Engineers Week — My Favorite Holiday!

 

by Celeste Baine
Director, Engineering Education Service Center

 

Engineers Week has become my favorite holiday! Most people on airplanes (traveling is the only time I seem to talk to people that aren’t in education or engineering) I talk to don’t know why I want them to celebrate. In fact, they laugh and try to humor me. Then, I lay it on them: Without engineers, we couldn’t be flying or listening to our iPods or talking on cell phones or IMing our buddies. If that’s not enough, I question them—even interrogate them—about their favorite things and how much different the world would be without so many clever inventions (I’m never going back to washing dishes or laundry by hand).

 

And then I wonder, if it’s so important, why isn’t engineering taught in every classroom in America? Children, just like engineers, are creative, innovative, and imaginative when it comes to solving problems. In engineering design, there are usually multiple ways to solve a problem. Many teachers enjoy teaching engineering because it combines math and science lessons, team building, and creativity with a practical twist. Students learn to work together, increase their communication skills, and enhance their presentation abilities by demonstrating and discussing their design strategy to the rest of the class.

 

Hands-on activities or project-based learning is a fun and effective way to help the students retain more engineering; students can make the links between the classroom and their everyday lives. Project-based learning can help students visualize abstract science or math concepts. Engineering design serves as the bridge to bring color to math and science concepts that make the world more understandable.

 

A fundamental problem with students being interested in engineering is that many don’t understand what engineering is, what engineers do, how it impacts lives, and how it can be a rewarding career. There are currently seven states that are including engineering in the standards for elementary through high school. How many more might be on the horizon? A quick glance into my crystal ball tells me that this is the beginning of a wave of understanding at the Department of Education. They are finally having their “ah ha” moment. Now, it’s up to the students to show us a thing or two.

 

To bring engineering into your classroom, visit http://www.engineeringedu.com/store/tg1.html