The argument is that schools and universities have a responsibility to teach science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects) to help inspire a new generation of engineers.
While it’s true that these are key pre-requisites for a career in engineering, a recent report by the Royal Academy of Engineering has shown undergraduates do not just need to be adept at maths or science to be able to excel in this field; it’s the mindset of students and their ability to “think like an engineer” that matters just as much.
So, what exactly is ‘thinking like an engineer’? Here, Alan Lusty, CEO of adi Group, discusses what this concept involves, and how schools, parents and businesses all play a crucial role in nurturing these thought processes
The bottom line is that engineers think differently from the rest of the world. The Royal Academy of Engineering report identifies six ‘engineering habits of mind’ that children commonly possess – systems thinking, adapting, problem finding, creative problem solving, visualising and improving – but, arguably, the UK needs to review its education system if it wants to embed these habits and produce more engineers.
Schools need to examine how they are teaching students, but this doesn’t require enormous change or upheaval of the existing curriculum. Encouraging children, right from primary school age, to explore through playful experimentation whilst keeping it central to innovation and creativity is enough to help spark these thought processes.
Teaching strategies that encourage making, dismantling and trial-and-error problem solving can be as simple as allowing children to design and make their own paper aeroplanes and encouraging them to question and refine the process. For example, how can they make it lighter? Will this make it fly a further or shorter distance? Or perhaps test their problem-solving skills by asking them to take apart a ball-point pen and see how many different practical uses for it they can come up with.
By setting a task that requires the student to problem-solve, rather than taking a rigorously structured ‘follow the instructions’ approach, these ways of thinking will become more ingrained in young people’s minds as they develop. Even parents play a vital role in this, and can help by introducing their child to construction-based toys such as building blocks, rather than sitting them in front of the television for entertainment.
Engineering is a varied profession that contributes 26% of the country’s gross value, but it’s one of many industries facing a skills crisis that threatens the country’s future. Engineering habits of mind are vital for the future growth of the UK economy, whatever the industry sector; for engineering is rooted in curiosity, creative problem-solving, adapting and improving, all of which we see young children demonstrate.
Unfortunately, a knowledge-focused curriculum can all too easily leave these habits of mind undeveloped. Therefore, it’s crucial for us to reframe the challenge of not having enough engineers – it’s not just about which subjects students study, it’s about ‘thinking like an engineer’. That is, thinking of creative ways to problem-solve, and insight from those already working in the industry really brings this to the fore.
If we see engineering education in terms of desirable engineering habits of mind as well as interacting with the real thing; and if we offer schools high-quality professional learning schemes alongside engineers; then we can ensure more students have a high-quality school taste of what it is to be an engineer so that more choose to study engineering beyond school and potentially become engineers.
adi Group is tackling this head on with its pre-apprenticeship scheme for 14-16 year olds, aimed at getting boys and girls learning the core engineering skills within an accredited 2-year program at the company’s workshops. The long-term goal is to launch similar schemes to younger children, right down to primary school age, thus appropriately getting children to ‘think like an engineer’.
But we need more companies to follow our lead.
The adi pre-apprenticeship model is available, free of charge, for any employer that wishes to introduce a similar scheme. Ultimately, adi’s vision is to reach out to thousands of children via networking like-minded schools and businesses to interact with each other, thus truly nurturing the natural curiosity of children and equipping the next generation of engineers with the skills they need to carry the industry forward.
