Engineering Books for Kids
The future is in science, engineering and technology.
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Help your kids get comfortable with these concepts.
The 3 keys to introducing engineering concepts to the next generation.
1. FAMILIARITY
Humans are wired to avoid the unknown. They don't need the technical detail but making engineering concepts familiar increase the odds of understanding in the future.
2. FAIRY TALE
We remember stories from when we were kids. It sticks with us through rhyme and has encoded truths underneath. What if those truths contained engineering concepts?
3. FAMILY
Kids are subconsciously influenced by friends and family. Surrounding them with support and positive energy around engineering will help not just understand, but thrive.
Why I Write Engineering Books for Kids
When my son was born I thought long about his education and future. One thing I knew for sure is reading is powerful. There is many children's books out there with a percentage being educational.
They are really focused on stories because stories transcend facts. This includes nursery rhymes or those archetypal stories that seem to resonate with you until you are a full grown adult.
Does this mean you can only learn these basic stories?
I do not believe this is the case.
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The idea is to embed technical information in stories in such a way that you don't even know you are learning underlying principles. Say, more technical or engineering focused principles.
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I thought "why not?" So I decided to create some stories that embed underlying technical principles, so when my children face these things when they are older, they don't simply think, "that's complex stuff I can't understand", rather, they see something they can relate to and build upon. All of a sudden what was scary isn't anymore. The primary reason you fear the darkness is lack of information.
Making it Normal
Introduce technical concepts as "normal" things people understand despite their age.
My Light Can Shine Bright
Kids books have many color books to choose from, here's one that breaks them down into wavelenghts of light.
Count On Me
Count forwards, count backwards, that's a weird concept. But counting a long a number line makes negative numbers more accessible.
Get My Kids Started with Engineering
When will you introduce engineering to your kids?
A friend once told me that his kids were able to get into the top schools because he did something with them to better position for this. It was obvious, but not so obvious.
Want to know the secret?
He talked to them about these "smart" topics as if they were normal.
Can Kids Understand Engineering?
Kids are like sponges, we know that they learn fast and they also do it by imitating, if we hide exploration of STEM fields and topics where are they going to learn this? Now, you can wait and go with the normal school curriculum and introduce these things in Senior school or when they have engineering as an optional topic. Or you can start them young.
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This doesn't mean forcing them to do something they don't want, or pressuring them to achieve, this is basically introducing concepts like you would any other topic. Familiarizing so that diving deep into engineering if they do like it, isn't as huge a leap. Lowering their barrier to entry.
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Understanding engineering isn't like understanding one small thing that your ego wants fulfilled. It is about society's current needs, problem solving, curiosity, creativity, inventiveness, it's quite literally how our world works.
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So, are you going to give your kids a head start and teach them about the world of engineering?