With the increased national and international focus on advancing STEM education, it is important to ensure all of its disciplines are represented in the curriculum. To date, the STEM acronym has been used largely in reference to science with less emphasis on the remaining disciplines especially engineering. In Australia, at least, there seems to be a “discipline war” in STEM education, with science, technology, and mathematics educators concerned for the integrity of their domain in any integrated programs. In this talk I argue for the importance of engineering concepts, design processes, representing, modelling, and innovative design-based problem solving in integrated STEM programs. I present examples of integrated engineering-based activities I have implemented in Australian elementary and middle grades.  

BIO | Lyn English is a Professor in STEM Education at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Her areas of research spanning K-8, supported by grants from the Australian Research Council, include STEM integration, engineering in the elementary and middle schools, mathematical modeling, problem solving and reasoning, statistics education, and early mathematics learning. Lyn is a Fellow of The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and is founding editor (1997) of the international journal, Mathematical Thinking and Learning (Taylor & Francis). She is a Senior Research Scientist (Adjunct) for the Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in STEM Education at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and is a member of the advisory board for INSPIRE at Purdue University.