Engaging Young Engineers: Teaching Problem Solving Skills Through STEM

Help young children develop problem-solving skills, and you'll boost their kindergarten readiness and set them up for long-term success in STEM subjects. In this timely and practical book, you'll discover how to support the problem-solving skills of all young children by teaching them basic practices of engineering and five types of critical thinking skills (Curiosity, Persistence, Flexibility, Reflection, and Collaboration)— AND discover how to sharpen all these skills as a teacher! Using a clear instructional framework and fun activities tailored for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, you'll help children birth to 5 explore big ideas and develop new ways of thinking through engaging and challenging learning experiences. A must for teachers in inclusive early education classrooms, this comprehensive guide is your key to teaching the 21st-century skills children need for STEM learning and school success.

THE BOOK YOU NEED TO

• Support school readiness. The problem-solving framework in this book helps children work toward kindergarten Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Outcomes Framework.


• Demystify and teach key engineering practices. Prepare kids for success in all STEM areas by teaching four essential engineering principles: think about it, try it, fix it, and share it.


• Boost problem-solving skills with proven activities. All the suggested activities have been piloted and tested in classrooms and incorporate teacher feedback.


• Plan effective lessons for all children. Discover how to use universal design for learning (UDL) to plan lessons that work for children with and without disabilities.


• Start the learning early. Help even the youngest children develop problem-solving skills with activities tailored for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.


• Encourage language and literacy development. Get suggestions for weaving reading into problem-solving experiences, and discover how your use of language can prompt children's thinking skills.


• Promote other skills needed for school success. With the framework and activities in this book, you'll also support development of social-emotional skills, self-regulation, and executive functioning.

PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Classroom activities that incorporate children's books, self-reflection checklists, practical strategies and modifications, Early Childhood UDL Planning Sheets, and blank Experience Planning Templates for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Angi Stone‐MacDonald, Ph.D., is a professor and chair for the Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling Department at California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Stone‐MacDonald earned her doctorate from Indiana University in Special Education and African Studies, where she studied the role of culturally relevant curriculum and cultural beliefs about disabilities in the experiences of children with developmental disabilities at a special school in Tanzania. Dr. Stone‐MacDonald has worked with children and adults with disabilities for the last two decades as a paraprofessional, teacher, consultant, and researcher, including most recently as a faculty member.

Prioring to moving to California State University, San Bernardino, she worked at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in the College of Education and Human Development and Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings Program for 12 years. Her areas of research include early intervention, young children with autism, international inclusive education, and educator preparation for early intervention and early childhood special education. Dr. Stone‐MacDonald serves her field and children and families with disabilities at the local, state, and national levels on a variety of committees and projects. She has been actively involved in state and local committees, organizations, and grant work with the state government to promote inclusion and adequate teacher preparation to work with children with disabilities in early childhood. She also taught STEM early childhood educator preparation courses and participated in STEM grants with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has published several articles and four books highlighting inclusive education and early childhood special education.

Kristen Wendell, Ph.D., is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and education at Tufts University. She received a B.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, an M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a Ph.D. in science education from Tufts University. Dr. Wendell’s teaching and research interests include teacher education in science and engineering, the integration of engineering design into children’s learning experiences, and knowledge building communities in undergraduate engineering education. An NSF CAREER award winner, she serves as PI or co-PI on NSF-funded projects that investigate curriculum and instructional supports for inclusive knowledge construction by engineering learners. Major projects emphasize community-based engineering curricula and professional development, engineering classroom discourse, design notebooking, undergraduate learning assistants, and responsive teaching for engineering. Kristen is an associate editor for the Journal of Engineering Education. She teaches courses in design, mechanics, electronics, and engineering education. Wendell previously served as Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She was a graduate policy fellow at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. and a research assistant in aerospace engineering at the Man-Vehicle Lab at MIT.

Anne Douglass, Ph.D., is a professor of early childhood education and founding executive director at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Dr. Douglass’s research and teaching focus on leadership and quality improvement. She has significant experience in designing, evaluating and overseeing innovative quality improvement and professional development interventions and projects in the ECE sector, with particular expertise in quality improvement and leadership in center-based, family child care, and Head Start settings. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in early childhood STEM education and served as the principal investigator on a professional development project to promote STEM teaching and learning with children from birth to age 5. Dr. Douglass brings almost 20 years of expertise as an early educator to this work, including as a teacher of children from birth to age 5, a program director, a family child care provider, and a quality improvement coach. Dr. Douglass received her Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy at Brandeis University, her master’s degree in education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and her bachelor’s degree in political science from Wellesley College.

Mary Lu Love, M.S., is a retired lecturer/director of early childhood services at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she managed grants, evaluation projects, and a variety of grant work in the early childhood field. Her undergraduate degree is from the State University of New York, Potsdam, where she graduated with a major in interdisciplinary social science and elementary education certification. She holds a master’s degree in childcare administration and has worked in early childhood education for 40 years as a teacher and administrator in public schools, Head Start, and private and nonprofit early childhood programs. She was a part of the 2011 Department of Early Education and Care–funded project Focusing a New Lens: STEM Professional Development for Early Education and Care Educators and Programs. Ms. Love has taught in higher education part time since 1986, teaching ethics, science, and mathematics for all young children and supervising internships. Her two adult children are a particle physicist and an architect.

Marilou Hyson, Ph.D., is a national and international consultant in early childhood development and education. Formerly Associate Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Marilou's professional work and publications have focused on social and emotional development, children's approaches to learning, and early childhood teacher education. Marilou was an SRCD Fellow in the US Department of Education and Professor and Chair of the University of Delaware's Department of Individual and Family Studies. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Child Development.