Panel urges engineering added to curriculum

Education Week: Panel Urges Engineering Be Added to Curriculum

Engineering studies, or lessons on how products are designed and built, have the potential to bolster student engagement and understanding in math and science, despite the topic’s relatively modest and undefined presence in the nation’s schools.

That’s the conclusion, outlined in a study unveiled today, of an expert committee charged with evaluating the status of engineering lessons in K-12 schools and judging their effectiveness.

The report was released by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council, independent, nonprofit entities that are chartered by Congress to provide advice to federal lawmakers on science and technology issues.

Engineering lessons can potentially “act as a catalyst for a more interconnected and effective K-12 STEM education system in the United States,” say the authors, referring to science, technology, engineering, and math education. “Achieving [that] outcome will require significant rethinking of what STEM education can and should be.”


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2 Comments

  1. Zomg! Finally!

    Our high school luckily has an engineering program (I attend Shaker Heights High School). I kinda wish it was more intense but I am happy that we have it.

  2. I think this is actually a very good and important idea. I was interested all my life in engineering, only I didn’t really understand that it was Engineering I was interested in until I was already in college. Thankfully I’m now working toward an EE/ME degree. I could have saved a lot of time if I had really understood back in my earlier school days that it’s Engineers that do all the amazing things I’ve always wanted to do.

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