Children’s Engineering Teacher Resources

The Works Museum

The Works Museum can enhance your curriculum with a variety of hands-on experiences. Find out how things work in this hands-on, minds-on Museum as you explore optics and images, simple machines, structures, animation and more. The Works Museum’s unique exhibits and hands-on workshops fulfill Minnesota state science and mathematics standards and also create successful, memorable, hands-on learning experiences for your students.

ASEE: American Society for Engineering Education. Useful curriculum ideas and terrific links. Great pamphlet called “Engineering: Go for It.”

Design Squad: This TV program produced by WGBH Boston features eight diverse high school students who tackle a series of intriguing and sometimes wacky design challenges for real clients in a fast-paced team environment. Not showing on TV in Minnesota, but you can download the episodes and excellent activity and educator guides from their website:

Also check out the elementary engineering activities on other PBS shows:

Building Big

Engineering Education Service Center: stocks books, supplies, movies & resources for teaching about engineering.

Engineering is Elementary (EiE): The Museum of Science in Boston is creating this research-based, standards-based, and classroom-tested curriculum that integrates engineering and technology concepts and skills with elementary science, social science and language topics.

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA): is the professional organization for technology, innovation, design, and engineering educators. Published “Standards for Technological Literacy,” the inspiration for many engineering standards nationally. Great links and resources include e-newsletters, films, publications and an elementary curriculum called I³: Invention, Innovation and Inquiry.

Pitsco: A catalog packed with engineering kits and materials.

Project Lead the Way: Comprehensive engineering curriculum for secondary schools, with new elementary lessons.

The Science Source: A favorite source of materials and books for hands-on engineering. Their catalog has a particularly good section of elementary engineering books from England.