Best opening line ever! "Anyone can be an engineer." 

What has been the biggest challenge with designing and implementing the EIE program?

Hi Donna,

When EiE began fourteen years ago, teaching engineering to this age group was virtually unheard of. We heard comments like, "What? You're going to do calculus with second-graders?!" from skeptical educators. So the initial big challenge was figuring out what age-appropriate engineering looked like at the elementary level. To do this, we worked closely with both classroom teachers and engineers.

Once we had an idea, we needed to work to disseminate the idea. This initially happened gradually through glowing word-of-mouth reviews and national recognition as a world-class program. The inclusion of engineering the NGSS and many state standards a few years ago was helpful.

But introducing a new subject into classes still has challenges. Those that teachers most often mention are (a) a lack of time to fit a new subject into the school day. To address this,  in EiE we worked to integrate engineering with existing subjects (b) the need for financial resources to purchase the materials (some corporate sponsors have generously helped with this challenge) and (c) lack of knowledge and comfort teaching engineering—it’s new! Fortunately, we have an excellent professional development team that supports teachers as they implement EiE. You can check out some of their work on our website. We also have a video library that teachers have found very useful in supporting them as they implement EiE.

- Christine

Hi Cary,

Thank you! These two are amazing speakers; we always love hearing students' insights! Check out our classroom video library to see more upper elementary students engaging in EiE; we have videos from K-5 classrooms all over the country.

-Christine

Hi Janet,

Thank you for your support! Be sure to take a look at our Wee Engineer webpage and blog roundup to learn more about our development process and check out some videos of our youngest engineers in action.

-Christine

Hi Joelle,

Thank you for the kind words! Demonstrating that everyone can engineer is at the core of every EiE curriculum unit. EiE's lead researcher, Cathy Lachapelle, and I wrote about the 14 EiE Design Principles that serve as a framework for our curricula last year, with a special focus on designing experiences that engage ALL students. Check it out if you're interested in learning more!

-Christine

Hi Sue,

We've identified a set of 14 curricular design principles that have been grouped into four larger categories. Our curriculum units must: set learning in a real world context, present design challenges that are authentic to engineering practice, scaffold student work, and demonstrate that "everyone can engineer". If you want to learn more, you can check out a full list of our design principles in one of our recent articles on the subject.

- Christine

Appreciate the opportunity to read your paper. You've given so much though to design principles. I'm struck by the degree to which your principles reflect the human factor. I was particularly struck by the ways you convey the idea that everyone engineers. 

Hi Deborah,

Great question! Educating students about a variety of engineering fields is important to us, which is why each of our 20 in-school units explores a different engineering field. You can find a breakdown on our curriculum units overview webpage.

We have surveyed students after they engage in EiE units, and their attitudes towards engineering do become more positive. They are more likely to say that they would like to be engineers when they grow up. Our research summary page has some great data on this. You may also be interested in taking a look at our Engineering Interest and Attitudes survey to see how we arrived at those conclusions.

-Christine

Thanks for sharing this! With only 2% of elementary teachers having completed any coursework in Engineering, your program is a great support in helping teachers meet the new NGSS!

Hi Deborah,

Thank you! We know that not every teacher is going to be an engineering expert, but we hope to empower them to support their students in their own engineering explorations. We like to tell teachers that they already know enough engineering to teach it to a 6-year-old, they just need the right tools and supports!

-Christine

Hi Patti,

Thank you for your support! These two students are amazing; we love hearing passionate insights from young engineers, too!

- Christine

Hi Jenna,

Thank you! Candid reflections like these are the best way to see how students internalize the idea that they are capable engineers.

-Christine

Hi Kathryn,

I checked out your video and left a comment; your project looks very interesting! Looking forward to hearing more about student leadership and the LinCT program from your evaluation/research team.

- Christine

Hi Leslie,

Thank you for the kind words! We hope to write stories that inspire young engineers to reach their full potential, so it makes our day when we hear terrific feedback like this.

-Christine

Hi Pam,

Great question, and thank you for the kind words! We believe that the core of NGSS is the idea of achieving a deeper understanding of science and engineering and developing 21st century skills that will serve students throughout their academic and professional careers. EiE is designed to compliment the science that educators already teach, as well as develop key engineering habits of mind that we believe will give students the tools to navigate all kinds of challenges they may encounter. There are precious few moments in the classroom used for engineering, but we believe and hope that EiE and other materials like it will show teachers and district leaders how vital engineering is in the fabric of elementary students' development as learners and as the problem solvers of the future.

-Christine