Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K-12 Teachers – II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bruce Gehrig, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Lyndon Abrams, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Deborah Bosley, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; James Conrad, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Stephen Kuyath, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Dawn Denney, Northwest Cabarrus High School; Kelly Teague, J.M. Robinson High School; Bill Welch, J.M. Robinson High School

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

not taken in the near future, the UnitedStates will face a serious shortage of scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematiciansbecause high school students, especially those from underrepresented groups, are increasinglylosing interest in these subjects.1 The key in reversing this trend lies in our ability to promotescience, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and professions in a more sociallyrelevant, real-world context and to recognize the differences in learning styles and self-efficacybetween males, females and minorities.2,3,4 As STEM teachers and school guidance counselorswill be the catalysts for introducing students to engineering and technology subjects and careers,the Teaching Engineering to Counselors and

Conference Session

Engineering in High Schools

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Mativo, Ohio Northern University; Adam Stienecker, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

how empirical values are gathered and placed in documents for use. This activitywould cause students to gain a level of comfort in using empirical data documented in varioushandbooks. Material behavior is critical to any engineering design because it provides the basisof material selection that will provide the performance needed to make a product safe andfunctional repeatedly. The Universal Testing machine was selected because of ease of use andreadily available materials that could be made into specimens. Aluminum specimens of ¼” x 1”x 12” were cut off from a ASTM-B-221 Kaiser 6061-T6511 stock. These specimens were thenplaced carefully in the Tinus Olsen 60,000 Lb Universal Testing Machine (UTM) grippers fortensile testing as shown in

Conference Session

Engineering Student Involvement in K-12 Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jed Lyons, University of South Carolina; Veronica Addison, University of South Carolina; Stephen Thompson, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. This may be interpreted thatbecause the workshop activities used engineering problems to integrate math and scienceconcepts, the math teachers thought it was a good math workshop and the science teachersthought it was a good science workshop. This finding could have implications for future in-service and pre-service teacher professional development efforts.BackgroundThe Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program provides support andtraining to graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)disciplines that allow them to build partnerships with local K-12 schools, enhance STEMinstruction, and improve student learning of STEM concepts.1 At this university, the Fellows arepartnered with a science or

Conference Session

Assessment of K-12 Engineering Programs and Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Valerie Galarza, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Mariela Figueroa, UPRMUniversity of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Cristina Lugo, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Ricardo Rodriguez, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Francisco Rivera, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; Alexandra Medina-Borja, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

needed. Homogeneity within the groups wasestablished as a necessary feature of focus groups and it was obtained based on tencharacteristics to categorize showed in Table 1. TABLE 1: FOCUS GROUPS CONTROL VARIABLES Male Gender Female Internship Industry Experience Coop Public Type of School Private English School Language Focus Spanish

Conference Session

Innovative K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Liesl Hotaling, Stevens Institute of Technology; Beth McGrath, Stevens Institute of Technology; Carol Shields, Stevens Institute of Technology; Mercedes McKay, Stevens Institute of Technology; Susan Lowes, Columbia University; Christine Cunningham, Museum of Science, Boston; Cathy Lachapelle, Museum of Science, Boston; Shih-Ying Yao, Museum of Science, Boston

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, middle, and high schoolteachers and students, and other educational stakeholders. Page 12.649.31.1 Pilot PhaseThe 2005-06 Pilot/Demonstration Phase of EOFNJ was conducted to 1) assess studentidentification and understanding of examples of engineering, 2) assess the underlying scienceand mathematics concepts of specified engineering curricula, 3) understand implementationchallenges faced by teachers when integrating engineering modules into the classroom.To prepare for the pilot study, CIESE staff first conducted a curriculum review to select grade-appropriate curricula which aligned with the science curriculum taught during the

