Introducing engineering to science education in Europe
Based on the proven Engineering is Elementary programme developed by Boston's Museum of Science (BMOS), the project ENGINEER(opens in new window) (Breaking new ground in the science education realm) took actions to support widespread adoption of innovative methods of science teaching. To achieve this, it provided extensive teacher training on inquiry-based methods in a European context. Comprising 10 science museums and 10 elementary schools in 10 European and Associate Countries, the consortium advanced inquiry-based science education by introducing engineering design challenges as its core feature. The team developed 10 different engineering challenges in 10 different engineering fields connected to the science curricula taught in European primary schools. Challenges were carefully selected for relevance to students in the participating countries. Teacher guides and teacher training programmes were used to support all engineering school units. Additionally, museum partners developed museum programmes for school visits as well as workshops on engineering topics for the general public. All materials have been translated into 10 different languages and are available on the project website, on Scientix and on partners' websites. A democratic evaluation process was conducted to assess the experiences, impacts and effects at all levels. Particular emphasis was placed on young learners. This action helped to revise and modify the materials later in the project. An extensive outreach activity programme was implemented in each country to introduce engineering school units to more teachers, teacher trainers and schools. Its aim was to encourage teachers to make use of the engineering units in their classrooms. More than 1 000 schools took part, with 1 400 teachers taking part in training and over 25 000 people participating engineering workshops. ENGINEER was dedicated to effecting a change in attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and maths education (STEM). Results have raised awareness among local and national policymakers and European decision makers of the benefits of introducing engineering into the teaching of science in schools and museums. Along with a strong focus on dissemination and the organisation of over 500 advocacy activities, project work has helped raise interest in the engineering part of STEM education. Results are slated to boost students' literacy and interest in science as well as the ability of teachers to further science education in Europe. The project’s video(opens in new window) is online.