Children as Engineers: Teaching Science, Design Technology and Sustainability through Engineering in the Primary Classroom

Meeting the diverse aspects of the science, and design and technology curricula can be challenging for many teachers. Children as Engineers addresses this problem, offering both new and experienced teachers an accessible resource to apply within the classroom and to their own professional development, while also supporting their students in developing as STEM thinkers. With an explicit focus on sustainability, each aspect of the curriculum is explored through a series of engineering challenges that present pupils with an everyday problem to be solved practically.

Filled with practical strategies to use in the classroom, topics covered include the following:

• The engineering design process
• Plants, animals and humans
• Everyday materials
• Living things and habitats
• Forces, light and sound
• States of matter
• Electricity

This essential classroom resource will support primary teachers in embedding opportunities for contextualised STEM experiences into their lessons, so that all children can develop as current and future learners of STEM.

Fay Lewis was a primary teacher for 15 years. She is currently a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader within the School of Education and Childhood at UWE, Bristol where she teaches the STEM course for the primary Initial Teacher Education programme and provides continued professional development to a range of education professionals through her work on the M.A. Education.

Juliet Edmonds is a Programme Leader for the international PGCE at UWE, Bristol and teaches the Primary Science modules on Primary Education courses. For many years, she taught in London primary schools as a science specialist, before becoming an advisory teacher for Science and Assessment at Hammersmith and Fulham. Additionally, she has contributed to the Primary Committee for the ASE and advised Friends of the Earth on their educational materials and strategy.