Promoting Engineering Education in Elementary Schools and Clubs — The PEEESC Program

The Summer Engineering and Science Club at the Havre de Grace Unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County

2008 SEAS Club: Agricultural, Mechanical & Civil Engineering

In the 2008 SEAS club, participants learned about civil engineering and bridge design, while third through fifth grade participants investigated agricultural and mechanical engineering, designing hand pollinators, sailboats, and windmills. The younger club received 12 hours of instructional time over five weeks, while the older club received 26 hours over six weeks. Instructional units were developed by the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) project at the Boston Museum of Science, and trade books were added to these units to enhance students’ learning about engineering and technology.

First and Second grade children in the SEAS club figure out where to put the cable stays for a model suspension bridge (Engineering is Elementary unit: civil engineering).

The older SEAS club group visited the wind turbine at Harford Community College to investigate a real application of wind energy technology. The SEAS club culminated on August 7th, when both groups of children went for a sail on the Skipjack Martha Lewis, learning more about the sails of the boat and the bridges over the Susquehanna.

Dr. Lottero-Perdue watches as children in the third through fifth grade SEAS club race their model sailboats (Engineering is Elementary unit: mechanical engineering).

The Project team consists of:

• Dr. Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, Principal Investigator and Lead Teacher
• Ms. Kristen Wimer, Undergraduate Research Assistant
• Ms. Lauren Franco, Undergraduate Research Assistant

and partners within the Harford County Boys & Girls Clubs.

Funding for the 2008 Summer SEAS Club graciously supplied by the Towson University Faculty Development and Research Committee.

The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Smith Hall, Room 312 (campus map)
Phone: 410-704-2121
Fax: 410-704-2604
E-mail: fcsm@towson.edu