Museum’s new Engineering Curriculum for PreK students, Wee Engineer, Earns Prestigious Industry Recognition
BOSTON, MA (May 7, 2019) - The Museum of Science, Boston is thrilled to announce today that the nation’s only engineering curriculum for preK students, Wee Engineer, was named a 2019 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best PreK / Early Childhood Learning Solution category. Award finalists represent applications, products, and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services, and related technologies across the preK-20 sector.
Wee Engineer — part of EiE, the award-winning engineering curricula program from the Museum of Science, Boston — engages children as young as 3 in structured problem solving that sets them up for success in school and life. Comprised of four design challenges, it eases learners into the worlds of science and technology and guides them through an age-appropriate, three-step engineering design process — Explore, Create and Improve — as they design a technology that solves a problem. Wee Engineer engages children in active, hands-on, inquiry-based engineering projects that foster children’s agency as engineers and that are flexible enough to meet the needs and abilities of different kinds of learners. It gives young children the opportunity to embrace engineering before stereotypes about “who can engineer” take hold, and is designed to fit within the existing routines of preschool and preK classrooms.
The EiE program, which now includes curricula that cover the entirety of preK through grade 8 in both school and after school settings, has been created to help build a generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers — the world over. Across the United States, the program reaches 1.3 million students and 44,000 teachers annually, and is now available in over 30 countries around the world.
“We are beyond proud that Wee Engineer has been named a finalist in the 2019 CODiE awards,” said Annette Sawyer, Vice President of the Education Division at the Museum of Science, Boston. “With the EiE curricula, our goal is to create a generation of problem solvers and inspire students to the wonders of engineering. Being recognized as a CODiE finalist from SIIA — an organization that represents the education and business technology industries — demonstrates that leaders know we must expose all children to engineering when they are young to build a diverse engineering and science workforce.”
The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries and have recognized product excellence for more than 30 years. The awards offer 76 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. Wee Engineer was honored as one of 139 finalists across the 32 education technology categories.
“The 2019 CODIE Award finalists represent the finest in innovation and creativity in educational technology,” said President Jeff Joseph at SIIA. “These breakthrough products are opening doors for learners of all ages by developing and utilizing new technologies to respond to diverse student and educator needs.”
The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.
Winners will be announced during a CODiE Award Celebration at the Ed Tech Industry Conference & CODiE Awards in San Francisco on June 11.
Details about each finalist are listed at https://www.siia.net/codie/2019-Finalists.
About EiE
Launched in 2003, EiE is an award-winning preK-8 engineering program from the Museum of Science, Boston, one of the world's largest science centers and New England's most attended cultural institution. EiE reaches 1.3 million students each year, and has been used in all 50 states and in over 20 countries. Its research-based, hands-on engineering curricula were designed to create a generation of problem solvers. EiE introduces learners to the engineering design process to build a strong foundation of critical thinking and inspire them to solve real-world challenges. With EiE, educators and students learn to apply an engineering mindset across disciplines—in the classroom and in out-of-school settings. A commitment to equity and access is a foundational idea in EiE’s curriculum design, professional development, and research. EiE engages all learners and empowers students and educators to discover their inner engineer. Visit: https://www.eie.org/.
About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards
The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit www.siia.net/CODiE.
About Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)
SIIA is an umbrella association representing 800+ technology, data and media companies globally. Industry leaders work through SIIA’s divisions to address issues and challenges that impact their industry segments with the goal of driving innovation and growth for the industry and each member company. This is accomplished through in-person and online business development opportunities, peer networking, corporate education, intellectual property protection and government relations. For more information, visit www.siia.net.
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