Standards (NGSS)foregrounds the importance of collaboration in science and engineering practices by integratingcommunication as a fundamental criterion at all levels of K-12 education: “Engineers need to beable to express their ideas, orally and in writing, with the use of tables, graphs, drawings, ormodels and by engaging in extended discussions with peers.” 13 Such communication practicesare necessary for generating design solutions and for planning and carrying out collaborativeinvestigations.Previous studies indicate that young learners encounter communication challenges related totask, relational, and identity issues when collaborating on engineering design projects.14, 15 Otherresearch has identified effective scaffolding to support middle
developing PLAY!, an educational collaboration platform helping learners tap into broad interest based peer communities as well as exploring new forms of reading and writing through dynamic book prototypes. She most recently published her first digital book, Flows of Reading, to inspire educators to reflect on what can be considered as reading and what kinds of reading they perform in their everyday lives. She was Research Director for Project New Media Literacies at MIT and also has conducted classes as a Visiting Lecturer at MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Department and Harvard University’s Project Zero Summer Institute. Reilly is a graduate of Emerson College and has her Master of Fine Arts degree from Maine Media
solving”, “engage students in inquiry based learning”, “make connectionsbetween science and engineering”, “work on solving real-world problems”, “do design exerciseswith constraints”, and “write reflections in a notebook or journal” (p. 7). The results showed thatteachers felt that all the strategies they learned from the TPD were important, especially for the Page 23.838.3“write reflections in a notebook or journal” and “do design exercise with constrains” strategies.Teachers also felt that they were well prepared for the implement of all these strategies in theirclassrooms, especially for “make connections between science and engineering” and
AC 2011-2109: GIRLS EXPERIENCING ENGINEERING: EVOLUTIONAND IMPACT OF A SINGLE-GENDER OUTREACH PROGRAMStephanie S Ivey, University of Memphis Dr. Stephanie Ivey, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, is currently involved in several engineering and STEM education projects. She is part of the project team for the NSF funded MemphiSTEP: A STEM Talent Expansion Program (NSF DUE 0756738), where her responsibilities include coordination of the entire project’s mentoring activities, including the peer-mentoring, peer-tutoring, and STEM club mini-grant program. She is leading a project focused on service learning within the Civil Engineering curriculum and a project examining links between learning styles and freshman
founder of STEM Through Guided Discovery, a robotics program for K-12 students. The success of his program has received international attention and has been adopted abroad. Jawaharlal has more than 20 years of industrial, academic, and entrepreneurial experience. Before joining Cal Poly, Pomona, Jawaharlal founded and developed APlusStudent.com, Inc., an online supple- mental K-12 education company. He also served on the faculty at Rowan University, N.J., and Kettering University, Mich. Jawaharlal is passionate about education and focuses on K-12 STEM education. He writes education columns for the Huffington Post
in the United States in the1950s was attributed to the scientific andtechnological advances during that decade. In 2005, a survey was conducted by the NationalAssociation of Manufacturers and the Deloitte Consulting Company to gain an understanding ofthe demands associated with the economic reality and employability of the US manufacturingworkforce in the current decade. Results indicated that manufacturing companies would look tohire workers with proficient reading, writing, and communication skills, the ability to work in ateam, strong technology-related skills, the ability to translate drawings, diagrams or flowcharts,strong math skills and innovation/ creativity skills.7 Top growing service occupations in the US
science,as well as learn practical hands-on technology skills such as soldering and debugging circuits.Students then interface their sensors with computers, write programs to gather raw signals,implement calibration curves, and perform data manipulation and data logging. In later modules,students program their own communications protocols for wireless transmission of the sensordata and connect their computerized sensor stations together to form a distributed wireless sensornetwork. Additional modules explore the use and implications of this technology for biosciencesand environmental research.SENSE IT modules give students an opportunity to acquire and then use STEM skills while atthe same time providing a real-world application of science
syllabus.This course describes the field of engineering and engineering technology allowing students toexplore technology systems and design processes. Through the course students will use math,science, technology, and writing to solve engineering problems. The course is primarilyproject-based and requires substantial participation by all students. The course also emphasizesteam work, oral and written communication, and the impact technology has on society.The course is a two-semester sequence. The first semester can be taken without taking thesecond semester. Except in rare cases, the second semester can not be taken without completingthe first semester.Table 1 lists the topics to be covered in the course. Table 1
