Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®) is an award curriculum project of the National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®) at the Museum of Science, Boston. It supports educators and children with curricula and professional development that develop engineering literacy.
EiE is a rigorously researched, classroom-tested curriculum that increases students ‘interest in and confidence about engineering. It integrates engineering with science and improves student understanding of technology. It is the “E” in the STEM.
It has 20 curriculum units which are fun and engaging engineering challenges that allow students to apply science knowledge in meaningful ways. Each unit is introduced by a storybook about a child who solves a problem through engineering. Set in locations around the world, the storybooks integrate literacy and social studies—and provide context and meaning for the hands-on activities that follow.
Why engineering for children?
If you’ve ever watched children at play, you know they’re fascinated with building things—and with taking things apart to see how they work. In other words, children are natural-born engineers. When children engineer in a school setting, research suggests several positive results:
See EiE in Action! This short video shows what EiE can do in your classroom
Engineering is Elementary® (EiE®) is a project of the National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®) at the Museum of Science, Boston. We address America’s pressing need for effective STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education through three platforms:
- Curriculum development and dissemination
- Professional development (PD) for teachers and teacher educators
- Educational research and evaluation