A new partnership between Virginia Tech and Fairfax County Public Schools brings hands-on tech and engineering lessons to the youngest students, and it's lighting a fire in young minds.

A second-grade class at Bucknell Elementary School faced a problem Friday: Their teacher wanted them to design a pathway to lead a meandering robot bug from point A to point B.

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The teacher, Jessica Ittayem, leads the new partnership with Virginia Tech. Kids as young as kindergarten learn the basics of engineering from software to civil.

If second grade seems early to learn about civil engineering, that's exactly the point.

"It's a progressive movement,” Ittayem said. “So, we hope by the time they get to sixth grade, when they get to si

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