Teens design back-to-school strategies amid COVID-19 pandemic

June 25, 2020

Engineering is a method of problem-solving that can help address a variety of challenges — even how students can safely and effectively return to school during the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 was the catalyst to bring high school students from across Arizona together in a virtual event to learn engineering design thinking skills. The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University hosted an educational outreach activity called The Challenge 2020 in partnership with the University of Arizona College of Engineering and Northern Arizona University College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences. A student holds a laptop and writes on a dry erase board. A student brainstorms ideas on a dry erase board. In place of in-person outreach activities this summer, The Challenge 2020 virtual engineering design competition tasked Arizona high school students to develop solutions for social distancing at their schools as they prepare to return to classes in the fall. Photographer: Marco-Alexis Chaira/ASU Download Full Image

“A statewide, tri-university online outreach event like The Challenge is an excellent opportunity to bring together a more diverse group of students to learn from the top faculty members and education experts in our state,” said Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools. “We are proud to work together with our university partners to show Arizona high school students how they can make a difference through engineering during this challenging time.”

The June 18–23 event drew more than 90 rising juniors and seniors from Arizona and several other states to work as teams to develop social distancing solutions for schools.

The students worked with education stakeholders, health experts, university faculty members and current engineering students to see what it’s like to be an engineer.

“In the upcoming school year, our schools, teachers and students will face unparalleled challenges,” said Kathy Hoffman, state superintendent of public instruction, during her opening keynote address for The Challenge.

“I know the solutions (participants) generate can impact how students across the state experience learning for months and years to come,” Hoffman said.

Addressing a daunting challenge

Taking precautions to stem COVID-19 infection isn’t the only issue the student teams had to consider. Hoffman and other experts identified wider school operations, social and emotional issues, accessibility and unequal access to technology as other barriers that factor into returning to school in the fall.

“Contemporary engineering demands a systems perspective: Working directly with a team of experts will tangibly show that engineering demands teamwork and it'll convey the breadth and depth of the expertise needed to build effective solutions to complex problems,” said John Georgas, interim dean of the NAU College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences.

Claire Jordan, who graduated from ASU with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in May, helped create the COVID-19 topic for the event.

“I really wanted students to learn engineering in a way that is genuinely applicable to their lives,” said Jordan, who was highly involved in organizing K-12 outreach activities as an ASU undergraduate and graduate student. “I think students learn a lot more when they work on something personally affecting them.”

ASU graduate Claire Jordan moderates an online panel of Arizona university deans.

Recent ASU master’s degree graduate Claire Jordan moderated an online panel with the engineering deans from Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. Jordan helped come up with the COVID-19 theme of The Challenge 2020.

Arizona State University's Kyle Squires speaks during The Challenge online panel of Arizona university deans.

Kyle Squires, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, talks about what engineering can do for the world during The Challenge Deans Panel.

University of Arizona's David W. Hahn speaks during The Challenge online panel of Arizona university deans.

David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean of the University of Arizona College of Engineering, talks about what it’s like to be an engineer with The Challenge participants during The Challenge Deans Panel.

Northern Arizona University's John Georgas speaks during The Challenge online panel of Arizona university deans.

John Georgas, interim dean of the Northern Arizona University College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences, talks about engineering grand challenges at The Challenge Deans Panel.

University of Arizona graduate Josh Pace teaches The Challenge participants the Spark problem-solving method on Zoom.

Josh Pace, a December 2019 University of Arizona graduate who studied biomedical engineering with a minor in electrical and computer engineering, taught The Challenge participants the ASU Spark problem-solving method and how to collect all relevant information in a professional-style engineering notebook.

Mountain Pointe High School engineering teacher Mel Wendell teaches participants of The Challenge how to find credible sources for their research.

Mel Wendell, an engineering teacher at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, taught The Challenge participants how to find credible sources while conducting research for their social distancing solutions.

Arizona State University Lecturer Brent Sebold teaches participants of The Challenge how to create an evidence-based pitch on Zoom.

Brent Sebold, an ASU lecturer who also advises students starting their own ventures, teaches The Challenge participants how to create an effective pitch for their solutions.

Google’s Education Evangelist Jaime Casap inspired The Challenge participants to learn 21st century skills during a Zoom keynote.

Google’s Education Evangelist Jaime Casap inspired The Challenge participants to learn “21st-century skills” such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and especially how to learn.

The Challenge first-place team Cuckoo Industries presents their restroom air circulation solution.

Members of The Challenge first-place team Cuckoo Industries from Chandler Preparatory Academy presents their solution for better air circulation in school restrooms.

A student from The Challenge second-place team No Rest For The Students presents a solution for hallway management.

The Challenge second-place team No Rest For The Students from BASIS Peoria created a solution for crowded hallways that involved changing class schedules and a system of one-way traffic.

