Outcomes
More than 15,500 youth and family members participated in the Building Big educational outreach activities. Response to the educational materials was overwhelmingly positive, with most model community sites singling out the Activity Guide for special praise.
Public television staff found the topics covered to be exciting and rejuvenating, a refreshing change from the "heavy" subjects they often deal with.
Youth-serving organizations welcomed the opportunity to explore new ideas and activities with their children, and teachers said they were excited that not only were their students learning civil engineering, but they themselves were learning also.
Students expressed their excitement about the content through their interest in watching the programs, their use of new terminology, and their use of problem-solving techniques in group work and discussions. One eighth-grade teacher reported students were coming in at lunch to watch the programs and taking notes even though there was no test.
Public TV outreach staff, teachers, and Boys & Girls Club leaders reported learning quite a lot about engineering. ASCE members, on the other hand, said they learned more about educational outreach, the market for educational outreach, and effective ways for spreading the word. In fact, the ASCE was so pleased with the project's outcomes that they approached WGBH to look for new opportunities for collaboration, which resulted in a ZOOM educational outreach initiative called "ZOOM into Engineering."
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