Elementary teachers are under tremendous time pressure, especially with the current emphasis on preparing for standardized tests. Working through the four lessons in an Engineering is Elementary unit takes about six to ten hours of class time. When I facilitate EiE workshops, teachers often ask me: “Do I HAVE to teach all four lessons? What if I just skip to Lesson 4?" . . . which is the engineering design challenge, where kids design, build, and test a technology, such as a solar oven or water filter.  

In our Teacher Educator Institutes, we ask participants to skip to Lesson 4 deliberately, as a learning experience. I recall one workshop where we started with Lesson 4 from our “Designing Submersibles” unit; the challenge is to make a model submersible from small plastic vials that contain sand, beads, or marbles.

We’re looking for feedback from everyone who reads our blog or newsletter—that means you! If you fill out the short form (it should take no more than 10 minutes) below, you’ll automatically be entered to win the EiE teacher guide of your choice. You can view the full selection of EiE units here. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us and will help us produce the content that you are most interested in. This survey will close at 5 PM EDT on Thursday, June 1, 2017. 

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The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s third annual “STEM for ALL Video Showcase” opens today, and you’re invited. This event is like the Sundance Film Festival for STEM education research: it includes more than 170 NSF-supported projects, all sharing short videos that showcase their work in STEM education. We submitted a production by our talented videography team. There’s a “people’s choice” award. So please visit, view, and vote!

Today’s guest blogger is Kate Sokol, a curriculum designer for EiE.

As a curriculum writer for Engineering is Elementary, I’m always thinking about developing activities that promote engineering habits of mind. Many habits of mind; like “collaboration,” “communication,” and “creativity”; naturally integrate with the type of hands-on engineering activities that we develop, and are often used to describe the work of engineers. Other habits, like the call for “ethical considerations,” require deliberate reflection to fully integrate into the K-8 classroom. The idea of ethics in engineering may seem like a daunting topic to navigate with students, but the power of critical thinking and the opportunity for students to consider the impact of their decisions has never been more important.

We have exciting news to share: our founder and director, Christine Cunningham, has been awarded a Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education—one of the most prestigious awards in the field! Christine is being recognized in the U.S. K-12 Education category for “pioneering a curriculum that is transforming education by introducing engineering concepts and practices at the elementary level.” Christine has worked tirelessly to bring engineering education into elementary classrooms for the past 14 years, and we’re thrilled that she’s receiving this well-deserved recognition.