ability to reduce heat transfer. Material choices were: bubble wrap, aluminumfoil, colored construction paper, colored foam sheets, metallic Mylar film, wooden sticks, cottonballs, and small paper cups. For a more detailed description of the curriculum, seeSchnittka (2009 a)3 or Schnittka (2009 b)4.In the after-school studio setting, students worked in small teams of two with a volunteerfacilitator to test materials, design the dwelling, test the dwelling, and create virtualrepresentations of their designs and ideas, write about their design decisions, materials used andfinal design. Volunteer facilitators were university students, and were key to motivating thestudents and keeping them focused on the design goals
AC 2012-3170: I2D2: IMAGINATION, INNOVATION, DISCOVERY, ANDDESIGNDr. Kerry Meyers, University of Notre Dame Kerry L. Meyers is a Professional Faculty member in the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, is an instructor and coordinator in the First-year Engineering program and is also involved with students at a variety of levels including a graduate student teaching apprentice program, an undergraduate peer mentoring program, and STEM outreach). She has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, M.S. in mechanical engineering from Oakland University, and completed her Ph.D. in engi- neering education at Purdue University. Meyers has several years of industrial experience in automotive
which includes writing assignments, classroom debates, and student presentations.Beyond concrete skills, the curriculum also aims for students to improve upon soft skills andhigher order thinking as well as creativity; this aspect of the curriculum meshes well with thestandards for mathematical practice that should occur at every grade level. For example, theopening project of the AMES curriculum that introduces the Cartesian coordinate systeminvolves students guiding a peer to a certain spot in the class using only verbal instructions.Unless the student giving directions is very specific, the student following the instructions mayend up in a completely different position than the directing student intended. The resulting affecton the students
control as well as aspects of interaction with humans and the surrounding environment, has resulted in over 130 peer-reviewed publications in a number of projects – from scientific rover navigation in glacier environments to assistive robots for the home. To date, her unique accomplishments have been highlighted through a number of awards and articles, includ- ing highlights in USA Today, Upscale, and TIME Magazine, as well as being named a MIT Technology Review top young innovator of 2003, recognized as NSBE Educator of the Year in 2009, and receiving the Georgia-Tech Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award in 2013. From 1993-2005, Dr. Howard was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of
highschool students who have just completed their junior year. Students come from all aroundthe country, and in some cases from abroad. IEP’s purpose is to provide participants withan overview of all fields in engineering, while giving the students a taste of college life, alook at career opportunities, and a chance to meet professional engineers as well asengineering faculty. Students work on several projects, attend lectures, write reports,code programs, give presentations, do problem solving and design, go on field trips, andinteract with a very diverse group of peers.In this paper we describe the IEP program, and provide an overview of its selectionprocess and its structure and content. We examine how effective the program has been,and describe
thinking to structure theirengagement with ideas and knowledge.4,7,8 The intent is to engage learners’ imaginations in theirpursuit of understanding and thus engender the kind of caring about learning necessary fordeveloping deep understanding. In the IE approach, instruction is designed to support adevelopmental sequence of five different stages of understanding that enable learners to makesense of the world in different ways. Learners progress to new stages by mastering the cognitivetools associated with each stage of understanding. (Cognitive tools are mental devices developedby our ancestors to help make sense of the world and to operate more effectively in it.)The most important cognitive tool is narrative. Egan writes, “Narrative
sun to the plants, to the animals and then to people. When asked about the energy that is stored at the center of the earth, Susie indicated that this came from the sun too—during the Big Bang. At the age of 5, Susie did not learn to read at the same rate as her peers. Her kindergarten teacher raised concerns. Science was not an emphasis of class and discussions began as to whether Susie should remain in kindergarten for another year. Her mother had her intelligence tested. Susie is gifted. At the age of 6, Susie continued to struggle in reading and was tested for a disability. Susie is dyslexic. The early advances that Susie displayed in science were no longer apparent. Susie’s teachers argued that she
