Why is Engineering Important in Early Learning?

It may have crossed your mind that engineering activities sound good, but why bother? You may have a curriculum that you are required to follow or you may feel like you don’t have the time or resources to promote engineering activities. We strongly encourage you to think outside of the box on this one.

We have already discussed a few of the benefits that engineering explorations provide, but don’t take our word for it. States have published early learning standards that contain engineering-related concepts that children are expected to explore.

In addition to early learning standards, experts across the country have identified the skills and approaches to learning that will help children become successful students who will eventually enter the workforce. By promoting engineering with young children, teachers are building a foundation of skills that children will need in the future, whether they become engineers or not.

One place to locate learning standards related to engineering is within the Next Generation Science Standards. These standards guide educators as they implement science education at every level of K-12. Based on this resource, children should develop an understanding of the following engineering concepts:

• Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
• Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.
• Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
• Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
• Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
• Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
• Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

In case you are curious, all of these standards are for students in grades K-2. How is your program preparing children for the rigors of science education that they will experience in just 2 to 3 years?

Additionally, educators from across the country have collaborated on the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which identifies the following critical skills that children should learn, all of which can be learned through the exploration of engineering challenges:

• Creativity and innovation
• Critical thinking
• Problem Solving
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Initiative and self-direction
• Social and cross-cultural skills
• Productivity and accountability
• Leadership and responsibility

Curious about what this looks like in early learning environments? Click here and here to access excellent resources from Battelle for Kids.

For the main article Early Engineering, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process for Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Recommendations for Engineering Activities, CLICK HERE

Recommendations for Engineering Activities

There is a wide variety of engineering experiences that are appropriate and engaging for young children.

Some could be as simple as creating paper airplanes or a ramp for a toy car. Some activities require the purchase of materials beyond what can be typically found in early learning environments, but most can be completed with materials that are easy to find.

It is important to present engineering challenges with developmentally appropriateness in mind.

Keep in mind the current abilities and interests of the children in your care. Pick activities that align with children’s skills or those that stretch them just a bit, especially when you first start. Some engineering concepts require levels of understanding or abstract thinking that young children may not yet possess. You don’t want children to become so frustrated that they lose interest.

Children should be challenged to engage with engineering activities in small groups. If you recall, elements of the engineering design process require engineers to brainstorm, design, build, and test their solutions. To encourage participation, small group work is best. This mirrors how engineers interact in their workplaces. They don’t sit and listen to a colleague lead them through the project, they dive in and work through problems together.

Below are some online resources that you can explore. We are sure you will be able to find a few activities that will spark children’s interest and challenge their abilities. Keep in mind, you may need to adapt the suggested activities to make them easier or more challenging. You can do this by providing more guidance or materials for children to explore. In other cases, having fewer materials can encourage children to look around for different material options.

https://www.teachengineering.org/curriculum/browse?EngineeringCategory=Full%20design

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/kindergarten

https://www.engineergirl.org/128249/Try-This

https://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/workshop/process.html

https://www.engineeringforkids.com/about/news/2020/march/importance-of-the-engineering-design-process/

https://fun-a-day.com/14-fun-engineering-activities-for-kids/

https://thehomeschoolresourceroom.com/2020/07/09/engineering-activities-for-kids/

For the main article Early Engineering, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process for Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Why is Engineering Important in Early Learning?, CLICK HERE

The Engineering Design Process for Children

After reading the steps of the engineering design process, you may see opportunities to adapt it for use with the children in your care. Before doing so, do a bit of your own research. Over the next few days, observe children engaged in free play and notice how many of the steps they are using naturally in their play. You may see evidence of the engineering design process in the block area, manipulatives table, and art center. This makes sense because building, tinkering, and drawing are very closely tied together. It’s one of the reasons that experts advocate for incorporating art into STEM initiatives, leading to the acronym STEAM.

Once you have more information about how your children are already behaving like smaller versions of engineers, you can make decisions about which steps of the formal process may be beneficial to your group.

Depending on the abilities of the children in your group, you may start with a simplified version of the engineering design process that contains 5 steps:

• Ask – What is the problem that needs to be solved?
• Imagine – What are the possible solutions?
• Plan – What will the solution look like?
• Create – How does it work?
• Improve – How can we make it better?

This simplified list of steps makes it easy to see the cyclical nature of the engineering design process. When children reach the last step (Improve), they can be encouraged to start at the beginning (Ask) to determine if any other problems need to be addressed in their design or final product.

