Social-Emotional Skill Building Through Engineering Mindset
Current research shows exciting correlations between Engineering Habits of Mind and social-emotional support and development. The reason? Because when we teach using a Habits-of-Mind approach, we are interested in how children behave when they don’t know an answer, which is where true social-emotional learning occurs. In this introduction into the world of Engineering in Early Learning, we unpack the National Academy of Engineering’s Six Engineering Habits of Mind and explore how to embed each Habit into daily classroom culture. The six Habits are: 1.) Creativity, 2.) Optimism, 3.) Collaboration, 4.) Persistence, 5.) Systems Thinking, and 6.) Conscientiousness. When introduced in early childhood, this vital set of “transferable” skills constructs a framework of brain pathways that serve children in all subject areas, and for the rest of their lives. Learning outcomes include:
- Learn why Engineering Mindset is so important in STEM
- Self-assess to see how you align and where growth can occur.
- Make a quick-reference teaching tool to use immediately.
- Learn how to cultivate and grow each Habits of Mind in your unique learning community.
Most importantly, get excited about how to cultivate “a more thoughtful, cooperative, compassionate generation of people who skillfully work to resolve social, environmental, economic and political problems.” (Costa, 2008), a collective goal we can all get behind!
