Those of you in cyberspace, who have been following my journey through graduate school in STEM, may have noted that since my very first post about STEM, I've talked a lot about the “S,” or “science” part of the phrase, but have given really little attention to the “T,” “E,” and “M” parts. Well, the focus of my first post of the year and my second semester in the program will be on the “E,” which is for engineering, and its inter-relatedness with some of the other letters.
Image Source: http://designbuildsource.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Australian-Engineering-Week.jpg
The definition of engineering according to A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas by Helen Quinn, Heidi Schweingruber, and Thomas Keller, is: “a systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs and wants” (Quinn, Schweingruber, & Keller, 2012, p. 202). It is interesting because their definitions of technology and the applications of science seem to make all three of these things intertwined:
Because engineering is so related to science and technology, I would argue that it is a very important part of STEM education. Many of you are probably thinking about how ridiculous that sounds. How can we teach elementary school students engineering? I thought the same thing. In order to figure this out, we need to stop thinking about the high school and college engineering classes we took and answer this question: what does it mean to “do” engineering?
First of all, let’s discuss the engineering design process, which is a fundamental part of engineering. What exactly is the process behind engineering? Engineering involves solving problems by designing a technological solution, creating a product, testing the product (piece of technology), evaluating the product, redesigning the product, recreating the product, and reevaluating the product. Surprisingly, this is something we already do with our students, and if you do not do this with your students, then it is something you can easily incorporate into many science lessons.
Image Source: http://www.bartowacademy.com/images/engindesignpro.jpg
Know More>>
No comments:
Post a Comment