The Challenge third-place team Team Musicians presents a performance shield prototype for music classes.

The Challenge third-place team Team Musicians designed individual performance shields and other modifications to orchestra classes and instruments that did not affect sound projection.

An ASU student talks about what it's like to be an engineering major to high school participants of The Challenge

A second-year electrical engineering student at ASU shares her experience with high school participants of The Challenge.

NAU engineering students Felecia Hildebran and Ryan Downey and NAU Phoenix Metro Recruitment Coordinator Kyla Timmons talk about university life with The Challenge participants.

A panel of UA Engineering Ambassadors and The Challenge mentors, assisted by UA Engineering staff member Leslie Grignon, share what it’s like to be an engineering student at UA.

Learning and applying engineering design thinking

After learning about the engineering design process from industry engineer and UA Lecturer Ken George — who gave them the same sort of lecture a first-year university engineering student would attend — student teams were tasked with defining a COVID-19 social distancing problem and how it affects their chosen school location.

Over the next several days, students developed and refined their solutions. Josh Pace, a December 2019 UA graduate who studied biomedical engineering with a minor in electrical and computer engineering, taught the ASU Spark problem-solving process and how to collect all relevant information in a professional-style engineering notebook, an important tool for engineers.

"I always like to tell people that if they want to pursue a career where they can make a difference, they'll find a home in engineering," said David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean of the UArizona College of Engineering. "In The Challenge, a new generation of students will see the impact engineers can make when they create a solution to a real-world problem."

Teams were judged on their creativity, presentation skills, ability to define the problem, citing relevant sources, documenting their solutions and addressing the possible barriers to implementation. The judging panel included ASU and UArizona faculty members as well as retired industry professionals from Honeywell Aerospace and Intel. Of the 25 starting teams, 21 teams made it to the final judging.

A range of relevant ideas

The teams addressed a wide range of locations around their schools and included designs that repurposed existing equipment or created completely new technologies.

The top solutions impressed Joshua Loughman, the lead judge for The Challenge, a Fulton Schools lecturer and assistant director of the ASU Engineering Projects in Community Service program.

“Teams were careful to consider not only the technical requirements of each challenge but also the impacts on people and wider systems,” Loughman said. “They combined excellent technical and design ideas with stakeholder interviews, rapid system modeling, early stage prototyping and integrating a systems-view into their project. These are characteristics of exceptional design teams.”

First-place team Cuckoo Industries — Julia Norris and Madeleinne Tan from Chandler Preparatory Academy in the Phoenix metro area and Kevin Cotellesso, Norris’ cousin — developed a solution for school restrooms. Restrooms are often crowded spaces with poor ventilation, so the team focused on improving air circulation.

Modeled after a spray paint downdraft booth, the team’s air exchanger pushes potentially contaminated air down and away from the nose and mouth and replaces it with air from the outside.

“They identified the unique requirements that would be necessary for a restroom facility with existing fixtures, and limited opportunity to modify the space,” said Lysbeth Lieber, a retired Honeywell Aerospace mechanical engineer and judge for The Challenge. Lieber was also impressed that the team recognized the need to use computational fluid dynamics to accurately design the system.

A hallway traffic management solution earned second place. Team No Rest For The Students — Carolyn Heinzer, Avneet Kaur and Ailsa Watt from BASIS Peoria — identified crowded school corridors as a health hazard during the pandemic. Their solution involved changing class schedules and a system of one-way hallway traffic.

In third place, Team Musicians — Mikaila Hishaw, Sarah Malkin and Yulia Savine from University High School in Tucson — designed indoor and outdoor solutions for orchestra classes. To block potential virus spread indoors, they developed performance shields for individual students and brass instrument cloth covers to block airborne saliva particles.

Pace awarded two teams for outstanding engineering notebooks that displayed excellent documentation and organization. The judges also gave two innovation awards for teams that thought outside of the box — coming up with ideas for an ultraviolet exosuit and a virtual reality classroom solution.

The Challenge’s virtual format was also an inspiration for stakeholders.

“This was such a great opportunity for me to see how an engineering project can be done remotely and online,” said Mel Wendell, an engineering teacher at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix who mentored several teams. “It gave me inspiration on how to tackle the new normal of education.”

Encouraging students to pursue higher education

Along with learning about COVID-19 with engineering, education and health stakeholders, participants in The Challenge 2020 were inspired to learn “21st-century skills” such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and especially “how to learn.” This lesson came from Google’s Education Evangelist Jaime Casap, who is also an Arizona State University alumnus.

The high schoolers watched video messages from a variety of industry professionals and university faculty members who talked about their journeys as engineers and explained the types of projects they work on.

Through recruitment presentations and accounts from current engineering majors, The Challenge participants also learned what it’s like to be an engineering student at ASU, UA and NAU.

