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Board # 102 : PECASE: Implementing K-12 Engineering Standards through STEM Integration - An Executive Summary of the Products and Research

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Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--27670

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/27670

Download Count

426

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Paper Authors

biography

Tamara J Moore Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering) Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7956-4479

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Tamara J. Moore, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering Education and Director of STEM Integration in the INSPIRE Institute at Purdue University. Dr. Moore’s research is centered on the integration of STEM concepts in K-12 and postsecondary classrooms in order to help students make connections among the STEM disciplines and achieve deep understanding. Her work focuses on defining STEM integration and investigating its power for student learning. Tamara Moore received an NSF Early CAREER award in 2010 and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2012.

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biography

Kristina Maruyama Tank Iowa State University

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Kristina M. Tank is an Assistant Professor of Science Education in the School of Education at Iowa State University. She currently teaches undergraduate courses in science education for elementary education majors. As a former elementary teacher, her research and teaching interests are centered around improving elementary students’ science and engineering learning and increasing teachers’ use of effective STEM instruction in the elementary grades. With the increased emphasis on improved teaching and learning of STEM disciplines in K-12 classrooms, Tank examines how to better support and prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to meet the challenge of integrating STEM disciplines in a manner that supports teaching and learning across multiple disciplines. More recently, her research has focused on using literacy to support scientific inquiry, engineering design, and STEM integration.

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Aran W Glancy Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)

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Aran Glancy is a Ph.D candidate in STEM education with an emphasis in Mathematics Education at the University of Minnesota. He has experience teaching both high school physics and mathematics, and his research focuses on supporting mathematics learning, specifically in the domains of data analysis and measurement, through STEM integration and engineering. He is also interested in mathematical modeling.

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Elizabeth Gajdzik Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering) Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7992-8180

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Elizabeth Gajdzik is the Assistant Director of the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She received both her B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a specialization in mathematics education and M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in mathematics education from Baylor University. Prior to her work at INSPIRE, Elizabeth was a district curriculum math specialist in San Antonio, TX and a middle school mathematics teacher at a Title 1 school in Waco, TX.

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Abstract

This executive summary of the grant, PECASE: Implementing K-12 Engineering Standards through STEM Integration, comes at the conclusion of the project. The purpose of the grant was to develop a definition and explore the practice of engineering in K-12 STEM classrooms. The definition was then used to assess curricula, policy documents, teacher practice, and student learning. Through this work, the definition was then used to help with the framing and development of curricula for K-5 classrooms. The resulting curricula are called the PictureSTEM units. These instructional units for K-5 classrooms utilize engineering design and picture books to teach young students about mathematics, science, engineering, technology, computational thinking, and reading in an integrated manner. Each of the modules in the PictureSTEM curriculum was developed using the curriculum design method described by Clements’ Curriculum Research Framework, which follows three stages: Stage 1: Initial Development, Stage 2: Pilot and Teaching Experiment, and Stage 3: Classroom Implementation.

The theoretical framework guiding the development of the PictrueSTEM modules came from the initial work of this grant in developing a definition of engineering for K-12 environments and built upon that work to include the following four foundational components: 1) engineering design as the interdisciplinary glue, 2) realistic engineering contexts to promote student engagement, 3) high-quality literature to facilitate meaningful connections, and 4) instruction of specific STEM content within an integrated approach. The units have an overarching engineering design project that provides the scaffolding for all learning in the unit. The engineering design learning highlights problem scoping and solution generation as an iterative process that requires learning about client needs and relevant background knowledge and applying these to their solution. The context of the units revolves around having a client who has asked for the students’ help with a problem. The contexts have multiple ways the students can get interested in the problem, such as providing a challenge, helping them to making personal connections, or highlighting the realistic nature of the work that engineers do. In recognizing the large emphasis on reading in elementary classrooms, these units build upon the rich literature in STEM and reading integration to support the learning of literacy skills, as well as providing students with background knowledge and real-world contexts through the use of high-quality STEM-focused literature. Each of the units includes science, mathematics, computational thinking, picture books, and an engineering design challenge to integrate STEM+C learning. STEM+C activities throughout the unit help students develop their prototypes or make evidence-based decisions while designing. The focus on engineering and reading allows for a rich environment in which students can explore the interdisciplinary nature of learning engineering, science, mathematics, and computational thinking.

This paper and poster presentation will highlight the engineering definition and the curricular units developed through this project, as well as highlights from the research results gleaned from this work.

Moore, T. J., & Tank, K. M., & Glancy, A. W., & Gajdzik, E. (2017, June), Board # 102 : PECASE: Implementing K-12 Engineering Standards through STEM Integration - An Executive Summary of the Products and Research Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27670

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