about the design process, data collection from potential customers, and tasks toaccomplish their goals that result in the manufacture of their prototype. Recognizing thatstudents need to occasionally take a break from the intensive product design process, theinstructors have also included “design challenges” that allow students to puzzle over achallenging problem for a short period of time (the teams in this challenges are different from theDesign teams). For the residential programs, time is allocated for the students to interact witheach other in peer evening group sessions in order to reflect on the activities of the day, address Page
report that the students have gainedsome knowledge of engineering, and 75% of the teachers are satisfied with the students’ learningwhile the classroom mentor is there (as reported by both the teachers and classroom mentors).The biggest impact for the school is that the students are having fun, with 90% of the teachersand 92% of the classroom mentors noting this.The teachers’ testimony to the students’ learning is perhaps the most convincing evidence thatthis program has impacted the students. One middle school teacher writes, “I think this program Page 11.718.7is extremely valuable. My students learn to problem solve in a real world setting
(Science, Technology, Engineering andMathematics) learning. Students participate in teams organized as “virtual companies” thatdevelop products or services as they engage in long-term projects with a STEM focus. HSE teamprojects are STEM-based but involve students from various backgrounds and interests. HSEteams are coached by specially-trained high school teachers called “teacher-coaches.”Teams have access to real-world expertise and mentoring from professionals in academia andindustry. HSE teams write business plans, solve real-world problems, perform testing andanalyses, build prototypes, manufacture parts, operate within budgets, and manage their projects.Each spring, HSE teams showcase their work alongside college students at
(high melting point, low weight, high strength, or high flexibility)? ≠ Cost – what is a reasonable cost for the consumer: initial purchase costs, upkeep, disposal, etcFigure 3: Students testing set of liquids on a plastic penny and copper penny surface. By the end of the first day, the following learning should be achieved: (a) Writing Hypothesis - students will demonstrate that they can write a hypothesis using the correct form and accurately reflecting the question being posed (b) Following Procedures - students will identify the materials needed for each activity Page 15.961.6
representatives – can advance the stateof engineering and engineering technology education. Coupled with the information from theaforementioned surveys, the ideas and suggestions from conference attendees and currentresearch in the field of K-12 education, Dougless, Iversen and Kalyandurg have developed a setof six guidelines for improving K-12 engineering education and outreach: 1. Hands-on learning: Make K-12 science curriculum less theory-based and more context- based, emphasizing the social good of engineering and demonstrating how it is relevant to the real world 2. Interdisciplinary approach: Add a technological component to all subjects and lessons, and implement writing guidelines in math and science courses 3. Standards
T2I2 Learning Objects. T2I2 Project Learning Objects are granular, scalable, andadaptable professional development learning modules that teachers interface with and implementin their existing learning environments. The Year 1 pilot began in September of 2012 andconcluded in May of 2013. Throughout the pilot year, a number of teachers were not able toparticipate in the project. As a result, only six teachers submitted data.T2I2 online professional development materialsThe T2I2 materials were created to meet the need for high quality professional development fortechnology, engineering, and design educators. During a one-week writing workshop, a 20-member writing team of NBPTS certified teachers, in-service technology, engineering anddesign
that’s certainly how we do things at home. So he’s been home since then. – Nelson’s mom When I was a young adult I was in a church where people were primarily home schooling. And I was in it long enough to see the long-term results. And what I saw was the flexibility that we had, and I liked the product. I was there are enough that I could see the kids grow into high school and I thought, “Ah, these kids are very well rounded. They’re not very peer-dependent.” What we wanted to get away from was the peer issues. – Alexander’s mom …if I’d wanted to enroll him in kindergarten the following year when he would have turned five in August, the cut off was August 1st, for the age. So he would have
social applications for the students. For our programming lesson, we selectedthe ALICE software. ALICE is a 3D programming environment that allows students to createanimations using a wide variety of objects. It features a “drag and drop” interface that reducesprogramming errors and provides students with immediate and tangible results. For the roboticsexperience, we selected PicoCrickets. By incorporating light, sound, and motion tutorials,students could explore causal relationships between writing programming codes and watchingthe results in the PicoCricket robots. PicoCrickets also featured a “drag and drop” interface that Page 15.644.5would
