The new school year is here, fresh and full of promise. Getting ready to engineer? EiE has loads of free resources to help you teach with confidence. In this issue: updated alignment guides that map EiE to your state science standards; new afterschool units for middle schoolers, AND our Classroom Video Collection keeps growing! —Cynthia Berger, newsletter editor

Has your state adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or revised its own science standards recently? Our alignment guides show you—conveniently and clearly—which EiE units align with your standards.

“For the fourteen states that have adopted the NGSS, check our NGSS alignment guide,” says EiE professional development provider Jason Brewer. "For states that recently revised their own science standards (Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina), we’ve updated the state-specific alignment guides and also revamped the look of the guides so they’re easier to use."

The guides show EiE connections to the specific science content of each standard, grade by grade, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Check the end of each guide for "suggested EiE units"—the ones most appropriate for each grade level. And if your state is in the process of revising science standards, check back soon; we’ll update your alignment guide promptly! 

If you're an afterschool educator who plans to do some engineering with your middle schoolers, your choices just got bigger and more fun than ever. EiE has released two new Engineering Everywhere curriculum units, bringing to eight the total number of EE units available as free downloads on our website.

"Outbreak Alert: Engineering a Pandemic Response" is a biomedical engineering unit; you design model anti-virals to stop a disease outbreak. "It sounds serious, but it's also really fun," says curriculum developer Michele DiIeso. "A Velcro-studded inflatable snow tube serves as a model cell; the "viruses" are plastic cups you pitch at the tube to see if they stick. In pilot tests, the youths were really creative about the design of the anti-virals!"

"It’s in the Bag: Engineering Bioinspired Gear" is a materials engineering unit that explores bioinspiration—solutions to human challenges based on solutions found in nature. The documentary-style video that sets the context for the challenge takes you to a zoo to learn how animals stay dry and comfortable, then to meet a designer whose fashions are inspired by nature.

"Every EE unit starts with a video that introduces people who are experts in their fields, but can talk to students at their level. That helps students relate to the experts and start to see themselves as engineers," says DiIeso. Preliminary research finds students who engage with EE show an improved attitude toward engineering as a future career. 

Check out the new units today!

New to teaching EiE? Or need a refresher in the new school year? To see what EiE lessons will look like in your classroom, browse our collection of Classroom Videos. When complete, this collection will include videos for all 20 of the EiE units; we’re getting very close to that goal with the addition of a full set of videos for the unit “No Bones About It: Designing Knee Braces.”

The new videos for this biomedical engineering unit were captured in the classroom of Kathy Wright, a fifth-grade teacher in Jamaica Plain, MA. “Our videography team travels to classrooms around the country to capture EiE teachers in action in all kinds of schools: urban, rural, large, small, and different student populations,” says team coordinator Martha Davis. “It was fun for us to work in a school so close to our headquarters here in Boston. We think teachers will really enjoy these newest videos.”

For the second year in a row, the Museum of Science, Boston and SheGives Boston are collaborating to bring EiE’s fun, hands-on Engineering Adventures curriculum to Massachusetts afterschool programs.  A $37,000 award from the innovative philanthropy will support curriculum scholarships for educators at 40 to 60 programs.

“We were honored to receive a similar award from SheGives last year,” says Tania Tauer, a senior curriculum developer with EiE. “Scholarship recipients will be selected through a competitive process to receive up to three curriculum units, plus the supporting materials kits; they’ll also be invited to a one-day workshop at the Museum, to learn how to implement the curriculum.”

SheGives is an unconventional philanthropy that connects women leaders to Great Boston nonprofits. The group’s 100 members work together to identify causes that deserve support, then vote on a slate of candidates, selecting organizations that have significant impact and are well run. 

Engineering Adventures was created with support from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and by NASA. 

“I love my job,” says EiE curriculum developer Natacha Meyer. “When my husband asked yesterday, ‘What did you do today?’ I said, ‘Played with playdough and electrical circuits!’”

It’s not just the creative environment Natacha loves; it’s the chance to make a difference for kids. “I was really into science when I was little,” she says. “But I don’t even remember doing science at my elementary school in Brooklyn.”

At Brown University, Natacha took science classes with students who’d had positive experiences in THEIR elementary science classes. “That’s when it hit me: the lack of equity in American education," she says. "It lit a fire in me to do something about it.”

With a master’s degree from Stanford University, Natacha taught at schools that serve low-income and minority students, eventually specializing in STEM education for English language learners and students with IEPs. “There was no good curriculum available, so I was constantly developing my own lessons,” she says. “I kept wishing I could develop curriculum full time. But I didn’t think that job existed.”

Luckily for Natacha it does. And luckily for EiE, she's joined the creative team that's creating STEM curricula for millions of students across the country.  “I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she says.

Calvert County Public Schools (CCPS) in Maryland is one of the first 2015-2016 recipients of a Raytheon-EiE District Scholarship. The district will use the award to implement the EiE unit “A Sticky Situation: Cleaning an Oil Spill” with all 1,000 fifth graders this fall.

“This is a great investment in the Calvert County schools,” says Janel McPhillips, the district’s PreK – 8 science supervisor. “We’re surrounded by water here in Calvert County—the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay. The activities in the oil spill unit will link to our state standards for environmental literacy.”

Each $37,000 Raytheon – EiE scholarship supports a professional development (PD) workshop for 25 teachers, EiE classroom materials for each teacher, and tuition for a district representative to attend a Teacher Educator Institute (TEI) to build the skills to deliver EiE PD for more teachers in the district. “We would not have been able to do this without the Raytheon scholarship,” McPhillips says.

Raytheon – EiE District Scholarships are one element of a $2 million award by Raytheon to the Museum of Science, Boston to jumpstart use of the curriculum in high-needs schools nationwide. Twelve district scholarships have been awarded to date.