Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation of K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stacy S. Klein-Gardner, Vanderbilt University; Amber C. Spolarich, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

developed, consisting of twenty (20) questions and based on the followingfour points of interest: (1) the student’s view of the classroom experience, (2) the student’sability to relate the lesson to life, (3) the student’s immediate level of interest in the class, and (4)the student’s enjoyment of the topic. The research was conducted in the high school/middleschool classrooms of teachers who participated in the RET program. High school and middleschool students, aged 12-18, were recruited from several area schools. It was found that thestudents’ ability to relate the lesson to life and the student’s enjoyment of the topic weresignificantly greater than the control classroom. While long-term effects were not taken intoaccount, these results did

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation of K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tao Hong, Purdue University; Senay Purzer, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica E. Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

et al. in 2006. Furtherevaluation of this instrument will benefit educators and their efforts to immerseengineering into K-12 curricula.ParticipantsThe DET instrument was taken by 405 elementary teachers, who attended a teacherprofessional program between 2006 and 2010. Table 1 shows the detailed composition ofthe sample across four background variables: gender, ethnicity, years of teaching andsurvey format. Among these respondents, 88% were females, while 12% were males.Approximately 36 percent of them had no more than five years of teaching experience,while 40 percent had six to fifteen years and 24 percent had more than fifteen years ofexperience. Caucasian teachers dominated the sample with 82 percent, as compared to the18 percent of non

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation of K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gisele Ragusa, Ph.D., University of Southern California

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

viaformation, nurturance and sustaining an important targeted school-university urban educationalpartnership. Our university has partnered with large urban school districts to plan, deliver andsustain a targeted inservice teacher professional development and a middle and high schoolSTEM curriculum intervention. The partnership goals are to assist inservice middle and highschool science teachers in: (1) designing and implementing integrated science and engineeringcurricula and (2) development of instructional methods and strategies that enable teachers toeffectively (a) teach challenging content and research skills in middle and high school asdemanded by state/national science standards; (b) generate knowledge and transform practice inhigh school STEM

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom C. Roberts P.E., Kansas State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

keynote, Kerns asked several questions to stimulate member thinking.1 How, throughASEE members, could ASEE become a critical player in solving the world’s greatest challenges?For example, how could corporate partners advocate for funding needed for engineeringeducation and research in ways that academia cannot? Where do we begin? Why? How? Whatdo we know? What do we need to learn?The first reference to the term “Citizen Engineer” the authors can find is from a 2002 IEEE-USApresentation to the Student Professional Awareness Committee.2 The opening power point slideof the presentation states:“Being a Citizen Engineer Implies Recognizing and Acting On • Professional Responsibilities • Public Responsibilities • Enlightened Self Interest”The

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill Hutzel, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Tehri Parker, Midwest Renewable Energy Association

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

to develop and deliverappropriate solar workforce training in the Midwest.Nationwide Solar Workforce Training The Solar Foundation, a non-profit advocacy group for the solar industry, completed itsfirst national solar jobs census in 2010. The report indicates that there are 93,000 people whospend at least 50% of their time supporting solar related work in the United States, but the area ispoised for rapid growth. Over the next 12 months, 50% of solar firms expect to add jobs. Thiswill increase the overall solar employment to 120,000 people, an annual growth rate of over25%. That is particularly significant for a troubled U.S. economy whose overall growth isexpected to be around 2% over that same time period.1 Although solar

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie Adams, Virginia Commonwealth University; Rosalyn S. Hobson, Virginia Commonwealth University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

military training and experience; and transitional support programson college campuses.” 2 Based on focus groups conducted by ACE, veteran’s reported findinginstitutions that recognize their military training and experience during the admissions processwas difficult. They return from serving our country with weeks, hours and months of militarycourse credit, on-the-job training only to be told there is little to no equivalency for theirexperience as it relates to pursuing an engineering degree. In many cases veterans werecompared to traditional students and given little to no credit for “the range of experiences andleadership skills the veteran will bring.”1 This paper presents the efforts of the authors to understand and propose a system

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David A. Koonce, Ohio University; Jie Zhou, Ohio University; Cynthia D. Anderson, Ohio University; Dyah A. Hening; Valerie Martin Conley, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

AC 2011-289: WHAT IS STEM?David A. Koonce, Ohio UniversityJie Zhou, Ohio UniversityCynthia D. Anderson, Ohio University Cynthia Anderson is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Graduate Studies at Ohio Uni- versity. In addition to research on community college faculty, Dr. Anderson has published research on inequality, labor markets, rural communities, and gender.Dyah A. HeningDr. Valerie Martin Conley, Ohio University Page 22.1684.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 What is STEM?1. IntroductionSTEM in the U.S.The shortage US

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria Dawn Blevins, University of Utah

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

satisfied and all safety and efficiency standards are met. Additionally,the Environmental Policy Act 1 (NEPA), requires governmental agencies to perform apublic scoping process that includes making plans available for public review, sponsoringdedicated time for public comment, and holding at least one public meeting. As such,engineering professionals who work for both government agencies and private firms areresponsible for facilitating and participating in public meetings at some point during theircareer. To prepare for this eventuality, civil engineers must be able to facilitate effective,productive public meetings. The research and curriculum development presented in thispaper is a first step to preparing new engineers for this important task

Conference Session

Public Policy in Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Martin S. High, Oklahoma State University; Joseph M. Nowakowski, Muskingum University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

Page 22.1678.2highly educated and valuable group of potential employees, is relatively high, even in a recessedeconomy.Like all markets, thelabor market forengineers is subject tothe forces of supply anddemand. Simply put, animbalance between thequantity of engineerssupplied (i.e., thenumber of qualifiedengineers available) andthe quantity demandedby government, industryand academia willeventually result inchanges in the levels ofcompensation. A surplus Figure 1 - Source: Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Theof engineers will push Market for Engineerswages down, and a shortage will push wages up. The reduction in wages will presumablyencourage aspirants to pursue other professions, while an increase in wages will have

Conference Session

Assessment and Evaluation of K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Dell, Rochester Institute of Technology; Margaret B. Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Shauna O'Hurley, Rochester Institute of Technology; Robert P. Lillis, Evalumetrics Research; Betsy Khol, Women in Engineering; Robert D. Garrick, Rochester Institute of Technology; Jeanne Christman, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

appropriate for any given program requiresspecifying an evaluation logic model that is based on theory and/or knowledge of the behaviorbeing addressed, i.e. pursuing education and careers in STEM. The WE@RIT has specified abasic logic model shown in Figure 1. This model assumes that young women who areintroduced to science will have an interest in STEM and gain knowledge and competency aboutSTEM and STEM career options will commit to STEM education and pursue STEM careers.The behavioral logic model also specifies a number of variables that have been shown toinfluence each of the major areas of the model. Interest is influenced by the individual‟sperceptions of norms related to science. For young girls the most notable is the persistent genderbias