I’m sure you know that STEM is all the hype in education right now and rightfully so! However, one thing I see missing in a lot of STEM education is the Engineering Design Process. This is actually the key to creating a true STEM challenge or teaching your students about engineering. But, throw in teaching 6 years old about STEM and phew, it just leveled up. I am here to show you the easy way to include the engineering design process for kindergarten and first grade in your STEM challenges!
What is the Engineering Design Process (EDP)?
In simple terms, the engineering design process is a series of steps that engineers take to create products. The EDP has 7 steps:
- Ask
- Research
- Imagine
- Plan
- Create
- Test
- Improve
Teaching the Engineering Design Process in Kindergarten or First Grade
You would be shocked at how well littles can understand this process. It is just about breaking it down into small steps and simple terms! Honestly, almost the same way I learned this process in my Master’s Program. I am not an engineer and quite honestly, I don’t have an analytical bone in my body. When I researched the EDP in my Educational Technology Master’s Program, it took simple wording and broken down steps. I think of it the same way for littles!
A simple, visual way to guide and display this process is with this Engineering Design Process Bulletin Board. One of my favorite things about this bulletin board is that you don’t actually have to create a display with it if you don’t have room (or don’t want too). I don’t! I use the printable pieces as small posters that help me introduce each step to my students. I then display the poster on the whiteboard to correlate with what part of the process we are in. If we are imagining solutions, the imagine poster is on display. When we move to creating, the creating poster is displayed, etc. Each day before we begin we revisit the poster and discuss what step of the EDP we are on.
Where does the EDP fit into STEM challenges?
You’re probably thinking okay great, I know what the EDP is and how to introduce it but how do I USE it? The EDP should be guiding your STEM challenges. For a challenge to actually teach engineering, it needs to follow the EDP. When you introduce a challenge, let’s say building pumpkin catapults (this is a popular one at Halloween), you should start by asking/posing a question. From there, you should research ways you can answer that question, and so on.
An easy way to add the EDP into your already existing challenges or challenges you come across in the future is with these Elementary Engineering Design Process Worksheets. This set of worksheets work with any STEM challenge and they can help you plan your way through! Using the same worksheets for each challenge also helps littles familiarize with the process.
I hope you found this information helpful when it comes to the Engineering Design Process for Kindergarten and First Grade!
