W132·International Division (INTL) Special Session B:
Students as Agents of Change -
Creating international intergenerational community through engineering outreach
Presenting Students:
Maya Hazarika
Aliyah Villalva
Antonio Chavez
And students at Ferrara Italy, Barcelona Spain and beyond…
With Moderators Elizabeth Cavicchi and Edward John Moriarty, MIT Edgerton Center
Engineering Design Workshop- MIT
engineering design in a social environment
CIC Batxillerats: Barcelona
Hands-On Physics- Liceo Scientifico "A. Roiti", Ferrara
“Hands Across the Sea”- Controlling UPC Robot
In Barcelona from Cambridge,MA
IDEATION
NEAR-PEER MENTORING
Working effectively in teams
What are the skills employers are looking for?
Clear Communication: The ability to translate complex technical concepts into actionable, non-technical language for stakeholders and clients.
Creative Problem-Solving: Approaching ambiguous roadblocks with adaptable, out-of-the-box strategies.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working seamlessly alongside diverse, distributed, and remote teams.
Adaptability & Lifelong Learning: The agility to continuously learn new programming languages and tools
How do we develop these skills?
HoPE Hands-On Physics Experience, Ferrara Italy
HoPE Hands-On Physics Experience - Student Feelings
HoPE Hands-On Physics Experience 2026 Student Project Videos
Mecha group
BrainBright group
RC Car that climbs the wall!
Musicale - Piano Demo
Electricity produced by Bacteria Project
S.A.M. Project -Chess
2023 Barcelona Hackathon
Further Information:
Further Information and Contacts
MIT Edgerton Center
Ed Moriarty mory@mit.edu
John Zhang johnz@mit.edu
Aliyah Villalva achutkan@mit.edu
HoPE - Italy
Cristina Trevissoi
Liceo Scientifico "A. Roiti", Ferrara
cristitre@gmail.com
CIC Baxtillerat High School - Barcelona
Alicia Lopez Jornet
alopez@iccic.edu
Alicia.Lopez@fundaciocic.org
Gracie Zhou The Winsor School Boston, attended EDW 2025 at MIT
Created and mentored a mini EDW in May 2026 with middle school girls
MIT first year beginning in fall 2026
Gracie reflects on Dewey’s 1916 Democracy and Education in relation to her mini EDW workshop
Dewey: “We never educate directly, but indirectly by means of the environment”
Gracie’s workshop environment includes:
Dewey: “reflective thinking begins when uncertainty or difficulty are encountered”
Gracie: “many important learning moments occurred when projects did not work as expected.
Dewey: “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience"
Gracie: “youth working together, sharing ideas, observing one another's projects, and helping solve problems. Their learning occurred through communication as much as through construction.”
Gracie’s Takeway “I believe an engineering design workshop succeeds when students leave not only with new technical skills, but also with greater confidence in their ability to learn, create, and participate in a community of problem-solvers.”