Learning Through Planning: Third Grade Engineering Curriculum

Lower School science teacher Mrs. Mary Corton gave the following recap of the third grade engineering curriculum at Tuesday’s end of year faculty meeting:

Over the past two years, our third graders have participated in a study funded by a grant through the National Science Foundation, which evaluated the effectiveness of two different elementary engineering curricula. Three hundred teachers in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Maryland were selected to participate in this study, and I believe that Beth Tfiloh was the only private school in Maryland chosen.

Although students came into this thinking that technology must have a battery and most didn’t know what engineers did, they left with the knowledge that technology was anything manmade that solved a problem and that engineers use science and math to design and improve technologies.

The students completed a Civil Engineering Unit where they designed and built towers, marshmallow and pasta structures and bridges. They designed and built in cooperative groups, so they learned very early on that if they did not compromise and work together that their structures usually were not successful. They studied critical load, stability and strength and I gave them 10 seconds of free laughter when we built our “abutments” for our bridges! I had one team that made a marshmallow and pasta structure that was really like more a blob of stickiness, the next project this same group made a simple tower that held a golf ball for the longest in the class in front of a fan. When I asked them what made the difference between the two projects, one of the girls in the group said, “I learned that you must have a plan.”

After learning the science of ecosystems, the students completed an Environmental Engineering Unit. In this unit, they learned about how pollution travels, became pollution detectives, and designed and built a water filtration system and an oil boom and oil removal system for an ocean oil spill. For both units, the kids also communicated their design process and then evaluated the products for their strengths and weaknesses.

One of my guys who normally is in the background really got to shine during these projects. The kids called him the “engineering expert”--and he led their group in design ideas and building. I also saw some of my girls, who may not had a chance in their play to explore in building and design have a real aptitude for engineering. Many of them and their parents have continued to foster this with outside activities. Although the formal project has now ended, I will attend another Professional Day at Towson University next week to explore the other curriculum and engineering will be a permanent part of our program. Whether or not, we actually produce more engineers because of this early exposure has yet to be seen, I know that being exposed to the process of designing, planning, working together and communicating their process will be valuable tools for whatever they do.

Thank you to Mrs. Nina Wand, Lower School principal, and Mrs. Susan Yurow, Lower School assistant principal, for supporting this project and the teachers for their flexibility with the schedule!