I was thrilled - SO THRILLED! to get a chance to review the Thinking Like an Engineer from Innovators Tribe with my extremely engineered-minded children.
Other members of the Review Crew got to review:
Thinking Like an Architect
I will be honest and admit that this one looked amazing as well and was a tough choice to decide which one my student would like most.
What is Innovators Tribe's Thinking Like an Engineer?
It is an online program intended for students in Grades 6-12 that presents the material in units. Each course includes about 30 hours of work and can be used for 1/4 credit towards high school. Within the units are short video lessons and challenge activities that the student completes offline and hands-on, mostly with materials you probably already have around the house. But, it also included the necessary design software to complete the projects involving that.
Within each unit, there are also unit notes that you download in pdf format, print and fill out as you learn. There were also research projects - One involved looking into different types of engineers and what they do, including the anticipated salaries. I received a 2-year subscription to the course and was told that a single subscription can be used for an entire household.
How Did We Use It?
I was so excited to explore what it was about that I logged on first before sharing it with my daughter, who is recently involved in Lego League Robotics. This child is cut out of the same mold as her older brother who is a senior in high school currently. After viewing the first section, I knew immediately my high school son would also love the style of teaching in that it isn't just a man in front of a classroom lecturing, but rather it is clever graphics and illustrations drawn while the voiceover speaks and then the instructor with various green screen style backgrounds. FAR FROM BORING! Though, admittedly, my son is not a "hardware man". He's more of a software engineer. The videos are the exact style of videos that my son seeks out when learning. Tha hands-on aspect was what hooked my daughter.
I was so excited to explore what it was about that I logged on first before sharing it with my daughter, who is recently involved in Lego League Robotics. This child is cut out of the same mold as her older brother who is a senior in high school currently. After viewing the first section, I knew immediately my high school son would also love the style of teaching in that it isn't just a man in front of a classroom lecturing, but rather it is clever graphics and illustrations drawn while the voiceover speaks and then the instructor with various green screen style backgrounds. FAR FROM BORING! Though, admittedly, my son is not a "hardware man". He's more of a software engineer. The videos are the exact style of videos that my son seeks out when learning. Tha hands-on aspect was what hooked my daughter.
The first challenge that got us hooked was to build a skyscraper that would stand on its own using only a few sheets of paper and a small amount of masking tape.
Another really fun activity was one involving the design software that came with the program to download. It was more challenging than we had anticipated, but we managed to accomplish most of what was asked in the assignment.
Challenge Activity was to use one sheet of paper to build a foundation that would hold a stack of books above the ground suspended.
We are currently working on making gears out of paper:
What Did We Think?
I was so excited to be chosen as a reviewer for this, and it did not disappoint in the least. If anything, it was even more impressive than the description. The online instruction was engaging and far from a boring video. I was happy that it included the software download we needed, and also provided plenty of links to further learning in the lessons. By far, our favorite component, though, was the hands-on challenge activities.
Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:
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