As I typed the title of this blog post, my heart started beating harder and my anxiety level rose – all because of a blog entry?
Yes, because of a blog entry. I’ve been thinking about writing this post for some time, but wanted to be careful crafting my words. I want my message to be heard and the title could cause some teachers to immediately dismiss anything more I have to say.
But this post needs to be written because teachers do have such a profound impact on their students. And because they are such caring, nurturing humans. And because they may actually want to hear what I have to say. And because they may not realize the results of their subconscious actions.
I celebrate the elementary teacher who brings engineering into the elementary classroom. However, I have observed many more elementary teachers shy away from bringing engineering into their classroom. Why is that? Especially when presented with a colorful book about engineering – reading the book and giving students ample opportunity to browse the book at their leisure sounds fairly easy to me.
I’ve observed many a teacher purchase armloads of children’s books – many with pink covers and cute little girls on the front or all types of animal books. How many animal books does 1 classroom truly need? What I did not see in these bagfuls were children’s engineering books.
Granted, there aren’t many elementary engineering books widely available, but these bags of books were being purchased at a Reading conference I attended this weekend where my children’s engineering book was available.
“Oh, just an author cranky about book sales,” you may dismiss, but for me it is about so much more than book sales.
For me, it is about creating awareness of the engineer’s impact on our everyday world. For me, it is about starting very young creating that awareness. For me, it is about working with elementary teachers to expand their classroom book collections – bringing the world to their students.
Bringing awareness of engineering into the elementary classroom can be achieved with fairly minimal effort, then why isn’t it happening more?
Dear Ms Patty,
I have come upon your site this evening … in my mission to search for engineering activities and books for our 8 year old son. Max is a third grader in a full time gifted program at Windy Ridge Elementary in Orlando, Florida and does quite well.
At the time of the Gifted Testing last year, the Child Psychologist shared with us that his Abstract and Perception levels were within the highest of scores … and that Engineering Studies would suit him well. We also showed the results to a friend who has been an assistant school principal in town, and she right away mentioned these scores show that Engineering is Max’s strength.
Max is profoundly curious about how things work and his exhausting intriguing nature is just part of who he is. So … we view rocket launches at Kennedy Space Center, google web sites in an effort to find answers to feed his inquiring mind, visit salt and coal mines in Germany. His school does not teach Engineering basics and there are no local activities in Orlando.
Can you recommend age appropriate books that may provide more engineering fundamentals? May be a subscription magazine or camps that you know of?
I was actually going to present Max with an old clock or cell phone and some basic tools so he may take them apart to explore the mechanisms and dynamics.
Do you travel out of states to schools?
Sincerely,
Valerie Wiese
Hello Valerie,
So nice to meet you! And I’m so glad you found my blog.
I commend you for seeking out various ways to satisfy Max’s curious nature. Hopefully I can be of some assistance to you!
Based on your comments, I’ve compiled a few items that may help you find what you’re looking for. Please feel free to reply to my comments with any questions, etc. or email me directly at patty [at] pattyobriennovak.com. Let’s get started…
Books:
I have written an engineering book for children, however, it is an introduction to engineering and Max may be looking for more than an introduction. Other books related to engineering and how things work that I recommend are:
“How Things Work” by David Macauly – click on the title to go to the Amazon page for this book. You can also search on Amazon for kid’s books in the How things Work Category to find many more books that Max may enjoy.
“Cool Stuff and How it Works” by Chris Woodford, et al. There are several books in the Cool Stuff series
Websites:
This website, http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/, has an interesting interactive program titled “Amusement Park Physics” – Max may really enjoy this one living in Orlando.
Discover Engineering – especially the Cool Stuff category full of activities, games, videos about real engineers, etc.
Sightseer’s Guide to Engineering – great one for your family since you mentioned visiting salt and coal mines in Germany. This site allows you to search on engineering sights by state – jelly bean factories, rescue vehicle manufacturing plant and much more!
Extracurriculars:
Lego Leagues – can join or create one. Visit http://usfirst.org/whatsgoingon.aspx to find a team in your area. Based on Max’s age and grade, FIRST Place and FIRST Lego League would be the best for him. FIRST Place includes adults. Perhaps Max could convince a favorite adult in his life to join him…
Summer Camps:
A friend and fellow engineering education advocate, Celeste Baine, maintains a fantastic summer engineering camp directory. Visit http://www.engineeringedu.com/camps/fl.html to learn more. The University of West Florida, Division of Continuing Education Explore Summer Programs as well as iD Tech Camps Summer Technology and Computer Camps may be a good fit for Max.
LAstly, one of the premier summer camp adventures for budding engineers is Space Camp.
I hope this list gets you started in the direction you want to go, Valerie. Also, you inquired about whether I travel to out of state schools – and Yes, I do travel. I charge a visitation fee as well as travel expenses. If those costs are too prohibitive for your school, please let them know I offer email/phone coaching as well as tele-seminars, video seminars and web seminars. Fees vary depending on the level of service. Initial consultations are always complementary, though and I would be happy to speak with your school if they are interested in learning more about integrating engineering into their curriculum!
For more information, they may visit my website at http://www.PattyOBrienNovak.com
Thank you for writing, Valerie!
Patty