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As a future teacher who, to be completely honest, was not always the best student in science throughout school, the thought of incorporating engineering into a 5E lesson was completely overwhelming. However, after reading this article, I am feeling a little more confident and a lot more relieved. I learned through reading this article that the engineering practices that are stated in the NGSS are basic skills that students can develop to think like an engineer. So, instead of teaching how to build things and do mathematics, we are actually teaching our students skills that real scientists and engineers use daily; to be critical thinkers. In order to this, it is important that we create our lessons to not only include engineering practices, but to also be hands on and engaging, allow students to openly communicate their thoughts and ideas with their peers, and be able to connect the lesson to real world problems. By doing so, students are showing that they can see and understand the problem and then are able to find a solution using the information they know. This is a skill that engineers use in their everyday work. This article really helped me learn what implementing NGSS engineering practices into the classroom actually meant. I understand now, the the ultimate goal is to get students to make connections and think like an engineer. Additionally, it is importnat that students are taught that there is not just one step-by-step way to solve a problem. Therefore, students should be working on coming up with different designs and solutions to problem solve. I think that it is so important for future teachers, like me, to continue to do research on topics that we may be unsure of in order to be the most effective science teacher we can be in the classroom and promote all students' academic success.
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