Are Concepts Of Technical & Engineering Literacy Included In State Curriculum Standards? A Regional Overview Of The Nexus Between Technical & Engineering Literacy And State Science Frameworks
- Conference
- Location
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Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
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June 18, 2006
- Start Date
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June 18, 2006
- End Date
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June 21, 2006
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
- Page Count
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16
- Page Numbers
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11.229.1 - 11.229.16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--877
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/877
- Download Count
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405
Paper Authors
Kazem Kazerounian University of Connecticut
KAZEM KAZEROUNIAN is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. His research interests include mechanical design, robotics, chaos theory, and engineering education. He is the Chair of the ASME Robotics and Mechanisms Committee, the general conference Chair for the ASME Design Engineering Technical conferences and Computers in Engineering Conference 2002. He has served as the Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, and the International Journal of Mechanisms and Machine Theory. He is the Principle Investigator for the de Vinci Ambassadors in the Classroom, the Galileo Project.
David M. Moss University of Connecticut
David M. Moss is an Associate Professor of Education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. His area of research is in elementary science education, the nature of science and science education pedagogy. In addition, he is the Co-Director of the Study Abroad Program (United Kingdom).
David Giblin University of Connecticut
David Giblin earned his BSE degree in mechanical engineering in 2002 from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Since then, he has been active in the Galileo Program at the University of Connecticut supported by the NSF Fellowship (under contract NSF-0139307). Currently a PhD student in mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut, his research area is in robotic manipulation theories and environment mapping strategies.
Elias Faraclas University of Connecticut
ELIAS FARACLAS is a doctoral student and research assistant in the University of Connecticut School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering at UConn in December 2000 and 2004, and is currently completing his doctoral studies in Electrical Engineering. Presently, Mr. Faraclas is researching InP-based HEMT’s for low-noise applications and GaN-based HFET’s for high power and high temperature applications. He is completing his doctoral studies as a National Science Foundation Galileo Fellow. Mr. Faraclas is also a Research and Design Engineer at Instrument Manufacturing Company in Storrs CT.
Cathi Koehler University of Connecticut
CATHERINE KOEHLER is a Ph.D. candidate in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Her field of study is curriculum and instruction concentrating in science education under the direction of David M. Moss. Her dissertation work explores a pedagogical model of teaching the nature of science to secondary science teachers. She has taught Earth Science, Physics and Forensic Chemistry in public high school for 7 years prior to her graduate school training. She plans to complete the Ph.D. in May 2006.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Are Concepts of Technical & Engineering Literacy Included in State Curriculum Standards? A Regional Overview of the Nexus Between Technical & Engineering Literacy and State Science Frameworks
Abstract
The use of technology in the classroom has been a driving force behind developing a technically literate society. Reform documents such as Science for All Americans: Project 2061 [1] , Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy [2] and the National Science Education Standards [NSES] [3] include sections titled, Science and Technology and The Nature of Technology, as a means to foster technical literacy for students in grades K-12. In NSES, the goal of the Science and Technology content standard is for all students to develop “abilities of technological design and understanding about science and technology.” These reform documents have been the framework to foster science, technical and engineering literacy for students in grades K-12 across the United States as guided by their state science frameworks, however are states achieving this goal? Although these documents promote the need for understanding technology as it applies to science, how have states incorporated these principles into their own science curriculum standards? This investigation is part 2 of a multi-series project to understanding how public schools are training students to become technically literate. In part 1 presented at the 2005 ASEE Conference, we defined technical literacy to be “the ability of an individual to make informed decisions based upon an evolving understanding of the fundamentals of modern technologies.” To accomplish this goal, we proposed the Engineering Education Frameworks [5] (EEF), which defined a pathway toward technical literacy for high school students. It was our intent to develop this set of guidelines to address technical literacy for secondary public schools. These Frameworks were designed to facilitate and promote the simultaneous teaching of multiple science disciplines in concert with mathematics while incorporating engineering concepts and designs. In part 2 of this project, we explore how various states in the United States include aspects of EEF in their science state frameworks as a means to foster technical and engineering literacy as suggested by science reform documents. This regional overview of 49 state science frameworks, including the District of Columbia and the ITEA standards [4], tackles the question: how do state science frameworks incorporate engineering concepts into their secondary science curriculums? Our findings indicate that many states include various aspects of EEF content standards and widely use the term technology but fail to identify the context of engineering concepts as it relates to the disciplines in science. It is important to assess how states are incorporating technology and engineering concepts into their state science curriculum frameworks as promoting technical and engineering literacy in secondary schools may result in fostering interest in careers in engineering.
Introduction
As the world becomes more technically oriented, educators have an increasing challenge to keep their curriculums relevant and evolving to maintain pace with globalization. Science educators, in particular, have the responsibility to introduce students to the most current trends in the discipline. This challenge not only is limited to the discipline of science but also introduces
Kazerounian, K., & Moss, D. M., & Giblin, D., & Faraclas, E., & Koehler, C. (2006, June), Are Concepts Of Technical & Engineering Literacy Included In State Curriculum Standards? A Regional Overview Of The Nexus Between Technical & Engineering Literacy And State Science Frameworks Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--877
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