3rd grade engineering and technology curriculum

The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a three year grant to assist in the teaching of engineering and technology into the elementary curriculum. IQP students worked in both the Midland Street and Flagg Street Schools. Between the schools there were a total of five classrooms with two IQP students working within each school. Each school and set of IQP students were overseen by a graduate fellow, and the entire third grade team was supervised by a faculty advisor. Through the tools of questioning, group work, and hands-on learning, engineering lessons were designed to be implemented into the classrooms. Over the course of the project year seventeen engineering lessons were created. Of these seventeen lessons ten were implemented, five at Flagg Street School and five at Midland Street School. The main focus of the lessons was to incorporate the five Worcester Public School engineering and technology benchmarks. These benchmarks cover the material students will be tested on in future Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing. The lessons implemented in both schools covered four out of the five engineering and technology benchmarks. Another goal of this project was to raise the interest and enthusiasm of minorities and females in engineering and technology. The success of this project was measured by the enthusiasm displayed by both the students and the teachers. This project will be concluded in the next and final year of the grant through an adaptation/sustainability team. This will prov[ide] teachers with the knowledge of engineering to continue this program beyond the life of the NSF grant