This past August, the State of Iowa Department of Education adopted new science standards. They are based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and while much of the content that will be taught in K-12 classroom won’t be that different, what will be different is how science is taught in the K-12 classrooms. Full implementation of these standards is not required until the 2018-19 academic year, but ACSD teachers are starting to look ahead at the changes to come.
The biggest change that we will experience is the implementation of engineering and the engineering design process. Engineering tends to be a really big thing to kids and can sometimes seem unattainable. We often think about space engineers working on space shuttles or mechanical engineers working on large transportation systems. Through these new standards and integrating engineering into them, we communicate to students that they all have the potential to be engineers.
We define an engineer as:
- A person who designs and builds
- Someone who uses science and math to develop solutions for problems
- Someone who considers materials and structures such as practicality, safety and cost
Then we work our way through the engineering design process of Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve. All the while, teachers are explicit and intentional so that students know what each phase of the design process looks and feels like.
Engineering is not only something new for students to experience, but it is also a new concept for teachers to teach.
Charli Hanway, a 3rd grade teacher at Edwards Elementary, is part of the K-5 science content team and participated an engineering lesson during one of our meetings this year. During the engineering lesson, teachers worked their way through the engineering design process while designing a maze for a Hexbug. Along with her team of teachers, Charli, wanted to implement this lesson and some aspects of engineering into their Simple Machines unit, but they didn’t know where to start. This is where I, as a TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment), come in. My being able to model lessons in teacher’s classrooms, can help build confidence in those teachers for teaching engineering lessons.
Patti Allen, Charli’s team mate, stated “It is empowering for me to see you do the lesson and now I feel like I am able to go forth and teach it, and lessons like it, in the future.”
