PHASES of Success Design Process

The program introduces the PHASES of Success design process as a vessel for the delivery of program content. PHASES connects middle school engineering Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through a systematic “topic-chaining” approach while providing opportunities for critical thinking, self-improvement, and community engagement. PHASES starts with a simple design process and adds additional steps as youth complete projects and become comfortable with learned skills. The approach combines Gay (2010) approach to culturally responsive learning and an amended version of Ulrich and Eppinger (2008) 7 step design process. The PHASES structure, applied to informal learning environments for this project, is expected to also translate to more formal educational settings. PHASES is an acronym for Plan, History, Act, Score, Evaluate, and Shift which are the individual steps of the design process for program projects.

“History”, “Score”, “Shift”, and “Success” are featured one at a time and added to the design process. Each added step ties in to one of the middle school engineering NGSS. Therefore, scaffolding is used to build towards the more complex six step design process with an added emphasis on relevant life skills and a shared narrative between projects, drawing from the culturally responsive learning literature.

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.

Ulrich, K. T., & Eppinger, S. D. (2008). Product design and development. 2004. New York: MacGraw-Hill.