Engineering and Computer Science Essentials™ Grade 2

Engineering Unit: Designing Hand Pollinators

Insects pollinate many kinds of plants. What if the right insects aren’t around to do the work? As an agricultural engineer, what would you do to solve this problem? The storybook Mariana Becomes a Butterfly shows how a girl in the Dominican Republic solves a pollination problem in her own garden. Learning along with Mariana, students become agricultural engineers as they solve a real-world challenge. They apply their knowledge of insects, insect life cycles, pollination, and natural systems as they test a variety of materials. Students then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve their own technologies for pollinating plants by hand.

Computer Science Unit: Creating Animations

Agricultural engineering work often involves understanding the intricate relationships between living systems and technologies. In the story Mariana Shares a Bee Idea, Mariana experiences the challenge of telling a friend about a pollination system. Students use the ScratchJr app to practice sharing ideas through computer animations. They then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve an animation to communicate about animals and their habitats. Students extend their computational thinking skills to mathematical concepts as they practice determining place value.

Unit Core Program Components 

• Digital Teacher Guide
• Easy-to-Print Classroom Resources 
• Resources for Diverse Learners
• Interactive Digital Storybooks
• Math Extension Lesson  (Computer Science) 
• Materials Kits