Inspiring Engineers

A while ago I wrote about a community learning program for children during COVID school closures that offered active, outdoor learning experiences to stimulate creativity through science and art. Now that the children who were served by this program are back in school, similar programs are being offered after school. I visited one recently and came away inspired.

The afternoon I was there second graders were being led by an engineer in a boat-building exercise. I arrived after they had taken a walk in the woods to gather materials for their boats. There were piles of sticks, bark, pine cones and leaves in front of each group. Now they were in the “design phase.” Working together, they had to determine the type of boat they wanted and what it would be made out of. Then they had to draw it.

Once the design was complete they had the opportunity to shop for additional boat-building materials such as plastic wrap and tape. Each group was given a supply of pennies, with the opportunity to earn more by demonstrating how they had collaborated. Once they built their boats, they would test them, redesign, and rebuild as needed.

Although there were certainly disagreements among the children, some of which required adult intervention, overall I witnessed enthusiasm and focus on the task.

My first thought upon seeing this process in action was how much teams I had worked with as an adult would have benefited from a similar learning experience. My second was that perhaps if I had been introduced to science in this way I might have wanted to learn more, rather than avoiding every non-required science course.

The Flying Cloud Institute and its partners are demonstrating that this kind of experiential learning works for children of all backgrounds and abilities. It builds on children’s natural curiosity, which is so often stifled in traditional “school learning.” In the last math class I ever took I was told I didn’t need to understand “why,” just memorize the formulas. These children are encouraged to wonder why and I am confident there are future scientists among them.