22 | Summer 2017 “Go! Go! Go! Go!”, chanted the 2nd grade students as they eagerly watched their student-created windmill blades catch the wind and lift small weights. Parents, teachers and students in the hallway peered into the classroom, drifting in to see what all the excitement was about. The students’ enthusiasm was the result of an engineering project all second graders participated in called Catching the Wind: Designing Windmills, an Engineering is Elementary (EIE) unit. In this unit, students take on the role of mechanical engineers as they participate in activities to develop an understanding of how wind can be used to do work. They implement each step of the Engineering Design Process to create sails and windmill blades that utilize wind power. This involves students asking questions about the problem, imagining different solutions, planning and creating their designs, testing their designs, and then improving their original designs. Children are natural-born engineers. They love to build and take things apart. They like to see how things work. Engineering calls for children to apply what they know about science and math, and because engineering activities are based on real- world technologies, they help children to see how disciplines such as math and science are relevant to their own lives. In the EIE unit, students work in pairs as they learn that engineers work cooperatively as a team to solve problems. Second grade student Lauren Graham reflected on how she and her partner, James Lewis implemented the Engineering Design Process. Lauren wrote, “I worked on a windmill blade with James. The first try we did, we had four blades. It lifted fifteen weights. We improved it by taking one blade away. It did a really good job! It lifted twenty-one weights! I learned that it has to be at an angle or it will not catch the wind.” As students watched and cheered for each other’s windmills, they discussed what was By: Susan Ferguson, Marvella Taylor, Rose Marie Cook, and Marie MacKay, Lower School teachers CAMPUS NEWS Engineering is Elementary March 2-5, 2017 Greensboro Day School Middle School presents