The oftentimes forgotten "E" in STEM...

 

Engineers help make the world go round, they solve problems and even sometimes devise new ones, just so they can ultimately solve them by creating something us humans can find useful. Some of which we can’t live without. The problem of communicating with people over long distances was solved by engineers, most notably Alexander Graham Bell.  One can only imagine how gut-wrenching waiting on important letters to be delivered by the postal service must have been prior to telephones, however engineers at heart saw that tormenting wait time as a unique problem waiting to be solved. The answer was the telephone.

 

Out of this monumental breakthrough though came the invention of the “electron tube” , an electric amplifier, in 1906 by Lee De Forest, which revolutionized long distance calling. Between 1910 and 1920 telephone ownership ballooned from 7 million to 16 million people. The majority of those phones, however, belonged to businesses. Eventually the demands of people increased (what’s new) and caused engineers to redesign those old, cumbersome and sometimes downright tedious telephones into the devices we’ve grown to love (and sometimes hate) but are ultimately committed to…cellular phones.  Pew Research Center reported in 2013 that 91% of American adults own cell phones. Even more alarming is the fact that a U.N report says that 6 of the world’s 7 billion people own cell phones, while only 4.5 billion of them own toilets…right. Regardless, the invention of the telephone gave way to what we have today and engineers made it possible. 

 

Engineers relate their knowledge of mathematics and the sciences to create and improve existing technologies. The term engineering refers to “the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people by designing and manufacturing complex products”.

Aerospace Engineers, for example, are experts in aerodynamics and specialize in making transportation mechanisms go faster, while maintaining efficiency. They design and carefully build fighter jets, rockets, shuttles, planes and satellites...just to name but a few. We rely on their expertise each and every time we fly. How about those flying cars??

Mechanical Engineers have a unique set of talents, since they work on making machines work, and making them work well might I add, their labors of love include an array of different fields including amusement park rides, robotics (yes, like R2D2), toys, medical devices and cars!!! We rely on their expertise in almost all facets of life, that is unless of course, you live under a rock.

STEM education relates to the integrated approach of teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Most educators will agree that STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, but we don’t always see eye to eye on how STEM should be taught. Some people think it’s best to take a “silo-approach” to creating and teaching STEM lessons, and some believe they should be taught all at once, in conjunction…I prefer the latter methodology.  I find issues with teaching a “STEM” lesson in four different parts…having a Science part, a Technology part, an Engineering part and a Mathematics part, to me, seems to defeat the entire purpose of what STEM education is...an integration. Moreover how would that look? Either way we negotiate it, STEM is the wave of the modern future, Engineering is it's backbone, and the Engineering Design Process is the official blueprint. 

When Engineers develop new technologies and enhance others they rely on their knowledge of all four of these subject matters, fairly consistently, in order to complete the task they set before themselves. When children are educated in STEM disciplines they should be exercising the same skills engineers do every day, like utilizing the Engineering Design Process whenever applicable (beyond STEM as well), engaging in multiple critical thinking and problem solving opportunities.

We have national standards for Mathematics, Science and Technology but there aren’t any for Engineering. This of course presents somewhat of a dispute as to what to teach students about engineering and how. If we teach Engineering as its definition defines it, as the application of science and math skills in order to develop or upgrade existing technologies, I believe it could be quite beneficial.

Perhaps Engineering standards should urge educators to create relevant and forward thinking lessons that mirror the effective engineering instructional practices in the chart below and should therefore refrain from creating lessons that mimic the practices in the ineffective engineering instructional practices.

Effective Engineering Instructional Practices	Ineffective Engineering Instructional Practices
Encourage student’s innovation and creativity	Teacher centered
Stimulate application of problem solving and critical thinking skills	Lessons allow for little deviation from norms
Allow students to work collaboratively towards a common goal	Challenges have one outcome to a solution
Expect students to use the Engineering Design Process while solving technological problems	Lessons are taught in solitude (with no attention paid to their relationships)
Promote tactile exploration	Lessons aren’t relevant
Are open-ended	Lessons don’t encourage healthy collaboration
Are engaging to the whole child	Lessons give exact outcome examples or scaffolds

As educators, we are tasked with developing tomorrow's Engineers...how will you equip your young minds???

 

Resources

http://www.eosgrafx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Alexander-Graham-Bell.jpg

 

http://stemclass.wikispaces.com/file/view/EngineerPPT_Image.jpg/192776632/748x515/EngineerPPT_Image.jpg

 http://www.jacmusic.com/techcorner/ARTICLES/English-neu/blueglow/Geissler3.JPe
http://st.gdefon.com/wallpapers_original/wallpapers/401134_robot_belyj_ni_1920x1200_(www.GdeFon.ru).jpg 
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/oftentimes
www.EGFI-k12.org