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January 5

Today I am speaking at Leaphart Elementary which is just starting the Leaphart Engineering Arts Program (LEAP) as a magnet school.  I arrive at the school and I am having a wonderful conversation with the principal when the news comes that the gas line has been broken by construction workers while working on renovations.  While there is no concern of an imminent explosion, there will be no heat for the faculty meeting. As I am setting up you can feel the temperature dropping and teachers are going to get their coats.
 
Leaphart is expanding and renovating because it is an older school that was designed when “open-school” architecture was the rage.  The principal decried the fact that several classrooms were only separated by retractable walls, some of which you can see over.  Apparently some grade school classes disturb adjacent classes from time to time.  Can you imagine that?  I am sure I never was a disruption in grade school in my individual class and definitely would not have been disruptive enough to bother another class...Wait, I better check with my grade school teachers on that.  They may have a different recollection.  I do remember that some of my teachers had an alternative use for rulers and applied that application to me a time or two.
 
I think the retro auditorium is neat.  It is semi-circular in shape with cascading, carpeted, large steps leading down to a small polygon shaped stage.  As I am walking across the stage I can imagine myself falling off the edge.  Slowly the shivering masses enter the room.  An after school meeting in a progressively colder room is not conducive to paying attention let alone feigning interest.  The topic I have been asked to speak about today is, “why we need to have an engineering magnet school at the elementary level.”   I suspect there must be some doubters in the audience given the topic I am asked to discuss.  Given the temperature, time, and subject, this may not be as invigorating as other talks I have given.
 
Engineering can engage elementary students by providing hands-on, real-world experiences that motivate them to want to learn more about the application of math and science concepts.   Learning follows and relevance allows for more rigorous material to be covered.  One of the questions I am asked just before speaking is, “Do elementary students really need to consider engineering at the elementary level?”  This reminds me of the Jesuit maxim, "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man."  A shaping of a child’s future begins early and is more easily shaped at this point than later in life.
 
Furthermore, the skill set that the business community and society wants can be developed through this concept whether the students ever become engineers. We need to develop students that: utilize knowledge; evaluate and interpret data; recognize, create and solve problems; effectively communicate; work as part of a multidisciplinary team; develop techniques and skills necessary for the 21st century; realize the need for, and engage in, lifelong learning.  All of which can be applied in a myriad of vocational and academic fields.  So, YES I do see the advantages to a well developed magnet school for elementary students.
 
We need to develop critical thinking skills in our students so that they try to see the value in another’s view, even if they discard it later after due deliberation.  These critical thinking skills need to start to be developed early in life and fostered throughout. 
 
Whether it is an engineering magnet school, arts magnet school, or any school for that matter, we need to be assisting students to learn how to think more effectively by coalescing problem solving, creative thinking and critical thinking.  In all areas of education and at all levels we must enrich the thinking skills of students in order to better prepare them to succeed in the future.
 
"We should be teaching students how to think. Instead, we are teaching them what to think." -- Clement and Lochhead, 1980, Cognitive Process Instruction.