Kids and Engineering

When I began my journey in this graduate program I was very familiar with the S, T and M because these are all subjects focused on in elementary school curriculums. However I was not very familiar with the E, the engineering portion of what STEM stands for. Math and Science, especially, have specific standards and objectives we as teachers are expected to teach. Engineering is not a subject that is focused on in curriculums. I’ve never seen an engineering objective or heard of anyone doing lessons dealing specifically with the idea of engineering. I’ve never even heard that word thrown around in meetings or curriculum study days. I wasn’t sure what engineering was and what it looked like, or was suppose to look like, in an elementary school let alone a kindergarten class. Engineering seems like such a big technical word. Can elementary school students, but more specifically kindergarteners, really participate in engineering related tasks?

Are kids really ready for engineering? Sesame Street thinks so!

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOX-PbtnBnk

When it’s explained like that it sounds like kids are definitely ready for engineering! In the Fall 2009 Issue of The Bridge on K-12 Engineering Education, Christine Cunningham wrote an article titled, Engineering is Elementary. In the very beginning of her article she states that, “Children are born engineers—they are fascinated with designing their own creations, with taking things apart, and with figuring out how things work.” (Cunningham, 2009) (pg. 11)When I think about my current students I realize that some of their favorite toys to play with at the end of the day are Legos, blocks, and train tracks. All these toys are things you build, take apart and put back together from scratch. I think this alone proves that young children love to build and create things. This may not be the type of engineering we think of in the professional world but that’s not the point. It’s about exposing and giving children the opportunity to play with the ideas behind engineering concepts. I think lessons taught around the idea of building and creating would be very motivating for my students.

So, before I started looking at what role engineering plays in STEM education I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what engineering stood for. When I think of the word engineering I think of words like engines and machines and that can’t be the only thing it stands for. I looked up a few definitions of the word engineering to help me get a better grasp of what it actually means.

Freedictionary.com said: The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems. (The Free Dictionary)

Chapter 8 in A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Engineering is a systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs and wants. (Quinn, Schweingruber, & Keller, 2012) (pg. 202)

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Almost all the definitions I found online had the words science or math. It doesn’t seem like engineering can be a standalone subject that is independently taught. Engineering appears that it needs to be taught with science or math so the application of it can be learned. It’s more beneficial for students to learn the engineering process and what engineering means by experiencing it through science, math or technology rather than learning the steps in an engineering design process in a lecture style class.

After reading chapter 8 in A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, I found out why there are no specific engineering standards/objectives. According to the 2010 National Academy of Engineering, “it is not appropriate at present to develop standalone K-12 engineering standards.” (Quinn, Schweingruber, & Keller, 2012) (pg. 204) At first I thought it was strange that engineering was the only part of STEM we didn’t have specific standards or objectives for, but I soon found that it’s more appropriate, beneficial and useful to blend engineering ideas with other subjects. The National Academy of Engineering stated, “engineering concepts and skills are already embedded in existing standards for science and technology education, at both the state and national levels—and the report recommended that this practice continue.” (Quinn, Schweingruber, & Keller, 2012)(pg. 204)

This information made me think about my current kindergarten science and technology standards and if there are opportunities embedded within them for kindergarteners to experience engineering design. I’ve never noticed them before but maybe that’s because I haven’t been looking for them or knew what to look for. I went back into the curriculum and typed in “design” to the search engine. (When I typed in engineering nothing came up in the kindergarten folder.) The only lesson that came up under this search tag was a rainstick lesson. Students identify the problem of what rain sounds like and try to figure out a way to make a rainstick using various materials provided in science kits by the county. The curriculum provides a PowerPoint to walk students through the process of sharing ideas and developing solutions, but until these graduate courses I never really understood it. Now, having done some research, I think incorporating engineering standards into current science practices would be very beneficial for students in elementary schools. I like the idea of having students develop and come up with their own designs and test their own theories. I’m sure once any teacher is taught and shown the value of incorporating engineering, and STEM ideas, into everyday lessons they would agree with this, but I can see the implications of teaching this way.

One major implication is time. It takes time to have student’s design, redesign and design again. There simply isn’t enough time with current curriculum expectations, especially when in some schools reading and math have highest priority. According to Christine Cunningham, “As our society becomes increasingly dependent on engineering and technology, it is more important than ever that everyone be aware of what engineers do and understand the uses and implications of the technologies they create.” (Cunningham, 2009) (pg. 11) I wonder how often engineering practices should be embedded into science and technology standards. Is it something that should be done for every science inquiry lesson and is that even practical?

Works Cited

Retrieved January 12, 2014, from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engineering

Retrieved January 12, 2014, from The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/engineering

Cunningham, C. (2009). Engineering is Elementary. K-12 Engineering Education , 39.

Quinn, H., Schweingruber, H., & Keller, T. (2012). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. DC, Washington: The National Academies Press.