Cary I. Sneider - The Go-To Guide for Engineering Curricula, PreK-5: Choosing and Using the Best Instructional Materials for Your Students

About the Editor

Cary I. Sneider is an associate research professor in the Center for Science Education at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches research methodology to teachers in a masters degree program. In recent years, he served the NRC as design lead for technology and engineering to help develop A Framework for K12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas, which has provided the blueprint for the NGSS. He then played a similar role on the writing team to produce the NGSS, which was released in April 2013. The recognition that teachers would need access to instructional materials to help them meet the new standards led Sneider to develop the current volume, The Go-To Guide for Engineering Curricula PreK5.

Sneider was not always interested in engineeringor at least he didnt know that he was. For as long as he can remember, he was interested in astronomy. He read all he could find about it, and when he was in middle school his father bought him a small telescope. In high school, Sneider built his own telescopes, grinding mirrors, and designing and building mountings. All this time he thought he was doing science. Today, he recognizes that like many scientists, he especially enjoyed the engineering part of the work.

During his junior year at college, Sneider had an opportunity to teach at an Upward Bound program and found that he enjoyed teaching even more than research in astronomy. In subsequent years, he taught science in Maine, Costa Rica, Coalinga California, and the Federated States of Micronesia. He returned to college, this time to obtain a teaching credential and eventually a Ph.D. in science education from the University of California at Berkeley. He spent nearly 30 years in Berkeley, developing instructional materials and running teacher institutes at the Lawrence Hall of Science. He spent another decade as vice president at the Museum of Science in Boston, where he developed a high school curriculum called Engineering the Future, and finally moved to Portland, Oregon, to be closer to children and grandchildren.

During his career, Sneider directed more than 20 federal, state, and foundation grant projects, mostly involving curriculum development and teacher education. His research and development interests have focused on helping students and museum visitors unravel their misconceptions in science, on new ways to link science centers and schools to promote student inquiry, and on integrating engineering and technology education into the K12 curriculum. In 1997, he received the Distinguished Informal Science Education award from the National Science Teachers Association and in 2003 was named National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences for his service on several NRC committees.

Acknowledgments

F irst, I wish to thank the authors of these chapters, not only for taking the time to craft a compelling description of their curriculum, but also for the foresight and persistence that it took to develop instructional materials in engineering, long before there were standards to support their efforts.

Recalling my early education that technology and engineering are allied with science but are also different in important ways, I want to acknowledge my early mentors, Robert Maybury, Harold Foecke, and Alan Friedman, as well as the leaders of the National Center for Technological Literacy at the Museum of Science in Boston, including especially Ioannis Miaoulis, Yvone Spicer, Peter Wong, and Christine Cunningham, and the many teachers and administrators in Massachusetts who were among the early adopters of what we now call Integrated STEM education.

I also appreciate the support of colleagues at Achieve, Inc., including the writers of the NGSS, Stephen Pruitt who led the effort, the brilliant and supportive staff, and the members of the NGSS Lead State Teams, for their steadfast dedication to crafting standards that fully embrace engineering as an equal partner to science. The current leadership of Achieve, Inc. is commended for granting permission to quote extensively from the NGSS.

Thanks also to the extraordinary personnel at the NRC, including the committee members and staff who developed A Framework for K12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas and members of the Board on Science Education, especially Helen Quinn, Linda Katehi, and Heidi Schweingruber, who played crucial roles in the development of new science education standards.

Senior staff of the National Academies Press have also contributed to this work and to science education more broadly by making available free of charge the Framework and NGSS, along with many other important science education reports. The Press has given its permission to quote freely from the Framework and has asked us to publicize the availability of both the free downloads and hardcopy versions of the Framework and NGSS at its website ( http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165 ).

Worthy of special thanks is the generosity of Jan Morrison, president and chief executive officer of Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES), whose major gift provided substantial support for this effort, and to the leadership of Corwin, who also provided financial support above and beyond the costs of publishing.

I also want to acknowledge Robin Najar and Julie Nemer, my editors at Corwin, her assistant, Ariel Price, copy editor Amy Rosenstein, and the many other people at Corwin who made this set of volumes possible.

Although it is somewhat unusual for an editor to thank his readers, I also want to acknowledge your courage for being among the first to help bring the new world of STEM learning into being.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Corwin wishes to acknowledge the following peer reviewers for their editorial insight and guidance.

Joan Baltezore, Science Instructor
West Fargo High School
West Fargo, ND

Arthur H. Camins, Director
Stevens Institute of Technology/CIESE
Charles V. Schaefer School of Engineering
Castle Point on Hudson
Hoboken, NJ

Kelly Cannon, K12 Science Program Coordinator
Washoe County School District
Reno, NV

Mandy Frantti, Physics/Astronomy/Mathematics Teacher
NASA Astrophysics Educator Ambassador
Munising Middle-High School
Munising, MI

Loukea Kovanis-Wilson, Chemistry Instructor
Clarkston Community Schools
Clarkston, MI

Sara Stewart, Educational Technology Specialist
Washoe County School District
Reno, NV

Corwin is committed to improving education for all learners by publishing books and other professional development resources for those serving the field of PreK12 education. By providing practical, hands-on materials, Corwin continues to carry out the promise of its motto: Helping Educators Do Their Work Better.

Engineering Is Elementary

Engineering for Elementary School Students

Christine M. Cunningham, Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts

Teamwork is an important part of engineering design at the elementary level.

Image courtesy of the Museum of Science, Boston.