The Next Generation Science Standards integrate engineering at the elementary level. For many elementary teachers, this might seem a little overwhelming due to the little to no training teachers receive in this area. However, I want to provide some words of encouragement. As my teachers and staff have been developing their understanding of engineering, many have found they were already doing it to some degree. In my opinion, if you were already incorporating project based learning where students were designing something to solve a problem you were engaging your students in an engineering task.
Before I get in to more detail, I want to highlight a few things. First, the engineering design process is a key component to implementing engineering at any level. The engineering design process includes: identifying a problem, asking a question, imagine possible solutions and ideas, develop a plan, create your solution, test it out, make revisions, test your solution again. The most critical steps in this process are the last three because students need to be able to test their initial solutions, make modifications, and then test again. This is where the learning occurs and students begin to see failure/struggles as a natural part of learning.
Second, an engineering task does not have to be a complex one. The main goal is to give students a problem where they must design some type of innovative solution. Your design challenge must provide rules and guidelines for their designs. This prevents the task from being too open-ended and limitless. This might involve setting certain specifications their solution must fit or giving them a budget and cost for items they would use in their solution.
At my school, we began our engineering learning process by incorporating units of study from the Engineering is Elementary Curriculum from the Boston Museum of Science. These units of study are a great way to begin introducing engineering in your elementary classroom. The curriculum includes 20 engineering units that each include a teacher's guide, materials kit, and story book. For each unit, students read a storybook where the character is faced with some type of problem. The character then learns how to go about designing a solution to the problem from a local engineer who follows the engineering design process. After reading the story, the students work through a series of learning tasks where they design their own solutions to the problem. If you are looking to find a way to begin to introduce engineering to your elementary students, I would highly suggest taking a look at this resource.
For my teachers, they are becoming more comfortable with the area of engineering and the engineering design process. For this reason, we are beginning to develop and create our own engineering experiences for our students through project based learning. In the integrated science units of study the teachers developed, they are working on designing a culminating project that requires the students to apply the science and math concepts they have been learning to an engineering design challenge. We are also beginning the initial stages of implementing Project Lead the Way - Launch which will provide additional engineering resources for our teachers. We are just starting the training process now so I will have more information and update you as we move into next school year.
Look for additional resources and engineering lesson examples in a future post. And, feel free to contact me with any questions or if you want to learn more. Below are additional places you can find information on engineering for elementary students.
Engineering Go For It
PBS Kids
Engineering for Kids
Before I get in to more detail, I want to highlight a few things. First, the engineering design process is a key component to implementing engineering at any level. The engineering design process includes: identifying a problem, asking a question, imagine possible solutions and ideas, develop a plan, create your solution, test it out, make revisions, test your solution again. The most critical steps in this process are the last three because students need to be able to test their initial solutions, make modifications, and then test again. This is where the learning occurs and students begin to see failure/struggles as a natural part of learning.
Second, an engineering task does not have to be a complex one. The main goal is to give students a problem where they must design some type of innovative solution. Your design challenge must provide rules and guidelines for their designs. This prevents the task from being too open-ended and limitless. This might involve setting certain specifications their solution must fit or giving them a budget and cost for items they would use in their solution.
At my school, we began our engineering learning process by incorporating units of study from the Engineering is Elementary Curriculum from the Boston Museum of Science. These units of study are a great way to begin introducing engineering in your elementary classroom. The curriculum includes 20 engineering units that each include a teacher's guide, materials kit, and story book. For each unit, students read a storybook where the character is faced with some type of problem. The character then learns how to go about designing a solution to the problem from a local engineer who follows the engineering design process. After reading the story, the students work through a series of learning tasks where they design their own solutions to the problem. If you are looking to find a way to begin to introduce engineering to your elementary students, I would highly suggest taking a look at this resource.
For my teachers, they are becoming more comfortable with the area of engineering and the engineering design process. For this reason, we are beginning to develop and create our own engineering experiences for our students through project based learning. In the integrated science units of study the teachers developed, they are working on designing a culminating project that requires the students to apply the science and math concepts they have been learning to an engineering design challenge. We are also beginning the initial stages of implementing Project Lead the Way - Launch which will provide additional engineering resources for our teachers. We are just starting the training process now so I will have more information and update you as we move into next school year.
Look for additional resources and engineering lesson examples in a future post. And, feel free to contact me with any questions or if you want to learn more. Below are additional places you can find information on engineering for elementary students.
Engineering Go For It
PBS Kids
Engineering for Kids
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