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ERIC Number: EJ1047569
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Dec
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8148
EISSN: N/A
Engineering Encounters: Elephant Trunks and Dolphin Tails
Hefty, Lukas
Science and Children, v52 n4 p56-61 Dec 2014
This article describes how one class at Douglas Jamerson Elementary School in St. Petersburg, Florida, a center for engineering and mathematics, incorporated an Engineering Design Process into its curriculum. At Jamerson Elementary, all students in kindergarten through fifth grade engage in teacher-created, integrated engineering units of study, purposefully aligned to the "Next Generation Science Standards" for engineering design and the "Common Core State Standards" for English language arts and mathematics. The school's vision, "Engineering innovative thinkers for global success," comes to life as students develop the habits of mind--curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, and communication--that successful innovators possess. The centerpiece of the curriculum is the Jamerson Engineering Design Process through which students collaborate to identify real-world problems, "plan" multiple solutions and select the most efficient one, "design" models and prototypes to "check" against rigorous design constraints, and "share" their findings. The article describes a series of lessons that spanned across a two-week period, 45 minutes per day, that were the conclusion to an integrated unit of study entitled "Nature of Science and Engineering." Taught at the beginning of the school year, the unit focuses on the comparison of scientific and engineering practices in preparation for a year of similar, real-world design investigations.
National Science Teachers Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: membership@nsta.org; Web site: http://www.nsta.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 1; Grade 2; Grade 3; Grade 4; Intermediate Grades; Grade 5; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Florida
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A