Engineering curriculum to be taught to primary teachers

The national science and technology centre, Questacon, has partnered with the Museum of Science in Boston to present professional development workshops on engineering.

This will be accompanied with resource kits for 1000 primary school teachers across Australia.

The Engineering is Elementary (EiE) curriculum, developed by the EiE team at the Boston museum will be rolled out over the next three years through Questacon in Canberra. It is aligned to the Australian Curriculum Learning Areas and is supported by funding from the Australian Defence Force.

The program will present hands-on engineering learning experiences, designed to create a generation of new problem solvers.

EiE will aim to introduce learners to the engineering design process and build a strong foundation of critical thinking and inspiration to solve real-world STEM challenges.

In addition to the workshops and resource kits, schools will be able to invite engineers into the classroom and give young engineering learners an holistic educational experience.

Professor Graham Durant, Questacon director said Australia’s future as a knowledge economy depends on emerging generations being engaged with foundation STEM skills.

“Students benefiting from this program will start high school with an understanding of how engineering can solve problems and [they will] hopefully consider engineering as a possible career path,” he said.

The first phase of the implementation of Engineering is Elementary commenced in September, with the official launched planned for early 2020.