Elementary teachers' use of engineering curriculum materials (Fundamental)

Engineering is one of the pillars of STEM education, and is an explicit focus in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)¹. The NGSS includes eight science and engineering practices central to both disciplines and extremely significant to student investigations. Engineering is also included as a key theme in the NGSS's Disciplinary Core Ideas, thus ensuring students and teachers in many K-12 classrooms across the US will be engaged with engineering education. The framework upon which the NGSS is based states, "Students should learn how science is used, in particular through the engineering design process, and they should come to appreciate the distinctions and relationships between engineering, technology, and the applications of science"². Science and engineering complement each other in many ways, but teach students different, yet equally important, skill sets. "If the core of science is discovery, then the essence of engineering is creation"³. The challenge of including engineering in school programs is evident⁴, especially at the elementary level where time dedicated to science instruction is far less than that dedicated to reading and math⁵. The challenge of integrating science and engineering, therefore, is an added layer of complexity, due to both these time constraints and because engineering practices and curriculum are new to most elementary teachers. There is no existing research on the integration of science and engineering curriculum, including whether teaching engineering and science separately or simultaneously is more effective.