The Gizmo Project: Collaborative and Experiential Learning to Benefit All

Abstract

A science lesson can be anything but ordinary when accompanied by hands-on demonstrations, as is evidenced by the chorus of excited shouts and the wide eyes of school-aged students during a recent Gizmo Expo that was held on a college campus. Professors of an education course and an engineering course joined together at an institution of higher education to have their students work together to meet the needs of children in the community. When engineering and education students collaborate to design and build “gizmos,” which are defined as interactive devices that foster learning within integrated units, and work together to develop corresponding lesson plans, this Gizmo Collaboration provides similarly engaging and productive hands-on education for the college students while also benefiting the recipient in-service teachers and their school-aged students.