10 million of anything is a lot, and a landmark to celebrate. This past year, for example, Chevrolet turned out its 10 millionth Malibu, New York’s CitiBikes celebrated 10 million rides, and Apple Music hit 10 million subscribers. Here at Engineering is Elementary, we’re celebrating a really meaningful landmark. Our award-winning curriculum has reached 10 million students!

Today’s guest blogger is Dr. Christine M. Cunningham, founder and director of Engineering is Elementary.

Not long ago, engineering was an academic subject mainly reserved for college students. But as states put new science standards in place, many elementary teachers face the expectation that their students must learn engineering concepts and skills. Can you really teach engineering to very young students? I’ve been working in the field of K-12 engineering for more than a decade; based on my own research and that of others, the answer is a resounding yes.  I’ll be talking about this today at 3:30 at the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Nashville (Davidson A1, Music City Center). Here’s a sneak preview of my presentation.

Designers at work! Our development team has started work on a new PreK-K curriculum.

In 2009, President Obama launched “Educate to Innovate,” a campaign to improve K-12 STEM education. Then, in 2013, he advocated for high-quality preschool for every child. Now these initiatives are connecting: earlier this month, the White House put out a call to support America’s youngest students with early STEM education.

The Engineering is Elementary project is already on board. This winter, we started work on a PreK-K engineering curriculum for ages 3–5 that is modeled after our award-winning EiE curriculum for ages 6–10. The three-year, $425,000 PreK-K initiative is funded by entirely by the EiE project at the Museum of Science, Boston.

For a lively introduction to the Engineering is Elementary unit Taking the Plunge: Designing Submersibles, check out the newest set of Classroom Videos on the EiE website.

Four short videos—one for each lesson in the unit—show an exemplary teacher who keeps students breathlessly engaged as they explore the work of ocean engineers and the science concepts of density, mass, and volume.

Extend math learning with a line plot for “Designing Bridges” data.

To date, 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted Common Core State Standards for Math. What does that mean in the classroom? Students still have to learn to add, subtract, measure, and make bar graphs. They're also expected to develop a deep understanding of math concepts and be able to apply math outside the classroom. Hands-on engineering is ideal for putting math in a real-world context, and Engineering is Elementary's newest teacher workshop, "Linking the E & M in STEM" (LEMSTEM), is packed with creative strategies for meaningful integration of math and engineering.