Discover Engineering Family Day

by Bruce Cranford

What makes an object "flink" (neither float nor sink)? What does it feel like to wear a real space suit? How much weight can a single sheet of paper hold? At the annual Engineers Week (EWeek) and the National Building Museum's "Discover Engineering Family Day," on Saturday, 18 February at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., future engineers can find and experience first-hand the answers to those questions, and many more.

Family Day has become one of EWeek's premier events, introducing elementary- and middle-school students to the fun side of engineering. This year’s event promises to be bigger and better than ever, boasting a record number of exhibitors and hands-on activities to pique almost any technical curiosity. More than 7,000 excited and very vocal students and their parents are expected to attend this year’s event, where they will meet and learn from practicing engineers.

Enthusiasm Welcome

Family Day attendees can build a dam; meet Harry and Digit from the hit PBS series Cyberchase; construct cantilevers from drinking straws; make slime; create paper helicopters; build scale model railroad bridges; win prizes; and meet a diverse array of engineering professionals of all ages and from all walks of life. Cyberchase cast and crew will participate with hands-on activities and character appearances to help illustrate the connection between math and engineering. IBM is providing its multi-computer TryScience stations so that visitors can conduct science experiments, visit science centers worldwide, listen to various global languages, and plan virtual or real field trips. US FIRST will sponsor a competition featuring student-designed robots in action. And a Lego room will be available for aspiring engineers big and small.

Family Day's purpose is twofold. First, hands-on activities are designed to excite young children about engineering concepts. Many children — and even some adults — do not understand the engineer's role in society or even what engineers do. Most school curricula don't require teaching children about engineering, so it usually falls to enrichment programs to provide the critical foundation for an engineering education. But waiting until high school or college to introduce the possibility of an engineering career is often too late. Capturing and fanning six- to 13-year-old children's natural curiosity about the way things work — the essence of engineering — is crucial for preparing today's children to pursue an engineering career later in life.

Family Day's second goal is to show "real-life" engineering applications solving real-life problems. Hopefully, by demonstrating the practical applications of engineering, parents, teachers and students will recognize the importance and relevance of a high level of math, science and technology literacy, and, ultimately, the importance of engineering in today's world.

Many of the engineering organizations at the festival provide additional resources to both teachers and parents to aid with their own lessons. And there are also events for just the adults. This year, a local representative of Sally Ride Science will host a gender equity workshop for teachers and volunteers/mentors. The workshop will run concurrently with Family Day.

Family Day serves as a model for similar family-oriented programs across the country and around the world. The first "Family Night" was launched for National Engineers Week 1993 under IEEE-USA's guidance.

IEEE-USA has helped to make Family Day a success. In addition to providing funding support for the program, IEEE-USA provides an exhibit with hands-on activities promoting electrical engineering to students, particularly sixth- to eighth-graders.

The National Engineers Week Foundation and the National Building Museum co-sponsor Discover Engineering Family Day; with additional contributions from the National Science Foundation; the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program; the American Society of Civil Engineers National Capital Section; and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers National Capital Chapter.

Join Us in February

Join us for the Discover Engineering Family Day at the National Building Museum, 401 F St., NW, Washington, D.C., between 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., on Saturday, 18 February. The free, one-day festival, held rain or shine, will give young people an opportunity to enjoy a day of fun and participate in a variety of hands-on activities that explore the field of engineering.

The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, between 4th and 5th Streets, across the street from the Judiciary Square Metro (Red Line). Wheelchair access is available through the G Street entrance. Parking is very limited.

Visit the event Web site [www.eweekdcfamilyday.org] and the museum's Web site [www.nbm.org] for more information, including a list of exhibitors.

Bruce Cranford, Jr., P.E., is a consulting engineer in Potomac, Maryland. He chairs the Discover Engineering Family Day Planning and Organizing Committee. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Opinions expressed are the author's.