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You’re an impressive group, highly educated and highly dedicated. More than 70% of you hold a master’s or other advanced degree and have been teaching for more than 10 years. Nearly half of you are K – 8 teachers, 15% are STEM coordinators or science specialists, and ~10% are out-of-school time educators. “The format is great and the information is concise and easy to read in a busy workday,” said one respondent.

Your favorite newsletter topics include “New products and resources," “Teaching Tips,” and “EiE research findings." We’ll keep that information coming! – Cynthia Berger, newsletter editor

The National Science Teachers Association advocates for preschool engineering, but engineering curricula for very young children are almost non-existent. With this need in mind, the EiE project starts work this fall on a new engineering curriculum for ages 3 to 5.

“Like all our curricula, it will be research-based and developed in close consultation with PreK – K educators,” says EiE director Christine Cunningham. “And because many early childhood programs face budgetary constraints, it will be free, following the model of our afterschool curricula Engineering Adventures and Engineering Everywhere.” A free PD guide is also planned.

“Kids in PreK - K classes are already designing with a purpose: building structures to house an imaginary zoo, or running a lemonade factory at the water table,” says Jeff Winokur, an early childhood and elementary science educator at Wheelock College. “But teachers may not think of this as engineering, or know pedagogical strategies to support this kind of learning. The EiE initiative has great potential to address this need, and help educators see they don’t have to buy a lot of new stuff to do engineering.” EiE is self-funding the three-year, $500K project as a sustainable reinvestment initiative.

For the fourth year in a row, the EiE curriculum has been selected for the Iowa STEM-Scale-Up. The statewide initiative was launched in 2012 by the Governor's STEM Advisory Council to promote student interest and achievement in STEM by improving educator access to exemplary STEM curricula.

Christopher Soldat, a science curriculum consultant at the Grant Wood Area Education Agency who facilitates workshops across the state, says last year 232 teachers from 91 Iowa school districts learned to implement EiE, reaching 11,500 elementary students. This year, he'll introduce another 150 educators to the curriculum.

“The Scale-Up committee wants to be sure resources are distributed equally and widely," Soldat says. "I’ve worked with a wide range of educators, from small rural districts where they’re still teaching with science textbooks to schools that use an online-only science curriculum and have a laptop or iPad for every student.” 

A recent survey by an evaluation consortium found that Iowa students exposed to Scale-Up curricula develop a better understanding of science and engineering and greater interest in STEM careers—results that map to our own research on the EiE curriculum.

Do you teach the EiE unit "Improving a Play Dough Process?" Patty Whitehouse, the K - 3 engineering lab teacher at Goudy Technology Academy in the Chicago Pulic Schools, adds a few touches to lesson 2 that her students really enjoy.

Lesson 2 starts with a "phone call" (audio recording) from Jenny, an engineer at a juice company who asks for help with product research on a new blend, to learn what color juice consumers prefer. Patty turns the fake phone call into a real presentation, using stock photos to create a PowerPoint that brings Jenny's talking points to life. 

After the students do the research, they write to the company president with their findings. Usually that's the end of lesson 2. But Patti takes it a step farther. At the next class, she brings in a special box. "I've addressed it to me, and inside, along with juice and cups, I've put a letter from the president. He says that, to thank students for their data collection, the company is sending juice for them to sample. To get a letter with a logo, and real juice . . . it seems like a miracle to them," she says.

Of course before class, Patty checks with the school nurse about allergies and provides an alternative juice if needed. 

Do you have creative touches for EiE lessons? Let us know!

Three EiE staff members are part of a Museum of Science, Boston team that has been awarded a 100Kin10 Fellowship. The new initiative aims to address the critical need for K – 12 engineering-related programs in the nation’s schools.

The Museum team includes (l to r) Martha Davis, EiE senior multimedia developer; Cathy Lachapelle, EiE research program manager; Patti Curtis, director of the Washington, DC office of the Museum of Science, and Kate Sokol, EiE curriculum developer.

Ours is one of twelve teams that will receive support and resources from 100Kin10 this summer to develop ideas for new programs. Each team then applies for a grant to help make their ideas a reality; awards will range from $25,000 for early-stage ideas to $500,000 for fully formed plans.

100kin10 is a national network of institutions, nonprofits, foundations, companies, and government agencies dedicated to recruiting and training at least 100,000 new STEM teachers over ten years. “We are excited to pioneer this new approach to grant making and develop innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions,” says 100kin10 executive director Talia Milgrom-Elcott.

If you attend an EiE workshop at the Museum of Science, Boston, you’ll spend time in our official classroom. The view up the Charles River is spectacular, but the classroom itself is a little bland.

Rather, it was bland—but no longer. This spring, EiE commissioned artist Laura Eckes to create a mural of EiE storybook characters.  

A Syracuse University graduate whose work includes greeting cards and short-story illustrations, Laura brought a valuable perspective to the project: she’d studied engineering in middle school. “The children in the EiE stories would have appealed to me as a kid; they face big problems and aren't afraid to try fixing them,” she says. "I tried to bring the characters to life in a way that I as a kid would have found engaging.”

After reading the books, Laura solicited ideas from EiE staff, developed a concept, and even organized a day where EiE team members could help with painting, “paint-by-numbers” style. Last month, the acrylic-on-wood panels were installed—and now the view inside the classroom is as spectacular as the view outside.

Muhammad Shams likes math. “Digging into the data, finding the best method to solve a problem—I enjoy the process!” he says. These days, the EiE research associate is digging into data from our NSF-funded study “Evaluating the Efficacy of Elementary Engineering,” or E4. Muhammad brings more experience to the job than most recent college grads: at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, he conducted his own original research on interpolation (estimation) through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Currently, he’s investigating how learning with EiE affects science and engineering content knowledge. “For example, the 'Oil Spill’ unit looks at how oil spills affect ecosystems,” he explains. “I’m analyzing data from before-and-after surveys, to see how students’ understandings of food webs change.”

Besides a passion for math and devotion to family (he’s married and the father of a baby boy) Muhammad enjoys broadcast production—which led to an exciting experience a few years back. After winning the New England Fancaster contest, he did a turn as a sports announcer at the Boston Garden.