“The world, especially today, needs more engineers to address the challenges facing our society,” said James Collofello, Fulton Schools vice dean of academic and student affairs and professor of computer science and software engineering. “Arizona is fortunate to have three universities with strong engineering programs. Engaging students statewide with the combined resources of all three schools provides an optimal learning environment.”

The Challenge will continue to be an engineering education outreach staple in years to come, with hosting rotating among each of the three major Arizona universities.

Watch keynote and expert presentations, "coffee chat" videos by industry professionals and engineering faculty members and more on The Challenge 2020 website.

Monique Clement

Lead communications specialist, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

480-727-1958 monique.clement@asu.edu

ASU community continues humanitarian help remotely during pandemic

Students at Arizona State University have access to dozens of programs that allow them to help people in the community, in Arizona, across the U.S. and around the world.But how can people do public service work when almost everything has gone virtual, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic?Several humanitarian initiatives in the ASU community have become creative in making the switch to helping people re...

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ASU community continues humanitarian help remotely during pandemic

June 25, 2020

Prestigious fellowships, nonprofit work continue in creative ways

Students at Arizona State University have access to dozens of programs that allow them to help people in the community, in Arizona, across the U.S. and around the world.

But how can people do public service work when almost everything has gone virtual, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Several humanitarian initiatives in the ASU community have become creative in making the switch to helping people remotely or with social distancing. And in some cases, the change has allowed more people to benefit.

Ruben Neal has been working with Diana Gregory Outreach Services, a Phoenix-based organization that provides fresh fruits and vegetables along with nutrition education to low-income older adults and veterans. Before the pandemic hit, the nonprofit held farmers markets to distribute produce.

A man packs boxes of produce for vets and low income adults

Ruben Neal, a member of Public Allies Arizona, based at ASU, packed and delivered 3,000 bags of produce to low-income older adults and veterans. Photo courtesy of Ruben Neal

“But then we went to a whole new model. The idea came into my head when I saw all the restaurants doing delivery,” said Neal, a student at Colorado Technical University. He worked with Gregory to pack and deliver more than 3,000 bags of fruit and vegetables to older adults and veterans in the Phoenix area.

“We actually ended up helping a lot more people via this model,” he said.

Neal is in Public Allies Arizona, an intense, full-time AmeriCorps apprenticeship program that pairs young people with nonprofit organizations. The allies are paid for their work over the 10-month period and then receive a grant to pay for tuition, professional development or to apply to student debt. Public Allies is part of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, in the School of Community Resources and Development.

Many of the Public Allies already did some digital work, helping their nonprofits with social media. Neal started making videos for the Diana Gregory Outreach Services Instagram and hugely increased the number of followers.

The 26 young people in the current Public Allies cohort, based in Phoenix and Tucson, made the switch to virtual work in different ways depending on the needs of the nonprofit, according to Jacob Teskey, director of the Public Allies program.

“Our partner organizations all have their own protocols and standards we’ve been navigating,” he said.

“We’ve worked to create telecommuting or remote work plans, and their service projects have had to evolve with the circumstances, but everyone has taken the initiative to say, ‘OK, let’s figure this out.’”

For example, one member's service project changed to include creating a team to assess the impact of COVID-19 on homeless people. Another’s job was to recruit volunteers, so she created a “virtual volunteer” process.

The allies also complete a curriculum that teaches leadership and professional development skills. Typically, the group gathers one day a week to do that work, but over the past few months, it’s been on Zoom.

“It’s hard to sit in front of a computer for eight hours and we understand that,” Teskey said. “So we’ve had to be creative in what those days look like. The allies can leave and work on assignments and come back.”

Some of the allies were able to do some work in person. Kyah Recard is a Public Ally working as a program specialist with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley, whose locations have largely have remained open.

“I began in the office, reading data points and making my own spreadsheets, and I also was making highlights of what was going on in the clubs,” said Recard, who will be a sophomore at ASU this fall, majoring in family and human development.

Working from home allowed Recard to tackle the kind of important projects that always seem to get put off.

“At home, I began a new project where I sorted all the of the employees in our organization and I organized their CPR and first aid certificates — who from what club was certified and if they’re not, when they’re doing it,” said Recard, who’s living with her family in Buckeye, Arizona, this summer.

But the Boys and Girls Clubs locations became busy, so Recard started helping out the staff at the Avondale site, even as she continued to take 18 credits during the spring semester.

“The staff all wore masks and enforced distancing and we were making sure we washed our hands,” she said. “And we were disinfecting the toys.”

The experience has opened her eyes to the world of public service.

“For a career, I want to work with kids and (create) a better future for children who are going through family issues,” she said.

