In 2021, Tufts Center for Education and Outreach (CEEO) piloted the Outreach Learning Fellows (OLFs) Program to work with local children, focusing on organizations with children who may not get the experience to engineer otherwise. This year we are continuing the program in five local settings (Malden YMCA, Medford YMCA, Parlin School in Everett, Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Somerville, and Adams School in East Boston). Fifteen Tufts undergraduate OLFs travel to the sites once a week to do engineering activities with the students. The Fellows work with younger students to get them to test out their designs and often use props such as stuffed animals to serve as “clients” and to test their designs.
Fellows working with students in the 4th grade class in Everett had their students think about bridges that could help animals cross highways. The first thing the elementary students did was to watch a video about bridges that enable animals to cross highways They designed and built bridges for animals which they tested with stuffed elephants.
In Somerville, the middle school students in a classroom supporting students with autism built furniture for a variety of “clients.” First, the Fellows showed examples of chairs and discussed how chairs can look different. Then they introduced them to their clients, stuffed animals, and talked about how each chair will be different because each group would have a different “client” and the chairs should be made to fit their clients. The students began brainstorming, picked their materials, and then created their customized chairs.
