Engineering is a natural platform for the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content into K-12 classrooms, while sparking creativity amongst youth! Research around effective learning in K-12 classrooms demonstrates that an engineering approach to identifying and solving problems is valuable across all disciplines. The TeachEngineering digital library provides relevant, standards-based curricula from a range of engineering disciplines to bring engineering into the K-12 classroom for a single day, a unit, or even an entire course.
Just a cute kid with a great imagination... or an aspiring engineer with imagination to shape our world?
Improve Student Learning
Children learn through experiences, and the earlier we create STEM-based hands-on learning experiences, the better. Engineering design, by its nature, is an inquiry-based pedagogical strategy that promotes learning across disciplines. Engineering curricula introduces K-12 students to everyday applications of science, mathematics, technology and engineering that match their values and view of the world. TeachEngineering lessons and activities are designed to engage students in hands-on STEM experiences in order to improve their understanding of fundamental concepts in a way that capitalizes upon their design, visualization, creativity and teamwork skills and yearnings.
Introduce Exciting Career Paths
We are surrounded everyday by the products and systems designed by engineers, and all of our lives are enriched by the work of engineers. Throughout the TeachEngineering collection, engineering is used as a vehicle to integrate math and science fundamentals through open-ended, hands-on discovery that poses questions to students—why does this work and how it is relevant to your lives? As technological literacy is enhanced, students begin to understand the role engineers play in everything we see around us, inspiring them to explore a world of possibilities.
Don't Just Take Our Word For It!
Incorporating mathematical and scientific fundamentals via engineering—taught through a design-based methodology that infuses engineering habits of mind—has proven to be a highly effective model for STEM education. The National Academy of Engineering found that engineering in K-12 education has the power to improve learning and student achievement in science and math, as well as develop student interest in, and preparedness for, the STEM workforce.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), released in April 2013, were developed to help improve K-12 STEM education through actively engaging students in science and engineering practices while deepening their understanding of the core ideas and interrelationships in these fields over multiple years of exploration. The ultimate goal of NGSS is to increase public understanding and appreciation of the role science and engineering play in everyday life. Because TeachEngineering curricula are aligned to the NGSS, this presents K-12 educators (you!) and schools with the opportunity to develop students’ skills and knowledge in ways that help them succeed in today’s increasingly-technological world.