Exploring the Impact of Systems Engineering Projects on STEM Engagement and Learning

Systems engineering is the interdisciplinary process of managing and executing complex engineering projects. As K-12 education increasingly emphasizes STEM education and engagement, our project-based systems engineering curriculum aims to add to the existing body of effective instructional approaches for stronger collaboration, problem-solving, and engineering skills in students. We designed and tested our curriculum at Acera, an independent Massachusetts school for science, creativity, and leadership. Elementary school students at a four-day Acera camp participated in our systems engineering project: building a smart model of a LEGO city. Split into teams, students earned badges for developing skills such as Python coding, and Robotics as they ventured to build a school and a town hall, a transportation system, and even a renewable energy source. Our field observations and interviews revealed patterns of motivation and applications of systems thinking in our students. We found that gamification, badges, and earnable points both engaged and united students by rewarding growth in STEM skills and setting achievable, tangible, class-wide goals. Students encountered problems head-on, working on faulty code or missing railroad pieces without direction from an adult, demonstrating our project's facilitation of implicit motivation. Students also communicated across teams by suggesting new tasks, which was rewarded with class-wide points, or adjusting their own work based on the results of another team, demonstrating an adoption of systems thinking. All of their efforts culminated into a city of many moving parts-motorized trains, color-sensor cars, windmills, and conveyor belts. Each part was made by a different team, so each team had to collaborate across disciplines to create the LEGO city.