Conference Session

Enhancing K12 Mathematics Education with Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eli Silk, University of Pittsburgh; Christian Schunn, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

are required to effectively enable students’ mastery of themore general mathematical ideas.IntroductionMathematics curricula that is “a mile wide and an inch deep”1 is often cited as a reason for poorK-12 mathematics achievement in the United States, since it most likely contributes tosuperficial coverage of ideas, students’ views of mathematics as simply a large collection of roteprocedures2, and acquisition of inert knowledge that is learned without consideration for its useoutside of the classroom3. Engineering design has been proposed as an alternative approach toteaching mathematics (in addition to other disciplines such as science and technology) as it hasthe potential to serve as an integrator4, providing a context in which students

Conference Session

Engineering in High Schools

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Darryl Morrell, Arizona State University; Chell Roberts, Arizona State University; Dale Baker, Arizona State University; Tirupalavanam Ganesh, Arizona State University; Annapurna Ganesh, Mesa Community College; Rachelle Beard, Arizona State University; Janel White-Taylor, Arizona State University; Neeru Khosla, CK12 Foundation; Murugan Pal, CK12 Foundation; John Kobara, CK12 Foundation; Stephen Krause, Arizona State University; Meera Vaidyanathan, CK12 Foundation

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, cognitive development, and independent learning to the attention of theengineering faculty. This dramatically improved the final text.3 CK12 Web InfrastructureA constraint on the textbook writing process was that the text could be used as seed material forCK12. Thus, the text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license [1] thatallows the materials to be adapted and extended. This license will be used for all content includedin the CK12 environment.The CK12 Foundation is developing a web-based infrastructure to implement the Flexbook concept. Page 13.425.3This infrastructure provides the capability to author material

Conference Session

Engineering in Middle Schools

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Quincy Brown, Drexel University; William Mongan, Drexel University; Dara Kusic, Drexel University; Elaine Garbarine, Drexel University; Eli Fromm, Drexel University; Adam Fontecchio, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

opportunity to employ an efficientproblem-solving strategy (e.g. multiplication) or a less efficient method (e.g. repeated addition)yielding the same answer. Fig. 1 shows a sample question from the assessment pre-test. All testitems are aligned with exams and standards that the students are regularly expected to performand address at their grade level. You are given $20 to buy supplies for your class. A set of supplies costs $2.15. How many students can you purchase supplies for? How much change would you receive?Fig. 1. Question from the pre-test The tests were analyzed for problem solving strategies, as described in Table I, to emphasizethe use of an appropriate approach more the arrival at a correct answer. To score

Conference Session

Innovative K-12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jacqueline Isaacs, Northeastern University; Jay Laird, Metaversal Studios; Lisa Regalla, Museum of Science Boston; Carol Barry, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Ahmed Busnaina, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

engineering standards.1. Background and game descriptionAn original videogame has been created, inspired by the popular “platformer” (Mario Bros.) and“beat-em-up” (Streets of Rage) game genres, designed to teach children ages 10-14 aboutprincipals of nanoscale science and engineering. The Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing(CHN) began production on Geckoman in the summer of 2006, first creating a trailer and videowalkthrough demonstration of gameplay prior to an NSF site visit. The enthusiastic reaction tothe videos convinced CHN to use outreach funds to create a game that would makenanotechnology not only accessible for kids, but also engaging and fun.In creating the game, the developers experimented with a variety of concepts, drawinginspiration

Conference Session

Engineering in the Elementary School

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Manisha Shrestha, George Mason University; Kelly Morris, MPES; Rajesh Ganesan, George Mason University; Donna Sterling, George Mason University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

students in science and mathematics. The NSF GK-12 program offers a uniqueopportunity to address this need.National Science Foundation (NSF) has established a GK-12 program that provides fellowshipsand education pedagogy to graduate students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, andMathematics) fields. The fellows serve as a resource to teachers, and help to increase students’interest in STEM. The plan is for the partnership between the fellow and teacher remains activefor 1 to 2 year/s. NSF has granted funds to SUNRISE project at GMU to initiate partnershipswith unsatisfactory-performing schools in 3 school divisions in the Washington Metropolitanarea. Eight schools are participating in the SUNRISE project; seven elementary schools and

Conference Session

Successful K-12 Programs for Girls & Minorities

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zbigniew Pasek, University of Windsor

