Early Start Engineering

Why engineering education should start at grade 10 and how to do it.

Harley Myler, Ph.D., P.E.

Professor & Chair of Electrical Engineering
Mitchell Endowed Chair
Phillip M. Drayer Department of Electrical Engineering
Lamar University

SCIENCE

TECHNOLOGY

MATHEMATICS
ENGINEERING

STEM
4

Robert N. Charette/IEEE Spectrum

30 Aug 2013

The nature of STEM work has also changed dramatically in the past several
decades.
In engineering, for instance, your job is no longer linked to a company but to a
funded project.
Project Engineering
Long-term employment with a single company has been replaced by a series of
de facto temporary positions that can quickly end when a project ends or the
market shifts.
Project Management
To be sure, engineers in the 1950s were sometimes laid off during recessions, but
they expected to be hired back when the economy picked up.
The great engineering crash of the 70s.

That rarely happens today. And unlike in decades past, employers seldom offer
generous education and training benefits to engineers to keep them current, so
out-of-work engineers find they quickly become technologically obsolete.
Life-Long Learning

Robert N. Charette/IEEE Spectrum

30 Aug 2013

Whats perhaps most perplexing about the claim of a STEM worker shortage is that many
studies have directly contradicted it, including reports from Duke University, the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Rand
Corp.

Many children born today are likely to live to be 100 and to have not just one
distinct career but two or three by the time they retire at 80.
Rather than spending our scarce resources on ending a mythical STEM shortage, we
should figure out how to make all children literate in the sciences, technology, and
the arts to give them the best foundation to pursue a career and then transition to
new ones.
And instead of continuing our current global obsession with STEM shortages,
industry and government should focus on creating more STEM jobs that are
Engineering Globalization
enduring and satisfying as well.

Robert N. Charette/IEEE Spectrum

30 Aug 2013

If the STEM crisis is a myth, why

promote engineering?
Engineers design things and they solve
problems.
Engineers are essential to the health of a
technological society.
Can we ever have enough engineers?

What differentiates STEM fields?

Science and Math are disciplines of discovery.
Technology is the discipline of the application of
tools and methods.
Engineering is the discipline of design
but not like art.

Nothing in technology makes sense except

in the light of Engineering.

Why is engineering not like art?

Engineering is controlled design, art
is interpretive.

Art

does not need science & math.

What does it take to become an engineer?

A student must become a scientist first.

Math
Physics & Chemistry
EE
Humanities

Why is

th
10

grade so important?

If students miss math and science prep courses, they will

be at a disadvantage for engineering study.
An engineering course in tenth grade will reinforce any
potential interest in engineering as a career so that the
student can make the right choices in the junior year.
By the time the senior year arrives, decisions have
already been made.

What makes a student want to be an engineer?

Engineering is a great profession.

There
is the satisfaction
of watching a figment of the imagination
o
problem
solving
emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves
to realization
in stone
metal or energy.mechanisms
Then it brings homes to
o
interest
inorcomplex
men or women. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to
o
goodofat
the comforts
life.abstract thinking
o
This helping
is the engineer's high privilege--Herbert Hoover
31st President of the United States (19291933)
o leaving a mark

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

Engineering Roadmap
Promote problem-solving skills
Encourage observation and experiment
Encourage abstract thinking
Elementary Legos, Tinker-Toys, other construction sets.
Middle-to-8th grade define what engineering really is; i.e., not operating a locomotive,
but a profession of problem solving.
9th Grade this is the beginning of Science defined by math (algebra). This is when
students should begin to be taught how science (to include math) impacts technology.
10th Grade Introduction to Engineering:
-- robotics (systems)
-- water purification (chemistry problem solving)
-- energy (Physics problem solving)
-- etc

Wait, arent we already doing this?

Promote problem-solving skills
Encourage observation and experiment
Encourage abstract thinking

Not in an engineering way.

Unlike medicine and law, most students do not know
what engineers do let alone how to become one.
No one should ever, ever take a career for the
moneyexcept for financiers, but they rarely are
interested in the money itself!

The Career Engineering Roadmap aims to promote the vast possibilities of career
development opportunities for those with an engineering background. Designed as a 90minute seminar targeted at junior and senior engineering undergraduates and emerging
young engineering professionals, the program aims to map out the career choices of
emerging engineers using three key principles:
CER Principle 1 - Engineering is more than a degree. Engineering is a way of thinking.
CER Principle 2 Engineering is a foundational skill-set, providing multifaceted career
choices, including those outside the realm of traditional engineering disciplines.
CER Principle 3 Engineering is a career path that can be planned and strategized.
Individuals with engineering skills are empowered with the capability and the agility to
adapt to the changing needs of the contemporary global economy.

Thank you!