Fifth graders learn about engineering
Using a coffee pot and filter, engineer Bruce Bassett recently showed fifth graders how water filtration processes make water safe for people to drink.
Their teacher, Sydney Hartsel, invited Bassett, who works with water treatment and infrastructure at Brown and Caldwell, to her classroom to increase students’ awareness of engineering as a career.
“He showed the kids what people within his field do and how it impacts us,” Hartsel said, “because without them we wouldn’t have drinking water.”
She said Bassett did the coffee experiment to show how water filters through soil. He also did a couple of quizzes at the beginning and end of his visit to see how much students already knew and what they learned about water during his visit, which they enjoyed.
“They asked clarification questions regarding things they had learned in science,” she said, making connections with school and work. The visit also piqued career interest.
“Since then,” she said, “a couple of kids have said that they want to go into engineering.”