overview of the curriculum structure is next, and the restof the time is spent working through a kit or kits to give teachers insight into the studentexperience of the curriculum. The teachers, in this way, move between the “teacher” and“student” roles to get a broad perspective.It is not unusual for children from economically disadvantaged homes to enter kindergarten withfewer experiences and early childhood education than their more affluent peers (Reardon).Because of this, the team decided to not use the EiE kits in grades K-1, but rather to focus theestablishment of foundational skills the children would use throughout their elementary years atRachel Freeman, enabling them to participate in the engineering implementation fully as theymoved up
). Page 25.299.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 Change in Elementary Student Conceptions of Engineering Following an Intervention as Seen from the Draw-an-Engineer TestAbstractChange in elementary students’ conceptions of engineering has been studied using the Draw-an-Engineering Test (DAET) prior to and following a curriculum intervention. This instrument asksstudents to draw an engineer doing engineering work and then write about what the engineer isdoing, typically in a sentence or two. Children in participating grade 2-4 classrooms completedthe DAET in a pre-post fashion during academic year 2010-2011. Classrooms were chosen basedupon teacher participation in professional development
activities that allow students to engage inargumentation11. Schwarz11 also noted that educational systems emphasize the development ofcritical thinking, which depends on the use of argumentation.Arguments come in an array of forms and can lead to new understandings. Thoughargumentation may occur as a solitary activity, it is more often done in social situations throughverbal or written communications. In education, this may occur during discussions, sharingopinions, or writing persuasive text. Educators can then gauge students’ progress by assessingthese argumentation interactions.Though argumentation can be used in all academic domains, it is a critical component of thescientific process and is an essential part of scientific discourse. As a
knows about what engineers do • What factors (if any) about being an engineer appeal to participant • Events or persons that influenced participants’ study plans • What participants plan to do after high school • Participant satisfaction with the quality of the course.Focus GroupsTo acquire qualitative feedback regarding the DYF ENGR 215 course, focus groups werefacilitated Ms. Atkins and Ms. Raymond after the post-survey was administered. Students wereasked to discuss and write answers to the following questions: 1. How well did the course do in teaching you about the engineering design process? How come? 2. How have your ideas about what engineers do changed? How did this class affect your ideas about career
students in careers inengineering [4][9].In the slightly older tradition of K-12 outreach, researchers have explored the positive influenceof service learning on college students. Their results imply that developing curricula for andworking with younger students improves the communication skills of college students [1][3][10][11].Additional studies have suggested that K-12 outreach impacts female students more than theirmale peers [2][10]. Despite the wealth of knowledge addressing the positive aspects of K-12outreach to the involved college students, there is concern that the GK-12 initiative was an“overhasty expansion” of NSF resources. At the program’s inception, many universityadministrators expressed disapproval at the projected costs of the
outside theclassroom helps develop and maintain their interest in the subject. Such activities includescience clubs, excursions to science based institutions such as hospitals, factories and zoos,partnership research (for exceptional students) and science publications or presentations.Furthermore, students could be encouraged to participate in science fairs, along with theirhearing peers, as this could boost their self esteem and persuade them to perform well. Page 12.659.43. Introducing Engineering to Pre-College StudentsThe high school robotics summer program held at Temple University is only one of several effortsbeing made by institutions and
. These tasks can be broken into ―traditional‖tasks (e.g., graph and analyze data, answer questions about simple machines), and PBIL-basedtasks (e.g., write and discuss scientific questions for further investigation, update your projectboard, create your explanation worksheet, and communicate the design and solutioneffectiveness).These PBIL-based tasks frequently use scaffolding to facilitate learners’ use of scientificreasoning and engineering methods in order to use scientific concepts to explain observed data,to help learners monitor their own learning and identify future topics for investigations, todevelop hypotheses, and engineer solutions to ill-defined problems. These tasks occur at theindividual level (e.g., each learner answers