Improving Your School’s COVID-19 Procedures Using the Engineering Design Process
A teacher wiping down a deskCopyright 2020 Amy A. Wilson-Lopez, Utah State University RET
This activity is meant to introduce students to the concept of industrial and safety engineering, using real-world COVID-19 prevention procedures (from their own school or researched online). Students consider cases where schools were forced to close due to outbreaks, then collect data and evaluate real-world procedures designed to prevent outbreaks. Their evaluation will lead students to determine how common processes are falling short and use that information to provide recommendations to their own school.
Safety engineers spend a good deal of time evaluating the efficacy and safety of the systems around them. In the business world, inefficiency can lead to wasted time and money. During the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone relied on similar systems to stay safe from COVID-19. Students, perhaps more than anyone, adapted to new systems within their schools. This real-world event is a great opportunity to teach students how to utilize some of the skills industrial engineers use every day to manage efficiency and safety.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Evaluate COVID-19 safety procedures.
- Read data from Excel charts.
- Write a safety report.
- Understand the cyclical nature of the engineering design process.
- Explain how industrial engineers manage systems.