Office of Academic Enhancement

The participating six- and seven-year olds perked to attention each time program teachers called out “Little Engineers!” They explored what matter is (everything around them!), the three kinds of matter, and physical and chemical changes in matter.

The five schools participating in the ChiS&E “Little Engineer” program during the 2009-2010 school year were Dvorak, Miles Davis, Pershing East, Wells Prep, and Eli Whitney. In July the program will add two more schools—Spencer and Woodlawn—and will serve 70 kindergarten students and their parents.

ChiS&E is modeled after an award-winning program in Detroit—Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP)—founded in 1976 by Mr. Kenneth Hill. Hill retired in 2004 and moved back to his home town of Chicago soon after. In 2008 he launched ChiS&E with a small grant from The Chicago Community Trust and major support from JPMorgan Chase Foundation. ChiS&E will serve students in grades K – 12, instilling in them a love of science and engineering, while building their knowledge and experience in these fields of study.

While Hill had an interest in bringing the DAPCEP model to Chicago, it was CPS Chief Educational Officer, Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins, who facilitated his connection with Chicago schools, introducing Hill to staff in the CPS Office of Academic Enhancement (OAE) in spring 2008. Eason-Watkins grew up in Detroit and had learned of DAPCEP from a childhood friend there. When she had the opportunity, she took the step to connect Hill with CPS.

Initial support from JPMorgan Chase enabled CPS teachers to travel to Detroit to observe the DAPCEP model first-hand, and Detroit master teachers to come to Chicago to support CPS teachers in developing their curriculum. Chase has continued its support of the program in 2010. Additional support has been provided by CPS and the Steans Family Foundation.

At the end of 2009, ChiS&E received a three-year grant totaling $1,024,019, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide engineering activities for children in grades K – 3 and their parents from schools across Chicago’s south and west sides. Each year a grade will be added, and a new cohort of kindergarten students will be welcomed.

The new Chicago program takes a step beyond its Detroit counterpart by adding a “cyber learning” component—students and parents will be using computers, cameras, hand-held devices, a website, and blogs to document their activities and share them with their school classrooms and their families.

The Chicago program curriculum starts with the “The Little Civil Engineer” at the kindergarten level, followed by the “The Little Chemical Engineer” (first grade), the “The Little Electrical Engineer” (second grade), and the “The Little Mechanical Engineer” (third grade). Experience of the Detroit program has shown that early elementary students can grasp engineering concepts and that parent involvement is essential to building and maintaining student knowledge and interest over time.

ChiS&E’s NSF grant was developed jointly by ChiS&E and OAE staff. Lead teachers in the OAE technology and engineering programs at Miles Davis, Dvorak, and Eli Whitney helped develop the project’s cyber learning activities, which won high praise from NSF reviewers.

The NSF grant program that supports ChiS&E—Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST)—is intended to address the shortage of U.S. professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In Detroit, students who continue through the program have completed high school and, to a high degree, majored in science or engineering in college and chosen those fields as careers.

For information about the program, visit www.chiprep.org.