Here at Scale Rule we spend a lot of time encouraging people with a wide range of skills and interests to consider study and careers in engineering and architecture. During our workshops we try to give people an idea of what these subjects include, and to teach participants principles of architecture and engineering. But measuring what participants know – and if they learn during the workshops – is currently really hard.

Part of why this is hard is because the normal ways we test things like engineering assume some basic knowledge and familiarity. And unlike maths and physics, engineering and architecture aren’t taught at secondary school.

Currently there is no available methodology for assessing what people understand about engineering principles if the person does not already have an understanding of the basic language of engineering communication of shorthand, diagrammatic notations and jargon.

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What

In response to these challenges, we are in the process of developing an assessment methodology that allows us to ask people questions about their engineering understanding without any technical jargon getting in the way. It involves a very short multiple choice quiz (less than 5 minutes!) with questions based on familiar scenarios, which anyone and everyone can try out.

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When to quiz

The quiz can be a standalone activity to help you probe your grasp of engineering principles. Do it now!

The quiz can also be used as a tool to monitor how engineering understanding develops when someone completes an engineering activity or workshop, and to help us understand whether the workshop was successful in its primary teaching objectives.

To do this, we are asking people to complete one quiz before participating in a workshop, and one quiz after participating in the workshop.