Engineering Drawing - 12-week STEM drafting curriculum for elementary students

An innovative and FUN 12-week engineering drawing curriculum that brings advanced drafting and STEM concepts and presents them in an easy-to-understand and accessible way.

Intended for elementary through early middle school students.

Written by a Mechanical Engineer and homeschooling mom of three, this curriculum fills in a major gap in the education field: engineering for younger students. Most engineering drafting programs available are aimed at late middle school, high school, or even college students. However, research shows that spatial thinking skills are best developed at an early age. The skills fostered in this program translate to a variety of subjects and disciplines, including core subjects like math and science, but also reaching niche life-skills like mapping, mechanics, architecture, design, and sculpture. If you've ever had to assemble a piece of furniture, you know that being able to effectively read a diagram helps to make the process a whole lot easier. This curriculum offers elementary-aged students a chance to develop and refine their spatial thinking, and this ability to manipulate, create, and communicate designs will offer them multi-disciplinary advantages that aid in their future success.

What's Included:

• The Student Workbook - a colorful, engaging workbook that introduces new concepts and allows space for students to practice drafting.
• Teacher's Manual - a detailed manual that allows ANYONE to teach engineering to students. Each lesson is explained in detail, including providing estimated time for each activity, tips for checking work, and examples of correct and incorrect drafting skills.

The Schedule:
This curriculum includes 12 engineering-drawing lessons, presenting one new concept a week. Each lesson will take 45 minutes to complete, 40 minutes for the core part of the lesson, and 5 minutes to disassemble and sort the block builds.

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Orthographic Views

Lesson 2 - Object Lines

Lesson 3 - Hidden Lines

Lesson 4 - Additional Views

Lesson 5 - Bill of Materials (BOM)

Lesson 6 - Title Block

Lesson 7 - Notes

Lesson 8 - Cross Section Views

Lesson 9 - Dimensioning

Lesson 10 - Isometric View

Lesson 11 - Review

Lesson 12 - Assemblies

Materials Required:

• One student workbook per child (pdf included)
• Teacher's manual (pdf included)
• Blocks that can be connected vertically and horizontally (i.e. PixBrix for children with intermediate fine motor skills or Unifix cubes for students with beginner fine motor skills)
• One block mini-figure per student (their Buddy)
• Sectioned container for sorting bricks
• Pencil and colored pencils
• 2 file folders for students to cover up secret builds

Class breakdown:

• Each class will begin by introducing a new concept and having a brief worksheet to demonstrate skills.
• Most weeks, a SECRET BUILD is included. During secret builds, students use the provided constraints to construct something in real life using their blocks, but no peeking! Builds are hidden from their partner's eyes. Students then draft their creation using the skills learned that week. Drawings are passed to classmates who then interpret the engineering drawing and build it themselves. Students compare their builds with the original as a self-check of both drafting and interpreting drawings. After all, learning to read engineering drawings is just as important as learning to draft!
• Classes end with BUILD YOUR WORLD challenges. Students are instructed to build something for their Buddy (their mini-figure). Builds includes dressers, beds, toilets, ovens, treadmills, pets, and more. Students can flex their creativity as they make furniture, accessories, and friends for their mini figure.
• At the end of the course, students recreate their favorite Build Your World subassemblies to make a room or world for their Buddy.

This curriculum involves advanced concepts yet presents these concepts to young students in an easy, fun way. It lays the foundation for a variety of STEM skills, including spatial thinking, problem-solving, fine motor skills, mental manipulation, and creativity.

This course can be used in classrooms, at home (modifications are offered for single-student classes), or in homeschool co-ops. Students should have basic reading and writing skills to be successful in this course.