Stimulating ingenuity and creativity is the purpose of having engineers visit classrooms and work STEM projects with kids. Third graders in 180 classrooms Wyoming were visited by engineers as part of Engineers Week.
According to executive director of the Wyoming Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Shannon Stanfill, the number of students reached this year is double the number of 2016.
In Jackson, Brian Lenz visited Bari Bucholz’s second and third grade classes, showing them how to build a car with straws, mints, and popsicle sticks. Lenz is an engineer for the town of Jackson. “They were really excited,” Bucholz said. “Some of them remembered it from last year.”
Engineers Week is now in its second year, and is an effort to involve children in STEM subjects at a young age. “It’s semi-controlled chaos,” laughed Lenz.
“We don’t just drive trains,” Lenz told the children. “We make roads, toys, sewer systems — you name it. Our goal in coming to the schools is to get you guys interested in engineering early on. Lots of you know you want to be a fireman or a doctor. But hopefully after all of this you’ll say, ‘I want to be an engineer when I grow up.’”
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