Pre-college Electrical Engineering Outreach: The Design of a Home Security System (Evaluation)

Zahraa Nayef Krayem; Angela M. Kelly; Monica Bugallo; David Westerfeld; Richard Gearns; Kathleen Westervelt

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: Program Evaluation Studies
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--30881
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/30881
Download Count: 355

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Angela M. Kelly is an Associate Professor of Physics and the Associate Director of the Science Education Program at Stony Brook University, New York. She attended La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she received her B.A. degree in chemistry, and completed her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in science education (2000 and 2006, respectively) and her Ed.M. degree in curriculum and teaching (2007) at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. She is the recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2016); the Provost’s Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Research from Lehman College, City University of New York (2010); and the Outstanding Teaching Award from Teachers College, Columbia University (2006). Her research has been rooted in a commitment to equity in precollege and university science and engineering.

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Monica Bugallo Stony Brook University orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-1474

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Monica Bugallo is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty Director of the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors program at Stony Brook University. She received her B.S., M.S, and Ph. D. degrees in computer science and engineering from University of A Coruna, Spain. She joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Stony Brook University in 2002 where she is currently a Professor. Her research interests are in the field of statistical signal processing, with emphasis on the theory of Monte Carlo methods and its application to different disciplines including biomedicine, sensor networks, and finance. In addition, she has focused on STEM education and has initiated several successful programs with the purpose of engaging students at all academic stages in the excitement of engineering and research, with particular focus on underrepresented groups. She has authored and coauthored two book chapters and more than 150 journal papers and refereed conference articles.

Bugallo is a senior member of the IEEE, serves on several of its technical committees and is the current chair of the IEEE Signal Processing Society Education Committee. She has been part of the technical committee and has organized various professional conferences and workshops. She has received several prestigious research and education awards including the award for Best Paper in the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine 2007 as coauthor of a paper entitled "Particle Filtering," the IEEE Outstanding Young Engineer Award (2009), for development and application of computational methods for sequential signal processing, the IEEE Athanasios Papoulis Award (2011), for innovative educational outreach that has inspired high school students and college level women to study engineering, the Stony Brook University Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) Latino Faculty Recognition Award (2009), and the Chair of Excellence by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid-Banco de Santander (Spain) (2012).

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David Westerfeld

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Richard Gearns Stony Brook University orcid.org/0000-0003-4978-673X

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Richard A. Gearns is a high school physics teacher and Ph.D. candidate in the Institute for STEM Education at Stony Brook University. He attended Buffalo State College where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics education. He was appointed a New York State Master Teacher in 2014. His research interest is in identifying and reducing barriers to STEM education opportunities for all students.

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Kathleen Westervelt Stony Brook University

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Kathleen Westervelt is a graduate student at Stony Brook University working towards a MAT (Chemistry) degree. She attended New Paltz University, New Paltz, New York, for her B.S. degree in chemistry (2015). She is the recipient of the Segal Americorps Education Award (2017) and the College Recognition Award 2015 from the American Chemical Society. She hopes to become a chemistry teacher that works with underrepresented populations.

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Abstract

With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards in many U.S. states, teachers and administrators in K-12 schools have been seeking models for incorporating engineering design in science instruction. This pilot university-based program, utilizing a research-based framework of purposeful incorporation of cross-cutting concepts in secondary science education, was implemented for middle and high school physics students during six-hour-long visits with their classroom teachers. Research has suggested that secondary science educators require models of engineering activities that effectively integrate science content in engineering activities, which will promote science learning and broaden students' understanding of engineering knowledge and skills. Under the guidance of Stony Brook University faculty and engineering graduate students, the middle and high school students designed and built a home security system as a means to apply physics principles and electrical engineering practices to solve a technological challenge. Students worked in pairs to construct their designs, test their devices and subsystems in relation to given constraints, and optimize component functionality. Quantitative and qualitative survey data (N=69) were collected to measure student impacts. Quantitative data revealed that a high percentage of the students who attended the program showed an increase in engineering knowledge and application of technical concepts. The majority also expressed increased interest in attending college, increased interest in majoring in engineering, an appreciation of soldering as a useful skill, and recognition of how specific physics concepts were applied to electrical engineering design. Qualitative data allowed the researchers to elicit thematic elements of student impacts, including appreciation of hands-on tasks related to potential engineering careers, novelty of using circuit boards for a practical technological device, and self-efficacy in creating and building designs as part of a team effort to maximize device efficiency and performance. Future science and engineering curricular efforts may leverage these findings to replicate and design similar curricular activities for secondary classrooms.

Citation
Format

Krayem, Z. N., & Kelly, A. M., & Bugallo, M., & Westerfeld, D., & Gearns, R., & Westervelt, K. (2018, June), Pre-college Electrical Engineering Outreach: The Design of a Home Security System (Evaluation) Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30881

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards in many U.S. states, teachers and administrators in K-12 schools have been seeking models for incorporating engineering design in science instruction. This pilot university-based program, utilizing a research-based framework of purposeful incorporation of cross-cutting concepts in secondary science education, was implemented for middle and high school physics students during six-hour-long visits with their classroom teachers. Research has suggested that secondary science educators require models of engineering activities that effectively integrate science content in engineering activities, which will promote science learning and broaden students&#39; understanding of engineering knowledge and skills. Under the guidance of Stony Brook University faculty and engineering graduate students, the middle and high school students designed and built a home security system as a means to apply physics principles and electrical engineering practices to solve a technological challenge. Students worked in pairs to construct their designs, test their devices and subsystems in relation to given constraints, and optimize component functionality. Quantitative and qualitative survey data (N=69) were collected to measure student impacts. Quantitative data revealed that a high percentage of the students who attended the program showed an increase in engineering knowledge and application of technical concepts. The majority also expressed increased interest in attending college, increased interest in majoring in engineering, an appreciation of soldering as a useful skill, and recognition of how specific physics concepts were applied to electrical engineering design. Qualitative data allowed the researchers to elicit thematic elements of student impacts, including appreciation of hands-on tasks related to potential engineering careers, novelty of using circuit boards for a practical technological device, and self-efficacy in creating and building designs as part of a team effort to maximize device efficiency and performance. Future science and engineering curricular efforts may leverage these findings to replicate and design similar curricular activities for secondary classrooms.
AU  - Zahraa Nayef Krayem
AU  - Angela M. Kelly
AU  - Monica Bugallo
AU  - David Westerfeld
AU  - Richard Gearns
AU  - Kathleen Westervelt
CY  - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA  - 2018/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Pre-college Electrical Engineering Outreach: The Design of a Home Security System (Evaluation)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/30881
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--30881
ER  -