Museum of Science curriculum is meant to teach engineering to children as young as 3.(Photo: Engineering is Elementary)

Among the items in the 2019 state budget signed by Gov. Charlie Baker on July 26: $50,000 for programs in Cambridge and Everett meant to teach engineering to children as young as 3.

DiDomenico

State Sen. Sal DiDomenico filed and pushed a budget amendment funding Museum of Science curricula to be used by more than 60 educators across 22 programs, according to the Democratic senator’s office. The EiE curriculum (for “Engineering is Elementary”) includes Wee Engineer, for children age 3 to 5; Engineering Adventures, for kids in grades 3 to 5; and Engineering Everywhere, for kids in middle school.

DiDomenico, assistant majority leader of the Senate, said the program would “help to inspire a future generation of engineers from diverse backgrounds.” The funding will be administered by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through a contract with the museum and start next summer.

“Our goal is to make engineering education accessible to all teachers and students to inspire a generation of problem solvers for the future,” said Ioannis Miaoulis, president and director of the museum, thanking DiDomenico for his support. “This funding is vital for us to deliver on that goal.”

Sharlene Yang, director of the Cambridge STEAM Initiative, said the curricula allows educators “who have never taught engineering to feel comfortable with the material from day one. With EiE we can focus on reaching hundreds of students from all neighborhoods throughout Cambridge to be inspired by [science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics].”

This post was written from a press release.