For one week in November, I had the amazing opportunity and support of Sandra and Oysters and Pearls to continue the work of Erin Fitzgerald and Kate Sokol, who introduced the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) curriculum to Gulu Primary School in the summer, a school which is inclusive of students who are visually impaired. The curriculum has students go through a five-step process called the engineering design process, and collaborate to engineer a technology to solve a specific problem. Erin and Kate taught two of the EiE units, as the teachers observed and began to co-teach. After the two weeks, with Sandra’s help, contact with the teachers and administration was kept up. The opportunity arose to go back in November, to do more professional development with teachers, introduce another unit, and observe them teach in order to provide support and feedback. Unfortunately, Teacher Kate was unable to attend, which made the teachers and students very sad. I consider myself extremely lucky I was able to step into Teacher Kate’s role.
Erin and I excitedly geared up for our trip. Our goal was to bring minimal amounts of material, and plan with the teachers how to locally source as many materials as possible. We arrived in Gulu and met with the Head Teacher, Dolly, and the teachers and came up with a set plan for the week. Sandra encouraged them to “squeeze us like a sponge,” and they took her up on it! It was decided we would do 4 hours of professional development with the teachers each day, and observe them teach in the classroom in the afternoons.
In the mornings, we went through the acoustical engineering unit that the teachers had started in their engineering class. The first day, the teachers plucked their homemade guitars and blew their index card horns, discussing competing sounds and figuring out which materials would dampen sounds. 
The following days they moved into bird song, thinking about pitch and how to tactically represent what they heard. Before lunch, the teachers planned what they would do in their afternoon lesson, and in the afternoon we entered a room with about 55 students, all ready to engineer! The week culminated with the teachers presenting an engineering lesson of their own design. The week was full of surprising and interesting moments, and the teachers really worked to integrate an inquiry style of teaching into their class. Below are some particular moments that stood out to me, which I wanted to share.
The very first day, Teacher Christopher started the engineering class by asked the students to be like eggs. Erin and I had no idea where this would lead, but Teacher Christopher went on to explain that eggs do not make sound. So the students had to be like eggs, and listen to all the sounds around them. The students listed all the sounds they heard while being eggs, and the lesson went to talk about competing sounds, then onto how to dampen those competing sounds when using a homemade guitar and index card horn. Teacher Erin wrapped up the class by asking the students to practice being competing sounds. Her directions were when she started speaking, they had to make competing sounds. She started speaking. Silence. It took some motivation, but finally the students starting speaking and making as much competing noise as possible!
The second day of professional development began with the main design challenge of the unit with the teachers. They had to listen to a bird song, and represent that sound in a tactile way. The teachers came up with unique designs, involving cups, bowls, wiki sticks, craft sticks, and other materials. We played the bird song they chose to focus on again, and again, and again, and again…after, walking to each design, the teachers had wonderful discussions of what they liked about the designs and how they thought each could be improved.
The third day, a unit about engineering recycled race cars was introduced. When the teachers saw examples of the race cars in the unit, they told us their students already make toy race cars out of found materials quite often! Locally sourcing the materials for this unit was very easy for the teachers to consider, and it allowed them to really go through each lesson focusing on the engineering design process and how to build on the engineering their students already do without realizing it. They also very much enjoyed laughing at their racers made of pipe cleaners, wiki sticks, and plates as they rolled them down the testing ramp. There is always room for improvement!
The final day, the teachers had the students engineer lowing balls, which are made from banana fibers, and can also include plastic bags and cloth. The teachers tied the engineering design process to the lesson, having the students collaborate to plan and create balls that could bounce. The students excitedly made their lowing balls, deciding if they wanted wet or dry banana fibers, if they should add plastic or cloth, and if they should combine fibers to make a thick rope. Official testing of the balls was run by trying to get the balls to bounce as many times as possible. It was an excellent way to end the week, seeing the teachers take on engineering in one of their own activities.
The strongest image that stayed with me was seeing the reaction students had when they were able to get their hands on the materials. One student who is visually impaired was waiting for her turn to pluck on the homemade guitar the first day we observed the engineering class. Teacher Christopher handed her one and had her pluck a string. A huge smile spread across her whole face! It just goes to show, kids everywhere are excited to manipulate materials.
The administration, teachers, and students of Gulu Primary were extremely welcoming, warm, and excited to engineer. It was a week full to the brim, and we thoroughly enjoyed being squeezed like sponges. We learned so much from Gulu Primary, and hope they learned from us as well. We look forward to hearing from the teachers how the curriculum is going, and what the students will be engineering next!
Apwoyo ma tek (thank you very much) Gulu Primary and Oysters and Pearls!
