Environmental engineers use many different types of science to guide their research on a project. They use mitigation, sustainability, and predictability to fully reason why their solution is going to be the best solution for the problem. Reasoning, evidence, and data are used to create valid arguments which support their ideas. Engineers must be honest and may try and fail many times before finding a solution that is going to work. All of these factors make environmental engineering the perfect introduction to STEM education for elementary learners.
Students must learn the background information on engineering and become well versed in the engineering design process. They must study and familiarize themselves with what the current problem is in urban infrastructure and why the urban heat island exists. They must learn about urban farming and alternative energy sources which are currently being used to help cities across the globe already. They can also research and learn more about other solutions that engineers are currently working on to make cities more sustainable.
Once they have become steeped in this STEM knowledge, they will be ready to put on their own engineering thinking caps and create solutions and prototypes for their own community. They will have the chance to interact with data and reasoning in ways that they never have before. Which is why I should have never been daunted by the idea of teaching environmental engineering to six-year-olds in the first place. They have the courage, curiosity, and desire to make their communities more sustainable, they just need to be given the opportunity to try it.