Celeste Baine's thoughts, perceptions and ideas about marketing engineering education.

Celeste Baine's Blog

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  Formerly known as the Engineering Education Advocate

Archives

2009

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Books by Celeste Baine

Engineering Principles Teacher's Guide

Engineering Graphics Teacher's Guide

Aeronautical Engineering Teacher's Guide

Civil Engineering Teacher's Guide

Teaching Engineering Made Easy: A Friendly Introduction to Engineering Activities for Middle School Teachers

The Musical Engineer: A Music Enthusiast's Guide to Engineering and Technology Careers

The Fantastical Engineer: A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering - Second Edition

High Tech Hot Shots: Careers in Sports Engineering

Is There an Engineer Inside You?: A Comprehensive Guide to Career Decisions in Engineering

Mind Reading 101

Back when I was a kid, we lived in a time of content scarcity. If we wanted to research something, we went to the library. If we wanted to watch a cartoon, we waited until Saturday morning. If we wanted to listen to a new song, we waited for the radio to play it again.

Today, kids live in a world of content infinity. When they have a question, they ask Google, Ask.com or Wikipedia. When they want to watch a specific cartoon, they push the “play” button on their on-demand system or they visit the channel’s website to watch it on the Internet. When they hear a song they like, they download it from iTunes. They live in a world of made-to-order instant gratification.

For us engineering education advocates, the problem isn’t about finding information on engineering careers, locating hands-on activities, or helping students decide which college to attend. It’s more about figuring out:

1. What is appealing to students (what drives this generation);
2. Getting that tailored information to them (books, DVDs, hands-on projects, posters, websites, or something else);
3. Answering the questions that they haven’t even asked yet (Will I like engineering? How hard will I have to work?, Is it worth the hard work?, etc.).

To find what is appealing to students, The National Academy of Engineering conducted a major study to address the messages we portray to pre-college students about engineering.  The findings (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12187) show that young people want jobs that make a difference.  Additional recommendations from the research study are as follows:

• Stop reinforcing the images of ‘nerdy and boring’
• Stop focusing on math and science as the needed inputs and instead focus on the outputs, career opportunities, and making a difference in the world
• Use the word ‘create’ not ‘build’
• Use images of people, not things: especially avoid using gears and mechanical looking things
• Use the following five words in describing engineering: discovery, design, imagination, innovation, contribution
• Describe engineer as creative problem solvers, essential to health, happiness and safety
• Emphasize that engineers shape the future

Now you just have to figure out when and how to use the recommendations. They are affordable (they focus on communicating) and just require that you update your terminology when talking about engineering.

The other day, when I made a mistake in a conversation, I said, “Sorry, that was my mistake.” That same day, when my teenage son made a mistake, he said, “my bad”. 

When we saw a man walking that was wearing lots of jewelry, my kids said, “Look at that Bling!”  At first, I thought that was derogatory – then they explained it.

Learning a new form of communication is like learning a new language. It takes patience and practice before it sounds and feels right. The important thing is that you keep trying.

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Posted by Celeste Baine on September 16, 2008

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