In 2017, The Engineering Place at North Carolina State University began hosting a summer camp for rising kindergarten through second grade students (approximate ages 4-8). Of the myriad engineering camps offered each summer, either at this organization itself or elsewhere, most do not target early-elementary students. This echoes the general trend of focusing on the later grades in engineering education and missing an opportunity to introduce engineering to students who are full of creativity and curiosity, and who are open to all the developmental possibilities that engineering concepts can provide. This endeavor is a work-in-progress and our paper describes how the design of the camp was informed by both the theoretical foundation of early-elementary engineering education, and the practical methods adapted from work with older audiences, to introduce engineering related concepts like an engineering design process and engineering habits of mind to younger children. Elements of the camp include the use of literature to contextualize daily design challenges and provide bridges between activities, the use of scaffolding for activities to “level the playing field” for students with diverse backgrounds and skill-sets and to assist with shortcomings in fine motor skills, and the identification of strategies for developing student confidence and positive attitude toward failure. This paper also discusses the stratified structure of teams for camp management and content delivery, and the importance of K-12 teachers partnered with engineering undergraduate students in the implementation of the camp, as well as lessons learned by each of the constituencies. Preliminary assessment results include informal surveys and focus groups, coupled with observations of camp and video clip analyses.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5636-3909
North Carolina State University
[biography]
Dr. Laura Bottomley is the Director of Engineering Education and Senior Advisor to WMEP at NC State University. She has been working in the field of engineering education for more than 30 years, having taught every grade level from kindergarten to engineering graduate school. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and has been recognized with the PAESMEM award.
Susan B. D’Amico
Coordinator of Engineering K-12 Outreach Extension
The Engineering Place
College of Engineering
NC State University
Susan earned a B.S in Industrial Engineering from NC State and has worked in the
Telecom and Contract Manufac
Amber Kendall is the Coordinator of STEM Partnership Development at The Engineering Place at North Carolina State University. She recently received her PhD from Tufts University, where she worked as a graduate research assistant with the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach. She graduated from North Carolina State University as a Park Scholar with a BA in Physics, and spent several years teaching physics to high-school freshman. Amber's primary research interests include K-12 teacher professional development for integrated STEM curricula and elementary student engineering design thinking and practices. When she is not at work, Amber enjoys spending time with her family designing games, building LEGO, and fabricating costumes.
Daniel is a doctoral student at NCSU, in the STEM Education Department: Technology, Engineering, and Design Education. Research interests include Latino students' persistence in Engineering, engineering and failure among K-8 students, visual information in education research, Technology Education in Informal Education, and design and making in education. He has a MS in Technology and Engineering Education From Brigham Young University. Daniel taught 4 years in secondary education and will be looking for jobs spring 2019!
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.