Engineering Student Agency and Opportunity

The world needs problem solvers, and providing students with intentional opportunities to engineer solutions to authentic problems in our classrooms is a powerful way to develop these skills in our learners. In many cases, young students are already naturally creative problem solvers. They engineer the world around them every day. If we can foster and encourage this practice in them at a young age, they will not only be more apt to continue being confident in solving problems, they will also develop many transferable skills and be exposed to many potential careers.

Christine Cunningham, a Professor of Education and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, has launched Youth Engineering Solutions (YES) to develop curricula to help the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers become excited about learning. She joins us on this podcast episode to unpack the topic of integrating engineering into K-12 classrooms. Visit AVID Open Access to learn more.