Deborah Holt

“Discovery Imagineers”, Holt’s winning program idea, involves training the students in the intellectually gifted program (Discovery) to  become Discovery Imagineers. Students will use various materials to design bridges, submersibles, and discover ways to clean an oil  spill. They will be immersed in projects that give them the opportunity to develop their understanding of the engineering design process  – defining a problem, generating ideas, selecting a solution, testing the solution(s), creating a design, evaluating the design and  presenting a final design. Students will first determine the problem they want to solve, and an engineer from the local community will  mentor them, allowing them to also explore career options. They also will research various engineering accomplishments that resulted in  amazing inventions or an engineering feat that resulted in unexpected results. Students will use research to create an online book or  digital movie, complete with details comparing it to other inventions. This will help develop the students’ understanding of engineering  and technology and their impact on history.  Holt, who lives in Long Beach, hopes the program will lead to students’ understanding of the  roles of technology and engineering and the steps to solve everyday problems.