Feature: All in the Family
(The following article, by Margaret Loftus, originally appeared in the October, 2009 Prism, published by ASEE.)
After participating in a recent K-12 engineering workshop, Emma Sarazin stopped to examine a soda machine, pondering how it worked. Just a few weeks earlier, the 10-year-old had only the vaguest idea of engineering – “something to do with cars.” But now she might even consider it as a future career. Tina Sarazin, who joined her daughter for the family program, was impressed: “I knew Emma would enjoy it, but I was surprised at how much it made her stop and think.”
From LEGO® engineering to robotics clubs, outreach programs for K-12 students in STEM activities rarely have required much of parents beyond chauffeuring and the occasional fee. But now that’s changing, thanks to a movement that sees parent involvement as key to solving the U.S. engineering crisis.
Predicated on the influence many parents have on their children’s career choices, “family engineering” joins parents and their elementary-age kids with faculty and students, and, often, professional engineers, to work on basic hands-on projects designed to spark interest in engineering. Introducing STEM activities early on is crucial to expanding the ranks of engineers, proponents believe, since the path to the advanced high school math courses required by most engineering schools is often begun when children are still in elementary school. By including parents in these activities, that interest is more likely to be supported down the road. “The number one thing we can do as engineers is convince parents that engineering is a viable thing for their children,” argues Elizabeth Parry, project director for RAMP-UP (Recognizing Accelerated Math Potential in Underrepresented People), an outreach program at North Carolina State University that includes family STEM activities. “If we don’t, we’re not going to get more kids into engineering.”
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