Engineering is Elementary

1. Engineering is Elementary • Stephanie Bernander • Wisconsin Education Innovations

2. Today’s Agenda • So what is Engineering is Elementary? • What does the EiE curriculum cover? What does it look like in grades K-5? • How are the curricular units structured? • What research has been done to show EiE works?

3. Engineering is Elementary • Museum of Science, Boston

4. What’s in the bag? • What need/purpose do these two objects have in common? • How does each get the job done? • From what materials are they made? • What are their strengths and weaknesses?

5. Why Elementary Engineering? • Technological literacy is a basic 21st century literacy • Makes math and science relevant, integrates other disciplines • Builds and reinforces skills • Increases students’ awareness of access to science and engineering careers

6. Engineering is Elementary (EiE) • Lessons that integrate engineering and technology concepts into elementary science. • Goal 1.Increase children’s level of technological literacy • Goal 2.Increase elementary teachers’ understanding of technology and engineering and their abilities to teach these subjects to their students • Goal 3.Modify the U.S. system of education to include engineering at the elementary level.

7. EiE Unit Design Parameters • Integration with Science - not an independent curriculum • Grade Level - EiE unit should be taught where the corresponding science topics are addressed • Engineering field - is the unifying theme for each unit • Stand Alone - do not sequentially build on one another • Flexibility - designed for grades 1-2 or 3-5 • Scaffolding - science topic to engineering ideas to the challenge • Materials - easily accessible • Appealing to Underrepresented Groups - carefully chosen materials

9. EiE Units

10. Two New Units • Now You’re Cooking: Designing Solar Ovens – Energy – Green Engineering – Botswana • A Long Way Down: Designing Parachutes – Astronomy – Aerospace - Brazil

11. Future Units

13. EiE Material Format • Lesson 1: Engineering Story • Lesson 2: A Broader View of an Engineering Field • Lesson 3: Scientific Data Inform Engineering Design • Lesson 4: Engineering Design Challenge

14. Catching the Wind: Designing Windmills • Story: Lief Catches the Wind • Who are mechanical engineers? • Testing sail designs • Challenge: Designing a Windmill

15. Windmill Design

16. Try it out… Designing Sails

17. Units Include • Teacher lesson plans • Student duplication masters • Basic • Advanced • Assessment materials • Background resources

18. What the research has shown • Faux, R., Evaluation Report: Museum of Science PCET project. 2008, Davis Square Research Associates: Somerville, MA.

19. After completing an EiE unit, students demonstrate • A better understanding of the specific kind of tasks that engineers working in a specific field might do for their job • A better understanding that engineering involves design and teamwork • A better grasp of relevant engineering and technology vocabulary • A better understanding of the engineering design process • A better understanding of materials, their properties, and their uses in engineering design cenarios • An increased likelihood of understanding science content related to the unit

20. After participating in EiE, teachers significantly increase their use of engineering in their teaching inboth science and other content areas. Particularly large increases were found in the frequency with which teachers describe engineering careers to their students, use engineering examples in science lessons, and, most impressively, use an engineering design process in their science classes. They also discuss the courses and skills needed to enter engineering. Teachers are also significantly more apt to use an engineering design process in other areas—in math lessons and science lesson as well as content areas outside of math and science

21. Teachers report significant changes in their use of engineering examples and the engineering design process in science, math, and other content areas. They increase the time they spend on complex and open-ended problems with their students, and increase the amount of explanation of solutions they require of their students. Over the course of implementation the reasons teachers offer for wanting to do more engineering in the classes changes from not only introducing engineering to their students to also including more of a focus on problem-solving and on incorporating more real life topics.

22. So you are intrigued? • Send teachers to the next upcoming training. Watch our website for upcoming events- www.inov8ed.com • Bring EiE to your school on a professional development day. • Be a host school for an EiE training. Train your teachers for less and earn money back from participants from other schools :)

23. Contact Information • Engineering is Elementary: eie@mos.org • Engineering is Elementary: www.mos.org/eie • National Center for Technological Literacy: www.nctl.org

24. Contact Information • Stephanie Bernander • Wisconsin Education Innovations • stephanie@inov8ed.com • 262-689-7742