Engineering for K-12 Students

University of Massachusetts > STEM > Engineering for K-12 Students

The 21st century is characterized by complex technology and advanced systems. What made such developments possible? Science and engineering provide the  answers. Today, experts question whether there is sufficient talent in the engineering pipeline in the U.S. If we want to retain our innovation edge, that must change. One solution to this problem is to lay groundwork for future engineers in elementary school.

Why is engineering important? The skills and application of engineering - identifying a problem, designing a solution, testing and improving the design - fuel the innovations that have given us modern life with all its advances and conveniences. Yet, there are too few K-12 schools that teach the principles and skills of engineering. How do we change this?  Fortunately, change is already occurring in Massachusetts.

The Commonwealth developed the first technology and engineering standards in the country. New programs in school districts are being implemented but not necessarily statewide; at the same time, nonprofit education organizations like the Museum of Science in Boston, are making curricula available nationwide for all ages and offering support (www.mos.org/nctl).

Engineering is Elementary (EiE), is one of the first engineering curricula in the U.S. designed for elementary school-aged children. Developed by educators with the Museum of Science's National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL), the focus is to enhance society's knowledge of engineering and technology. They describe the fields in this way:

• Scientists investigate the natural world and generate scientific knowledge using the scientific method.
• Technologies are the products and processes created by engineers who apply mathematics and science knowledge. Almost everything made by humans to meet a need is a technology, e.g.,  a telephone, a drainage system, a bridge.
• Engineers typically find solutions for societal problems. Engineers create the designs and instruments used daily, based on what scientists have found.
• Engineering entails design and problem solving under constraints, such as project goals, a budget, deadlines, and the limits of knowledge itself.
• Both scientists and engineers deal with society's needs and values, the environment and the economy.

Studies show misconceptions form early: A Tufts University assessment of students' ideas about engineers and engineering is revealing. Early perceptions of elementary school aged children are that engineers are limited to building, fixing and repairing. These have a negative impact on girls' desires to enter the field and involve a limited vision of the skills are actually needed to be an engineer. When drawing an engineer, children typically draw males. Computer science majors are viewed as "hackers."

Children who worked directly with Tufts engineering students were able to identify engineers as both men and women and with more social qualities. These findings are particularly important because studies show that an engineering student's perception of her ability is more important in continuing successfully in her course of study than her actual ability. The researchers tentatively conclude that a lack of interest in the engineering field may be linked to early misconceptions of what engineers do.

Understanding of the field and career choice: Outreach and intervention programs can engage students to form a more accurate understanding of the role of the engineer.  Using a perception that engineers work on cars, teachers can engage students in a conversation about the role an engineer might play in the development and testing of a car engine (Cunningham, Museum of Science, 2004). Even if some students do not pursue a technical or engineering field, every student should be technologically literate, i.e., understand what technology is, how it is created and used, and how to make decisions about its development, use and impact.

A sample of engineering programs in Massachusetts: The second year of implementation of an engineering program at the West Middle School, Andover, MA has just been completed. The curriculum for 6th through 8th graders is the result of extensive study of programs in other districts, discussion with middle school engineering educators, and on-going work with teachers and administrators in the Andover Public Schools. The goals include supporting science and mathematics curriculum concepts; enabling students to learn, achieve and have fun in an inquiry-based hands-on model for students of all abilities; addressing the engineering-technology strands in the 6th through 8th grade Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, and increasing students' interest and confidence in engineering, mathematics and science.

Engineering is Elementary (EiE), also developed by the Museum of Science NCTL, is a research-based curriculum for elementary school-aged children that has served thousands of teachers and students in most of the states. Requiring close collaboration with school districts, the course is designed to increase students' understanding of engineering design and ways that science and mathematics are applied in everyday life. Each EiE unit focuses on a particular field of engineering and integrates with an elementary science topic. Subjects include making work easier (industrial engineering), designing windmills (mechanical), designing hand pollinators (agricultural engineering), designing water filters (environmental), designing walls (materials) and designing bridges (civil engineering) (http://www.mos.org/eie/).

The Museum of Science NCTL is also developing a curriculum for high school students that is nearing completion. Engineering the Future: Science, Technology and the Design Process (EtF) is a full year course for students in the first or second year of high school, equivalent in academic credit to an introductory course in physics, biology or chemistry. A central goal is to communicate how everyone is influenced by technology and how people influence technology to change by choices they make as workers, consumers and citizens.  Students use a textbook, available August 2007 (www.keypress.com/) with chapters written in the first person by one of 35 practicing engineers. Students learn about the profession from men and women and also the science and mathematics content that is relevant to real-world problems. 

Brookline High School's Engineering by Design course for high school seniors focuses on the fundamentals of engineering and the design and fabrication process. Projects are interdisciplinary and draw from all the engineering fields. A specific goal of the course is to help students make a decision about a potential engineering career. Articles, computer simulations and curriculum documents, which teachers have developed, supplement learning. Specific problems from Physics by Design, a text by Barbara Brazel are used as well as Lego Mindstorm? kits with Robolab software. (http://130.64.87.22/robolabatceeo/)

A technologically literate citizenry is key to the future in Massachusetts and beyond. A concerted effort to inspire our students to want to choose 21st century careers in science and technology and, in any case, to prepare them to succeed no matter what they do in life, reaps benefits for individuals, for the state economy, and society.

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