The EiE team is committed to making engineering accessible to all students, including the fastest-growing student population in the U.S. in the last decade—English Learners. It’s why we offer Spanish translations of storybooks, family letters, and student handouts for every unit of Engineering is Elementary! We're interested in understanding the experiences of educators who teach engineering to groups that include English learners. If you teach, or have taught, engineering to English learners, we would love to hear from you. We value your insights!

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is holding its annual conference in Washington, DC from November 14-17, 2018. The EiE team will be out in full force to launch our newest early childhood curricula Wee Engineer and EiE for Kindergarten! We’re excited to share what we've learned about early childhood engineering. We love meeting educators, answering burning questions,and discovering the amazing things happening in classrooms or districts across the country. If you’re attending #naeycAC, check out below what we have in store!

How much do you know about engineering? Could you spot common misconceptions and identify unlikely engineers? 

One of the most pervasive misconceptions is that engineering is too complicated for young children to find engaging. But did you know that 65% of surveyed scientists and graduate students reported that their interest in STEM began before middle school? It’s time to break stereotypes. Challenge those misconceptions. 

 Take our “Engineering IQ” quiz and find out your engineering IQ! Good luck. Have fun and share our quiz with your peers!

It may not surprise you to learn that there are a few Star Wars fans on the EiE staff. We wanted to celebrate Star Wars Day EiE style, so we started brainstorming the ways in which our units connect with the Star Wars universe. It goes beyond rockets and rovers: the Star Wars films feature levitating devices and high-tech helmets, too! Star Wars scholars have written books about the scientific virtues of Star Wars, and no one can deny how much of a catalyst it is for STEM enthusiasts’ imaginations. It has inspired NASA engineers to chase their dreams, robotic engineers to design R2-D2-style robot companions, and Australian scientists to design holograms! If your class loves Star Wars as much as we do, they’ll love these out-of-this-world connections.

One of EiE’s crowning achievements is our Professional Development(PD) program. Elementary educators who come into our workshops knowing almost nothing about engineering leave feeling like EiE experts. If you're looking to improve your teaching practice this spring, it's the perfect time to check out what EiE PD has to offer. Check out what's upcoming below and register today!