STEM Sparks: April 2025
Design Sparks: Igniting Engineering Creativity in Young Minds
Engineering design provides an authentic context for learning. It engages hands-on learning and provides nontraditional ways to assess learners’ skills and knowledge. By engaging with these design-based engineering practices, young learners not only build these skills, but also cultivate a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm for STEM fields and careers
In collaboration with its education and technical advisory boards, NASA eClips™ developed a Primary Engineering Design Packet to introduce and build PK-2 learners’ understanding of engineering. This packet can be used to reinforce all eight PK-2 STEL Technology and Engineering Practices. Simplified versions of the engineering design process (EDP) guide young learners to ask, imagine, plan, create, test, and share their innovations. A four-step or six-step process may be used with early primary learners. Several additional steps are added to the upper primary engineering process to refine learners’ design skills.
The importance of collaboration is emphasized within this guide. Working with others in small groups is an important component of EDP. As described with TEP-4: Critical Thinking, learners must “engage in listening, questioning, and discussing.” A self-reflection wheel is provided to help define behaviors that support collaboration. Learners may also use this tool to self-assess their role in a group. STEL-7A encourages educators to provide learning settings for young children that empower them to “apply design concepts, principles, and processes through play and exploration.” The Primary Engineering Packet encourages educators to do just that, beginning with providing time for young learners to explore or “play” with materials before they are asked to use the materials to solve a problem. Time to observe and describe the materials allows learners time to build observation skills and descriptive language. This focus also directly supports TEP-3: Making and Doing as young children “learn to use tools and materials to accomplish a task.”
Engineering design and problem solving offer real-world contexts for learning multiple disciplines. Early science and engineering experiences leverage young learners’ curiosity about the natural and designed world while building their oral and written communication skills. The EDP packet is also editable and customizable. An editable word bank is included in the design packet so educators may introduce domain-specific vocabulary.
It has been well established that a strong STEM foundation helps set the stage for future STEM learning and imparts a STEM mindset that can shape learners’ futures. It has also been shown that starting early and incorporating STEM into current curriculum are key in helping the youngest learners begin to explore STEM concepts and help them develop their natural curiosity and scientific minds. The NASA eClips™ Primary Engineering Design Packet frames these types of learning experiences.
Interested in more about Igniting Engineering Creativity in Young Minds? Read the full article by Sharon Bowers, Bradford Davey, and Frances Nial in the March 2025 issue of Technology and Engineering Education.
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