Background: Internationally, there is a growing concern for developing STEM education to prepare students for a
scientifically and technologically advanced society. Despite educational bodies lobbying for an increased focus on
STEM, there is limited research on how engineering might be incorporated especially in the elementary school
curriculum. A framework of five comprehensive core engineering design processes (problem scoping, idea
generation, design and construction, design evaluation, redesign), adapted from the literature on design thinking in
young children, served as a basis for the study. We report on a qualitative study of fourth-grade students’
developments in working an aerospace problem, which took place during the first year of a 3-year longitudinal
study. Students applied design processes together with their mathematics and science knowledge to the design
and redesign of a 3-D model plane.