T492 – Engineering in Early Childhood
This course focuses on the process of young children’s understanding of the designed world through an engineering lens. Children in pre-kindergarten through grade three are the age period covered in the course. Students will learn about the nature, the processes, and the methods of engineering work in early years of life, including engineering principles and design process, the importance of knowing materials and their properties, and role of failure in engineering design. The course emphasizes promoting engineering practices and habits of mind development in the early years, using children’s constructive and dramatic play as contexts for engineering, and integrating the engineering design with other STEM disciplines.