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Brian and Jeff talk with Ann McMahon about sharing one’s passion for engineering with pre-college students.

• Brian has experienced the glassy-eyed look of others listening to his engineering stories.
• Our guest for this episode is Ann McMahon, an aerospace engineer who advises educators on how best to share science and engineering with K-12 students.
• Ann originally wanted to be an astrophysicist, but ended up in the aerospace industry after acquiring degrees in mechanical engineering.
• After a career with McDonnell Douglas, our guest started volunteering in her son’s classroom; this led to an interest in educational matters.
• For the past decade, Ann has been working with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Science Resources Center as a National Faculty member for a program called Leadership Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER).
• Some existing programs for introducing engineering into the classroom include Project Lead the Way, and Engineering is Elementary.
• Brian wonders if engineering will ever be taught as its own subject; Ann is hopeful that schools are moving their curricula in this direction.
• “Wicked” problems are complex issues that have no “right” or “wrong” answers; and each possible solution presents even more potentially unforeseen consequences.
• In comparison, “tame” problems are definitively right or wrong, and lack the complexity of real-world issues.
• Having right or wrong answers, rather than evaluating tradeoffs, misses the essence of the engineering profession.
• It will likely take time for educators to determine how to assign grades in the absence of easily-defended solutions.
• An effort is being made in many classrooms to emphasize non-cognitive skills, such as collaborating, taking on the perspectives of others, arguing from evidence, and getting along with other team members.
• Susan Cain has recently released her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.
• The concept of an “object world” is introduced in Designing Engineers by Louis L. Bucciarelli.
• Ann recently gave a TEDx talked titled Engineering Empathy (use password tedxgladstone).
• We learn best when we are supported by relationships with important others who help us stretch to master new challenges and cope with potentially overwhelming situations.
• Relationships that a child has with a teacher and peers at school are influenced by the child’s earlier experiences.
• Our ability to learn is influenced by our mental state, as indicated in the following diagram.
  
• Ann believes that engineering offers unique opportunities for students to acquire important cognitive and social skills, including a chance to practice emotional regulation.
• Design competitions are great for some students, but others may not thrive in such an environment.
• Sharing what we know, at an appropriate level, is the best way to convey our interest in engineering with students.
• Ann can be reached at annpmcmahon *at* gmail.com; or found online at AnnPMcMahon.com.

Thanks to PiK Yeoh for the photo titled “Child-craft.” Podcast theme music provided by Paul Stevenson