Just like we have to write reports in school, engineers often have to write reports on what they have learned and developed. These can be for their supervisor or boss, a company or contractor, a community, or the world at large. However, engineers often engage in other types of communication activities to get their work out to interested people. They write articles for newspapers and magazines, books (both fiction and non-fiction), and proposals; they create artwork and perform plays; they visit schools; they present at seminars/workshops, any many more. Often, these types of activities happen at the end of a project, but many times they are also a part of the process of engineering. For example, engineers may have to write reports for their supervisor/boss or someone that has hired them to provide details on their progress as they complete a project.

Engineers also need to make sure they are writing down or drawing what they are doing in order to get credit for their ideas. Sometimes, they can apply for a patent, which is a document that shows ownership of a product so no one else can copy it. This has a lot to do with who can benefit financially from the development of a product. Would you like to be the first person to design a new space scooter and have someone steal your idea and make all the money off it? Probably not! Engineers can get patents for their designs if they are the first one to develop it. It is important for engineers to have their process for design or drawings complete and dated so they can prove they are the owner.

One of the critical components of all engineering is good communication. Engineers need to be able to explain their work to someone who is not an engineer. Often, that person is someone who wants them to do the work for them, but is not an engineer themselves. Sometimes that communication can be very hard. Why else do you think communication might be important to engineers? (Answer: Without good communication or documentation — that is, writing stuff down clearly, engineers' great discoveries, designs, improvements, ideas, etc. would never get noticed or applied.) What are ways that engineers can communicate with others? (Answer: Reports for bosses, write articles for newspapers and magazines, they write books (both fiction and non-fiction), they write proposals, they create artwork, they perform plays, they visit schools, they present at seminars/workshops, etc.)

Pre-Lesson Assessment

Post-Introduction Assessment

Lesson Summary Assessment

Forman, Carole. "Antarctica," Earth Prayers From Around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations For Honoring The Earth, edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, San Francisco: Harper Books, 1991.

United States Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/