Engineering Essentials
Engineering Essentials units may be used on their own or can be used sequentially with their companion computer science unit. These companion units share storybook characters and related design challenges.
Engineering and Computer Science Units
Engineering Essentials®
Grade 1
Engineering Unit: Designing Lighting Systems
Students explore how light behaves and then use mirrors to reflect light into a dark box.
Engineering Essentials®
Grade 2
Engineering Unit: Designing Hand Pollinators
Students explore plants and insect pollinators and design their own hand pollinators.
Engineering Essentials®
Grade 3
Engineering Unit: Designing Maglev Systems
Students investigate magnets and then design magnetic levitation transportation systems.
Engineering Essentials®
Grade 4
Engineering Unit: Designing Solar Ovens
Students learn about thermal energy transfer, collect data about insulation, and then design solar ovens.
Engineering Essentials®
Grade 5
Engineering Unit: Cleaning an Oil Spill
Students explore how pollution threatens ecosystems and design a process to clean up a model oil spill.
Standards Alignment
See how EiE connects to state and national standards.
We’ve developed each EiE Engineering unit with careful attention to educational standards in both science and technology/engineering. Computer Science units align with state and national computer science standards.
Integrated Computer Science Resources
EiE has worked closely with teachers to develop a suite of resources for each unit. Student resources and family letters are provided in both English and Spanish.
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Teacher Guide | Contains five lessons* with a common structure:
*Some lessons span multiple sessions. |
| Classroom Resources | Differentiated student handouts and printable classroom resources for implementing the unit. |
| Storybook | Sets the context for the challenge through a storybook character who is solving a similar engineering challenge. |
| Teaching Supports | Resources to meet the needs of diverse learners: Discussion Supports, English Learner Strategies, Alternative Lesson Progressions |
| Student Supports | Illustrated resources to support student understanding: Vocabulary Cards, Storybook Character Cards, Materials Reference Sheets, Engineering Design Process Posters |
| Assessment Tools | Lesson rubrics and unit assessments help to evaluate students’ growth as engineers. |
| Family Letter | Introduces the unit to families and invites participation of family and community members. |
| Classroom Videos | Show each lesson being implemented in classrooms.* |
| How-To Videos | Show how to prepare materials.* |
| Materials Kit | Supplies the physical materials needed to teach each lesson. |
* Not available for Grade 1 – Designing Lighting Systems