What do engineering and empathy have to do with each other and how we learn? 

That’s the question we’re going to address in today’s episode with Melissa Higgins, who is the Senior Director of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) at the Boston Children's Museum. Melissa loves to create exciting hands-on, minds-on STEAM challenges that inspire children and educators to engage and enjoy STEAM learning, and she has some great insight into how kids learn and how we all think that are invaluable for educators of all kinds.

Joining Melissa is Michelle Cerrone, a Senior Research Associate at the Education Development Center, where she leads research studies and evaluations that deepen the understanding of how to harness media and digital technologies to enhance education. Michelle also co-leads a National Science Foundation study investigating the design and implementation of engineering and empathy activities in early childhood settings, and that investigation is what we’re really jazzed to be talking about today.

To learn more, visit: pastfoundation.org

Resources:

• Boston Children’s Museum: www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org
• Education Development Center: www.edc.org
• Read the abstract: “Design and Development: Engineering and Empathy Pre-K/K”

Learning Unboxed is produced in part by Crate Media

Recorded by Eric French at WOSU Studios in Columbus, Ohio