Engineering in the early grades: Harnessing children's natural ways of thinking

This chapter explores engineering as it applies to students in the early grades. First, we consider engineering as a STEM foundation.We then address ways in which we can provide supportive learning environments for early engineering learning. As part of such environments, we examine how we can build on intrinsically interesting problems. In exploring ways of harnessing young learners’ natural ways of thinking, we consider the role of play in early engineering learning and how we can capitalize on this play. The integration of engineering within the early curriculum is then reviewed, followed by a summary of perspectives on ways in which engineering is developmentally appropriate for, and beneficial to, young learners