COLLEGE HOUSE ENTERPRISES, LLC

Primary Engineering:

Projects for Grades K through 2

 By

Terry Green

Foreword by Chris Rogers

I wrote this book to help teachers who have no experience teaching engineering or using LEGO® building pieces as a teaching tool, but I hope experienced teachers find these lessons of value as well.  Every one of these lessons has been used and tweaked over the ten years that I have been teaching engineering to kindergarten-through-fourth graders at the Lincoln Public Schools.

It may seem like a tremendously difficult task to teach engineering concepts to young elementary students, but it is a lot easier than you might think, and can be lots of fun as well. We think of engineering as a complicated and difficult realm of human endeavor, but first graders have no such preconceptions.

First of all, nearly every child has had some exposure to LEGO® pieces before they come to school.  Because they think of LEGO® pieces as "toys," there is usually no built-in resistance to trying to use LEGO® pieces in a new and creative way.  Motivating students to work on the lesson is rarely a problem.  Most are eager to begin working with their materials almost immediately.  The "tools" are familiar, yet are being applied in a way that the preschooler familiar with LEGO® pieces never imagined. It is as if the lessons are just the next LEGO® game.

The essence of engineering is using a defined set of resources to solve a particular problem. By framing these lessons as a simple-to-understand, but perhaps challenging problem to solve—such as building a car that goes as slowly as possible—the students wind up learning basic principles of engineering through their own direct experiences.  The memory of these lessons stays with students for many years into the future, and provides a strong basis for future study of science and engineering.

Another benefit of young students having no preconceptions is the incredible creativity that is sometimes displayed. Since children have not yet accumulated enough life experiences to have "rational" expectations of what is possible, they can be incredibly creative in trying to solve the problems.

In fact, one of the strongest lessons I have learned in teaching this material is that there is no single "right" answer to solving the engineering problems that these lessons present to students.  I am often pleasantly amazed and sometimes astounded at the types of ideas that young minds can dream up.  Even when I think to myself, "that won’t work," it is usually best to let the students learn that themselves. But sometimes, the very ideas I am biased to think won’t work, actually wind up working! Alternatively, the "impossible" idea often leads the student to another, equally creative idea.

Unlike adults, young students are often capable of "thinking outside the box," because they have no established concept of where the "box" is.  My one word of advice when using these lessons is not to let your concept of what is possible interfere with the student’s creative process.  You are likely to find that your students are far more creative than you are when working with these lessons to solve an "engineering" problem. I also suspect that seeing your student’s creativity in action will be as personally rewarding for you as it has been for me.

Appendix A Alignment with the National Science Educational Standards of the U. S.

Appendix B Activities Listed by Topic

Appendix C Equipment Used for Each Project

Primary Engineering

Projects for Grades K through 2

By

Terry Green

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