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Teaching Engineering Across Elementary Schools Abstract:

As part of a grant-funded three-year project, a cooperative effort took place to introduce Engineering is Elementary (EiE) into the elementary schools of four public school systems. Twenty-two teachers, one from each elementary school in the four school districts, were designated as lead teachers by the school systems and trained in teaching EiE. The teachers were supported by staff and professors of engineering, technology, mathematics, and science from two community colleges.

This paper describes the year-long process to introduce a unit of EiE into the classrooms of each of the twenty-two elementary school teachers, in such a way that each selected unit meshed with the unique curriculum of each elementary school.

The paper also describes the work done implementing surveys of student attitudes and implementing pre- and post-tests of student learning about engineers, the engineering design process and a unit of EiE.

Each school district also developed and began to implement appropriate plans for the professional development of additional elementary school teachers in EiE. A three-year goal of implementing a unit of EiE in two-thirds of the classrooms of each of the twenty-two elementary schools was established.

Included in the paper will be the findings of an outside evaluator hired to gather and evaluate data from the students and report the results.

The paper will conclude with lessons learned that will be applied in the second year expansion of the program which will include many more elementary school teachers implementing EiE within the four school systems.

Introduction

In the spring of 2008, a grant-funded three-year project entitled THE PROJECT began. THE PROJECT sought to win hearts and minds of students in the elementary schools and to put the "T" and "E" (technology and engineering) back into STEM while emphasizing the supporting science and mathematics.

A major part of THE PROJECT was a cooperative effort to introduce Engineering is Elementary (EiE) into the elementary schools of four public school systems. In the spring of 2008, twenty-two teachers, one from each elementary school in four school districts (District A, District B, District C, and District D), were designated as lead teachers by the school systems. During the summer of 2008, the lead teachers were trained in teaching EiE. The teachers were supported by professors of engineering, technology, mathematics, and science from two

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Pelletier, M., & Desjardins, L., & Chanley, P., & Heymans, L. (2010, June), Teaching Engineering Across Elementary Schools Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16511