This simple process could be taught directly to children. Teachers can also incorporate this language into their interactions with children as they explore.

As children become better at using the engineering design process, you may choose to add more steps, such as encouraging children to do some research into potential solutions.

Another option is to add the communication step from the full version of the engineering design process. This step asks children to share or present the results of their project with others.

When making these decisions, be sure to be mindful of children’s interests and abilities. Forcing children to conduct an oral presentation may be too much to ask of young children. But they could draw pictures, or capture their experiments on video for others to watch.

They could also conduct a demonstration or test of their product for the other children.

For the main article Early Engineering, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process, CLICK HERE

For the article Recommendations for Engineering Activities, CLICK HERE

For the article Why is Engineering Important in Early Learning?, CLICK HERE

The Engineering Design Process

The method that professional engineers use to develop new products is called the engineering design process. It contains several steps that engineers use to think through problems. Many of the steps can be adapted for use with children of various ages and abilities. Here are the steps:

• Identify a Problem – Engineers are in the business of solving problems. In this step, they work to identify and define the problem that needs to be addressed. They examine things like who the solution will help and the needs of those individuals.
• Think of possible solutions – During these brainstorming sessions, ideas about possible solutions are gathered. Nothing is filtered out yet, that happens in a later step.
• Research – In this step, engineers dig into the potential solutions. They look to prior solutions that have been developed for similar products and how effective they were. They may also gather information from the people who will benefit or use the product that is being created. This research will help engineers better understand the needs of the consumers and avoid pitfalls that have occurred in the past.
• Define parameters – After researching the problem and potential solutions, engineers work to clarify the needs and requirements for the project. In real projects, an example may be budgetary constraints. In the classroom, the available materials may be part of the parameters that are created.
• Review other solutions – During the research process, additional potential solutions may have been identified. If this occurs, those potential solutions should be researched as the original ideas were. This is an example of how the engineering design process is a cycle and steps may be repeated or revisited before moving on.
• Choose a solution – After information about possible solutions has been gathered, engineers make an educated decision about the best option to pursue. Any solutions that do not meet the established parameters should be shelved.
• Make a plan – Once the solution is identified, engineers can sketch out the plan for various stages of development.
• Create a prototype – This first draft of the solution helps engineers test their theories and identify necessary improvements.
• Testing – Engineers use this step to ensure that the model they have created works and meets all of the requirements and parameters that have been identified.
• Make improvements – The testing step allows engineers to identify areas of improvement for the product or solution they are creating. The testing and improving steps may be revisited many times before the product is ready to be produced.
• Build the solution – When engineers are sure that the product meets all identified standards, they will build full a full model of the product or solution.
• Communicate – Once the product is complete, it is time to tell people about the work, through presentations, reports, demonstrations, etc.

There are many versions of the engineering design process, and it can be adapted for use with children, using fewer steps. Again, the engineering design process is iterative, meaning that it is repetitive. The entire process can be repeated once a solution is generated or steps within the process can be revisited at any time.

For the main article Early Engineering, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process for Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Recommendations for Engineering Activities, CLICK HERE

For the article Why is Engineering Important in Early Learning?, CLICK HERE

Early Engineering

In this month’s newsletter, we will explore all things engineering. Our goal is to encourage engineering explorations with children of all ages. Why are we doing such a thing? Because engineers are the designers and builders of society. They are responsible for designing machines, bridges, buildings, roads, power grids, and in our modern era, even technology solutions.

NextGenScience defines engineering as the systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs and wants.

The world will always need engineers and as technology advances, new opportunities for engineering and design arise. Getting kids excited about engineering now will ensure that there will be plenty of engineering-minded thinkers in the future.

Engineering aligns with what research tells us about how children learn best. The word engineer(ing) is related to the words engine and ingenious, which come from the Latin word ingenerare, meaning to create.

Building, designing, and creating are some of the most engaging activities for children.

Engineering activities provide opportunities for children to collaborate, problem-solve, and think critically about a variety of topics. If there is one new area of exploration that you add to your program this school year, it should be engineering. We hope you will find the information in this edition of the newsletter helpful in your journey.

For the article The Engineering Design Process, CLICK HERE

For the article The Engineering Design Process for Children, CLICK HERE

For the article Recommendations for Engineering Activities, CLICK HERE

For the article Why is Engineering Important in Early Learning?, CLICK HERE