Engineering is Elementary® | Project Goals & Essential Understandings

Project Goals and Essential Understandings

Goal 1. Increase children's technological literacy
At the elementary school level, we define technological literacy as acquiring essential understandings and skills that include:

Knowledge (Know about):

What engineering and technology are and what engineers do
Various fields of engineering

Nearly everything in the human world has been touched by engineering
Engineering problems have multiple solutions
How society influences and is influenced by engineering
How technology affects the world (both positively and negatively)
Engineers are from all races, ethnicities, and genders

Skills/Experience (Be able to do):

Apply the engineering design process
Apply science and math in engineering
Employ creativity and careful thinking to solve problems
Envision one's own abilities as an engineer
Troubleshoot and learn from failure
Understand the central role of materials and their properties in engineering solutions

Goal 2. Improve elementary educators' ability to teach engineering and technology.
At the core, EiE is designed to have students engineer. We develop interesting problems and contexts and then invite students to have fun as they use their knowledge of science and engineering to design, create, and improve solutions.

Goal 3. Increase the number of schools in the U.S. that include engineering at the elementary level.

Goal 4. Conduct research and assessment to further the first three goals and contribute knowledge about engineering teaching and learning at the elementary level.