‘They know the realities’

One nonprofit organization based at ASU has been able to leverage the enthusiasm of humanitarian workers who were displaced when the pandemic hit. In March, the Peace Corps brought more than 7,000 volunteers around the world back to the United States.

That presented an opportunity for Laura Hosman, an associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at ASU and the inventor of SolarSPELL, a solar-powered library that fits into a backpack. Over the past few years, the SolarSPELL initiative has distributed hundreds of digital libraries filled with educational resources to remote communities in nine countries that have limited or no internet connectivity.

The true value of SolarSPELL is the carefully curated content. Each memory card holds reading and math tutorials, science projects, health information or English lessons that are chosen specifically for each location. The content can be drawn from open-source text and videos that are available for free on the internet or taken from textbooks that are used with permission.

Hosman is hoping to greatly expand the use of SolarSPELL around the world, and to do that, the devices must have libraries of information that are relevant to local communities.

When she learned about the recently returned Peace Corps people, many of whom are staying at home and eager to contribute, Hosman launched the Help from Home initiative, in which the returnees can volunteer to collect content for SolarSPELL libraries.

“All these volunteers are at home looking for quality opportunities,” she said.

“They are the content specialists and they know the realities on the ground and they have a heart that’s bleeding for the communities they left.”

Courtney Finkbeiner, who served in the Peace Corps in Fiji and returned last fall, is leading the effort for SolarSPELL. She used the devices in her community in Fiji and is now working with about a dozen returned volunteers in the Valley on Help from Home.

“There are a lot of benefits for all parties involved,” she said. “It’s not just about curating content for libraries, although that’s a big part because we believe, with their field experience, they’re highly aware of what the needs are.”

Help from Home also will increase exposure for SolarSPELL as the nonprofit seeks to expand around the world.

“The biggest draw for me in working with SolarSPELL is that I’ve lived it and I worked with it and I’ve seen the challenges and I’ve seen the success and the potential,” Finkbeiner said.

Backyard science

Every year, many ASU students are selected to participate in prestigious fellowship opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. Some of those programs have been suspended due to the pandemic, but others have transitioned to work virtually.

Tahiry Langrand, a sustainability major at ASU, was selected for the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, a highly selective two-year award to pursue coursework and research leading to careers in environmental conservation.

Langrand was supposed to spending this summer at the University of California at Santa Cruz completing eight weeks of intensive field science. Instead, he’s staying with his family in Virginia and doing online coursework. The curriculum includes a synchronous class, small-group projects and storytelling exercises.

And instead of being trained to do field work in California, the scholars are doing it in their own locations.

“I go on the trails around my house and in the woods and observe nature and do science locally,” he said.

“Even though it’s on our own, it’s guided.”

The second summer of the program is supposed to be an internship, but instead, Langrand and the other scholars will do the fieldwork sessions they missed this year.

“I’m very busy and it’s still a great experience,” Langrand said. “They put a lot of effort and thinking into designing this.”

A man poses in front of the US Capitol in Washington DC

Hussein Mohamed, a grad student at ASU, is delaying his trip to Ghana and is now doing immersive language study as a Boren Award winner. Photo courtesy of Hussein Mohamed

Hussein Mohamed, a graduate student studying social justice and human rights at ASU’s West campus, is one of seven Sun Devils chosen for a Boren Award. That fellowship is sponsored by the U.S. National Security Education Program to build a more qualified pool of Americans with foreign language and international skills through linguistic and cultural immersion.

“In my studies and what I’m passionate about is human trafficking and the terror funding nexus,” Mohamed said.

“For myself, that means studying the vernacular language of Akan Twi in Ghana, West Africa, where there are a lot of national security interests.”

Originally, Mohamed was supposed to travel to Washington, D.C., this summer for an orientation with all the Boren Fellows nationwide, then go on to the University of Florida for language immersion. After that, he was scheduled to go to Ghana in August for nine months.

But the pandemic upended the program. Now, he is doing five and half hours of language immersion classes remotely every day, with plans to travel to Ghana in January 2021.

Mohamed said the flexibility of the program was key. When he found out he would be staying in Arizona, he had to renew his lease, and he was able to get funding from Boren to do that.

He’ll also use the delay to improve the experience once he gets to Ghana.

“Of course, I wish coronavirus never existed and I was in Florida right now because I think I would have more focus on my program,” he said.

“I still have to balance family life and school life and work life. But now I have more time to think about the research project I’ll implement when I’m in Ghana and I can do all the pre-work in the fall.”

Mohamed already spent time in Ghana as a Fulbright student scholar, but he really started on the track toward humanitarian work after he studied abroad in Morocco as a Gilman Scholar while he was an undergrad at ASU.

“That five-week experience ignited this passion and I want to continue this international work,” he said. “This is the path that was calling me.”

Top image courtesy of Pixabay.