Last week at the National Building Museum, hundreds of local kids learned how to design streets. In the video below, check out what Fairfax-based civil engineer and STEM skills advocate Fionnuala Quinn taught them, and see if you can spot how they’re working on challenges that are unique to DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

It’s fascinating to see young heads nod with understanding at this year’s Discover Engineering Family Day as Quinn explains how a complete street serves all users: people on foot and on bikes, drivers, transit riders, and people in wheelchairs.

An intersection of two streets with four car lanes in each direction forms the center of Quinn’s display, to which she gradually adds components including traffic signals (for cars and pedestrians), crosswalks, sidewalks, bus stops, and bicycle facilities (including a bike counter and Capital Bikeshare station).

Quinn then alters her street by adding grass medians to show how land can be re-purposed, pointing out how the arrangement cuts the number of travel lanes and the possibility of head-on crashes while giving rainwater a place to soak in. She also closes off a street, transforming it into a space for food trucks and community events.

Engineering educator Fionnuala Quinn helps kids make street design choices at the National Building Museum’s Discover Engineering Family Day on Feb. 28, 2016. Photo by the author.

Quinn makes everything in her mini-streets out of common household materials to show kids how easy it is to create their own designs.

Kids get their hands on The Bureau of Good Roads demonstration station at Discover Engineering Family Day. Photo by the author.

To help ordinary people of all ages who don’t have engineering degrees and planning backgrounds engage in civic discussions around streets and multi-modal mobility, Quinn recently started an organization called The Bureau of Good Roads. Among its offerings are hands-on workshops, camps, walking and bicycling field tours, as well as design guidance and advice.