering through creativity, exploration, and problem-solving. Students will learn how engineers design, test, and improve ideas while developing skills in collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and perseverance. The course is structured to help students build confidence with engineering concepts and apply those skills toward increasingly complex design challenges and a long-term engineering project that demonstrates innovation, growth, and mastery.
Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will:
apply the engineering design process to solve engineering challenges and real-world problems
build, test, evaluate, and improve models using a variety of materials and tools
explore concepts related to motion, force, energy, stability, structures, and simple machines
practice observation, prediction, measurement, and data collection skills
develop creativity, resilience, and perseverance through iterative design and problem-solving
strengthen collaboration, communication, and teamwork abilities
use engineering journals to record ideas, sketches, procedures, testing results, and reflections
design and refine a long-term engineering project for final presentation
explain how engineers use experimentation, testing, and redesign to improve solutions
Activities:
Students will participate in interactive engineering experiences that encourage experimentation, innovation, and critical thinking. First-semester activities will focus on introducing engineering concepts, design principles, and materials through weekly design challenges, such as building towers, creating bridges, testing ramps and vehicles, designing protective structures, and solving simple real-world design problems. Students will brainstorm, sketch prototypes, test solutions, analyze results, and revise their designs while practicing collaborative problem-solving skills.
During the second semester, students will transition to a long-term engineering project in which they will design, experiment, troubleshoot, revise, and refine their work over an extended period. The course will culminate in a final presentation in which students will demonstrate and explain their completed engineering projects and the design processes behind them.
Materials:
Students are expected to bring writing utensils and any assigned materials to each class. Most instructional material and engineering supplies will be provided by the instructor, including engineering journals for documenting designs, sketches, testing results, and reflections throughout the course. Additional materials may be requested, such as building blocks, cardboard, recycled materials, craft supplies, and paper engineering materials used during hands-on challenges and project development.
“What is memorized is easily forgotten, what is understood is never forgotten.” ~Dr. Adler
All classes are full-year classes. Students enrolled in a Fall Semester class will automatically enroll for the Spring Semester in December to ensure their place in the class. Pricing is per semester.
