AMPLIFYING A STUDENT’S VOICE: An Engineering Design Unit About Communication

Let’s peek into a classroom lesson already in-progress: It’s May 19. The momentum of the new year has long since slowed and the nervous energy of the end of the year has yet to kick in. It’s hot and stuffy. The 35 fourth graders crammed into the undersized, hundred-year-old classroom are wilting like three-day-old flowers. Rayna has her head on her desk. It’s hard to tell if she is overheating or just bored (maybe a little of both). For the last few weeks, the teacher has been leading the class through a project-based unit about communication using sound and light.