If you’ve spent any time with young children you know they love to ask, “Why?” When a patient adult answers with a thoughtful explanation, that’s a wonderful learning experience!

But depending on the circumstances, there's also great value in deflecting the question back to the child. I got a dramatic reminder of this principle at our Engineering is Elementary (EiE) staff retreat last year.

We’re thrilled to share that our founder and director Christine Cunningham, Ph.D. has been recognized for her work in engineering education with a national award.

On Nov. 20, 2016, she accepted the Pre-University Educator Award from the Educational Activities Board of IEEE, a professional organization for engineers and scientists and the world’s largest professional association working to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.

If you’re teaching “Marvelous Machines: Making Work Easier," EiE's industrial engineering unit, our collaborators at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) have some tips for teaching Lesson 4 (“Improving a Factory Subsystem"). The lesson calls for kids to use what they’ve learned about simple machines in science class to design a model “loading dock” that helps a potato chip factory run more smoothly. Try these five fast tips to save time, reduce classroom chaos, and most importantly, enhance your students’ learning!

Each Thursday on the EiE Blog, we bring you tips for teaching elementary engineering. Today's guest blogger is EiE professional development provider Elissa Jordan.

When I work with teachers who are just starting to implement Engineering is Elementary, I often see resistance to the idea that failure is highly valued in engineering.

When a student designs a technology that doesn’t work as intended—say, a model maglev train that doesn’t levitate, or a solar oven that doesn’t get hot enough—it’s distressing! We want students to have positive, affirming experiences in school, not be discouraged.

So it's tempting to “help” kids who seem to be making ineffective design choices by purposefully leading them to better ideas. It seems like a supportive strategy. But in fact, it can be counterproductive.

We’re very pleased to announce that we're investing in a new opportunity for elementary educators who want to integrate engineering into their classroom instruction: the first-ever EiE Scholarships.

Applications are being accepted now through Dec. 16^th  2015 for the first round of awards; we’ll announce the recipients in late January 2016.