Thank you for the thought-provoking question, Laura--"how do you honor the design process while directing the focus on the result?"
I discussed this briefly with the colleagues who I worked with on the webinar hosted by Early Childhood Investigations, "Supporting Young Children's Creative Thinking Using Problems They Care About: Engineering Design In ECE," now archived at
https://www.earlychildhoodwebinars.com/webinar-resources/ I am paraphrasing the discussion here:
From Dr. Beth Van Meeteren :
We should center our questions around the child. To nurture creativity and innovation we should create a physical, socio-emotional, and intellectual environment in early childhood settings that forms creativity, systems thinking, optimism, collaboration, communication, and thinking about how the work affects others.
A simplified design process poorly represents what engineers do and boxes children in with constraints. Instead of a rubric and checklist for the child to measure up to, how about a rubric and checklist for the adult? Instead of attempts to furnish the child's brain with a design process to follow, I suggest creating an environment that forms the brain to enable the child to creatively design and innovate.
From Carrie Lynne Draper, MEd:
Additionally, 'directing the focus on the result' tells a child to not trust their own designs or thinking process. They will learn to mimic a teacher's example, or look at peers 'results' to mimic. We want to foster that "growth mindset" and not have children participate in activities that contribute to developing behaviors associated with a "fixed mindset".
So let's hear from all of you about how you approach providing opportunities for children to develop engineering habits of mind as they design and innovate to solve problems that are important to them!
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Peggy Ashbrook
Early childhood science teacher
Alexandria, VA
NSTA The Early Years columnist, Science and Children
Early Years blogger,
www.nsta.org/earlyyearsAuthor: Science Learning in the Early Years, and
Science Is Simple
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-04-2019 10:25 AM
From: Laura Weilert
Subject: Engineering design thinking--blocks and beyond!
Thanks for covering the E in STEM. I look forward to the archived webinar and wish I could make the live one.
My main question is: how do you honor the design process while directing the focus on the result?
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Laura Weilert
Owner
that Science Fairy
Colorado Spgs CO
Original Message:
Sent: 06-02-2019 09:55 PM
From: Peggy Ashbrook
Subject: Engineering design thinking--blocks and beyond!
I wrote a little bit about this webinar (which will be archived) on the NSTA Early Years blog: http://blog.nsta.org/2019/06/03/working-with-a-dream-team-learning-about-engineering-habits-of-mind/
What were the circumstances where you have seen young children "Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool"? (Engineering Design K-2-ETS1-1, a "by the end of grade 2" performance expectation in the Next Generation Science Standards).
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Peggy Ashbrook
Early childhood science teacher
Alexandria, VA
NSTA The Early Years columnist, Science and Children
Early Years blogger, www.nsta.org/earlyyears
Author: Science Learning in the Early Years, and
Science Is Simple
Original Message:
Sent: 05-19-2019 11:01 AM
From: Peggy Ashbrook
Subject: Engineering design thinking--blocks and beyond!
Do you have questions about teaching engineering habits of mind in early childhood education settings? Join me, Carrie Lynne Draper, and Beth Van Meeteren as we discuss how to support design thinking for children ages 3-8 in a dynamic free webinar, "Supporting Young Children's Creative Thinking Using Problems They Care About: Engineering Design In ECE," on Wednesday June 5, 2019, 2PM Eastern Time, 1.5 hrs long, archived, certificates for attendance.
https://www.earlychildhoodwebinars.com/presentations/supporting-young-childrens-creative-thinking-using-problems-they-care-about-engineering-design-in-ece/
I look forward to hearing about your teaching practices and your questions here in Hello, and during the webinar!
Best wishes,
Peggy
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Peggy Ashbrook
Early childhood science teacher
Alexandria, VA
NSTA The Early Years columnist, Science and Children
Early Years blogger, www.nsta.org/earlyyears
Author: Science Learning in the Early Years, and
Science Is Simple
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