Engaging Young Engineers: Teaching Problem-Solving Skills Through STEM

Boost young children’s problem-solving skills and set them up for long-term success with the second edition of this practical guidebook! Enhanced with new lessons and timely topics—including equity and the use of makerspaces—this book will help you get all children ready for kindergarten by teaching them basic practices of engineering design and critical thinking skills.

Using a clear instructional framework and fun lesson plans tailored for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, you’ll guide your “emerging engineers” as they explore big ideas and develop new ways of thinking through engaging and challenging learning experiences. Practical materials include classroom-tested activities that incorporate children’s books, self-reflection checklists, practical strategies and modifications, Early Childhood UDL Planning Sheets, and blank Experience Planning Templates.

EDUCATORS WILL

• Introduce hands-on learning experiences that teach critical thinking skills—curiosity, persistence, flexibility, reflection, and collaboration
• Demystify and teach key phases of engineering design: think about it, try it, fix it, and share it
• Support school readiness by helping children work toward kindergarten standards, including Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards
• Use universal design for learning (UDL) principles to ensure that learning experiences work for all children, with and without disabilities
• Encourage language and literacy development with suggestions for weaving reading into problem-solving experiences and using language to prompt children’s thinking skills
• Promote other skills needed for school success, including social-emotional skills, self-regulation, and executive functioning

WHAT’S NEW:

Three new themes: computational thinking, makerspaces, and inclusion and equity in STEM | Every lesson plan updated | More lessons based on new children’s books | New art/music/drama lesson options for STEAM-focused schools | More coverage of spatial development | Expanded information on assessment | Updated book resources and references

Angi Stone-MacDonald, Ph.D., is a professor and chair for the Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling Department at California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Stone-MacDonald earned her doctorate from Indiana University in Special Education and African Studies, where she studied the role of culturally relevant curriculum and cultural beliefs about disabilities in the experiences of children with developmental disabilities at a special school in Tanzania. Dr. Stone-MacDonald has worked with children and adults with disabilities for the last two decades as a paraprofessional, teacher, consultant, and researcher, including most recently as a faculty member.

Prioring to moving to California State University, San Bernardino, she worked at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in the College of Education and Human Development and Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings Program for 12 years. Her areas of research include early intervention, young children with autism, international inclusive education, and educator preparation for early intervention and early childhood special education. Dr. Stone-MacDonald serves her field and children and families with disabilities at the local, state, and national levels on a variety of committees and projects. She has been actively involved in state and local committees, organizations, and grant work with the state government to promote inclusion and adequate teacher preparation to work with children with disabilities in early childhood. She also taught STEM early childhood educator preparation courses and participated in STEM grants with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has published several articles and four books highlighting inclusive education and early childhood special education.

Kristen Wendell, Ph.D., is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and education at Tufts University. She received a B.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, an M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Ph.D. in science education from Tufts University. Dr. Wendell’s teaching and research interests include teacher education in science and engineering, the integration of engineering design into children’s learning experiences, and knowledge building communities in undergraduate engineering education. An NSF CAREER award winner, she serves as PI or co-PI on NSF-funded projects that investigate curriculum and instructional supports for inclusive knowledge construction by engineering learners. Major projects emphasize community-based engineering curricula and professional development, engineering classroom discourse, design notebooking, undergraduate learning assistants, and responsive teaching for engineering. Kristen is an associate editor for the Journal of Engineering Education. She teaches courses in design, mechanics, electronics, and engineering education. Wendell previously served as Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She was a graduate policy fellow at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. and a research assistant in aerospace engineering at the Man-Vehicle Lab at MIT.

Anne Douglass, Ph.D., is a professor of early childhood education and founding executive director at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Dr. Douglass’s research and teaching focus on leadership and quality improvement. She has significant experience in designing, evaluating and overseeing innovative quality improvement and professional development interventions and projects in the ECE sector, with particular expertise in quality improvement and leadership in center-based, family child care, and Head Start settings. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in early childhood STEM education and served as the principal investigator on a professional development project to promote STEM teaching and learning with children from birth to age 5. Dr. Douglass brings almost 20 years of expertise as an early educator to this work, including as a teacher of children from birth to age 5, a program director, a family child care provider, and a quality improvement coach. Dr. Douglass received her Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University, her master’s degree in education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and her bachelor’s degree in political science from Wellesley College.

Mary Lu Love, M.S., is a retired lecturer/director of early childhood services at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she managed grants, evaluation projects, and a variety of grant work in the early childhood field. Her undergraduate degree is from the State University of New York, Potsdam, where she graduated with a major in interdisciplinary social science and elementary education certification. She holds a master’s degree in childcare administration and has worked in early childhood education for 40 years as a teacher and administrator in public schools, Head Start, and private and nonprofit early childhood programs. She was a part of the 2011 Department of Early Education and Care–funded project Focusing a New Lens: STEM Professional Development for Early Education and Care Educators and Programs. Ms. Love has taught in higher education part time since 1986, teaching ethics, science, and mathematics for all young children and supervising internships. Her two adult children are a particle physicist and an architect.

Dr. Lopes is passionate about creative approaches to learning. She has been a teacher, program leader, and curriculum consultant at early learning organizations across the U.S. including developing creative arts immersive early education and professional learning programs at the New York State Theater Institute, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Children’s Theater, Pacific Science Center, and Woodland Park Zoo. Through scholarship, Amanda investigates creative approaches to early learning through curriculum design, pedagogy, and leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education and Care from the University of Massachusetts Boston, a M.S.Ed in Early Childhood Education from the College of Saint Rose, and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Puget Sound. Amanda has been a guest lecturer and faculty at higher education programs across the U.S. including University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Russell Sage College, Fisher College, and Northeastern University. In her role as Learning and Quality Improvement Manager at University of Massachusetts Boston’s Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, Amanda uses her unbridled curiosity and fierce imagination to design innovative approaches to professional learning in early care and education.