The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s third annual “STEM for ALL Video Showcase” opens today, and you’re invited. This event is like the Sundance Film Festival for STEM education research: it includes more than 170 NSF-supported projects, all sharing short videos that showcase their work in STEM education. We submitted a production by our talented videography team. There’s a “people’s choice” award. So please visit, view, and vote!

Today’s guest blogger is Kate Sokol, a curriculum designer for EiE.

As a curriculum writer for Engineering is Elementary, I’m always thinking about developing activities that promote engineering habits of mind. Many habits of mind; like “collaboration,” “communication,” and “creativity”; naturally integrate with the type of hands-on engineering activities that we develop, and are often used to describe the work of engineers. Other habits, like the call for “ethical considerations,” require deliberate reflection to fully integrate into the K-8 classroom. The idea of ethics in engineering may seem like a daunting topic to navigate with students, but the power of critical thinking and the opportunity for students to consider the impact of their decisions has never been more important.

We have exciting news to share: our founder and director, Christine Cunningham, has been awarded a Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education—one of the most prestigious awards in the field! Christine is being recognized in the U.S. K-12 Education category for “pioneering a curriculum that is transforming education by introducing engineering concepts and practices at the elementary level.” Christine has worked tirelessly to bring engineering education into elementary classrooms for the past 14 years, and we’re thrilled that she’s receiving this well-deserved recognition.

We are so excited about our upcoming early childhood curricula—and we know you are too! Every time we post an update, we hear an enthusiastic chorus of “That’s so exciting! When will it be available?” Both Wee Engineer and EiE for Kindergarten have tentative release dates of summer 2018. To tide you over until then, we compiled our most informative early childhood curriculum updates from the last few years to give you a comprehensive view of our process so far. Read on and make sure you visit the original posts to learn about the origins of our early education initiative and to read our favorite anecdote about smiley face erasers.

Our team is always looking for more ways to support elementary science and elementary teachers. We listen closely to teachers, and we hear them express their need for financial support to underwrite the costs of professional development and materials. So we are pleased to invest some of our project funds in a new round of professional development scholarships . . . and today we’re delighted to announce the names of 49 elementary teachers from 21 states who will receive awards!