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

professions found in these areas so they mayconsider them as future career choices3. For either of these goals to be attained, the proposedexhibit must accomplish three tasks: (1) attract visitors, (2) motivate them to become engagedwith the exhibit, and (3) facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge, understanding, and attitudesthe exhibit is designed to convey.Typical exhibits in an hands-on museum require a great deal of development effort. On averageit takes 2 to 3 years, a solid budget (anywhere from $100,000 to a few million in extreme cases,depending on complexity), and a diverse team working full time to create an individualinteractive exhibit. Similar effort was invested in the exhibit described here, except that the teamconsisted mostly of

Conference Session

K-12 Engineering and Pre-College Outreach Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn Barger, University of South Florida; Robin Little, Douglas L. Jamerson Jr. Elementary School; Richard Gilbert, University of South Florida; Charles Parsons, Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Elementary School; Debbie O'Hare, Douglas L. Jamerson Jr. Elementary School; Pat Van Driessche, Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Elementary School; Kim Parsons, Pinellas County School District

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Elementary School Center for Mathematics and Engineering. He earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida. His experiences include over 30 years teaching in Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms and 1 ½ years as a resource teacher. Chuck has curriculum writing experience and has presented at various state and national venues.Debbie O'Hare, Douglas L. Jamerson Jr. Elementary School DEBORAH O'HARE is a 4th and 5th grade teacher at Douglas L. Jamerson, Jr. Elementary School Center for Mathematics and Engineering. She earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from Florida State University and has National Board Certification. In 2006, she

Conference Session

Topics in K-12 Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Lee, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

common response was the series Boston Public with a fewother series cited at a lower frequency, typically involving series in re-run such as Fameor Welcome Back, Kotter. Only about 12% of respondents could correctly identify anengineer character/series, with the dominant citation being the character Scotty in StarTrek. About 15% of the respondents incorrectly cited a forensics type series as anexample of an engineer character/series.Figure 1 presents the results of the respondent evaluations of the scale: Dull/boring toExciting. Respondents generally had an image of doctors as being in an excitingprofession, whereas the other three were collectively seen as less exciting. The “doctor”responses were significantly different from the other three

Conference Session

K-12 Engineering Outreach Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Powers, Clarkson University; Bruce Brydges, SUNY Potsdam; Gail Gotham, SLL BOCES; James Carroll, Clarkson University; Peter Turner, Clarkson University; Douglas Bohl, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

ranging from“Finding Nano” to robotics to ecology.The development of an extensive partnership beyond Clarkson’s campus has been a criticallyimportant aspect of the success and growth of our outreach programs. Partners include thecounty-wide Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and other nearby Universitiesthat provide synergistic expertise, including educational assessment. The partnership helps toprovide an umbrella organization and common themes across all individual programs, whichhelp to main continuity for all stakeholders as the specific funding sources come and go. Thecommon elements that have been consistent across all individual programs and that have beenshown to be critical to our success include: (1) hands-on, inquiry and

Conference Session

Assessment of K-12 Engineering Programs and Issues

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Noemi Mendoza Diaz, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica Cox, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

afoundational understanding of the state of these initiatives that in turn would serve as the basis offurther inquiry and implementation.We are using as guidelines of this work, the assessment definition and the assessment methodsprovided by Olds et al.9 Assessment is defined there as “the act of collecting data or evidencethat can be used to answer classroom, curricular or research questions” (p. 13). In this sense, weare analyzing the kind of questions, implicit or explicit, that each assessment within published P-12 engineering education studies are trying to answer. Olds et. al divide assessmentmethodologies into two primary types: “(1) studies that describe the current state of aphenomenon (descriptive studies) and (2) studies that examine how a

Conference Session

Successful K-12 Programs for Girls & Minorities

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stan Komacek, California University of Pennsylvania; Carol Adukaitis, PA State System of Higher Education

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

decades ofdiversification of labor and increasing access to global transportation, product parts are nowmade all over the world and assembled in factories, which are equally dispersed. Theseproducts/parts are ‘invisible’ and the people who currently manufacture them are ‘invisible’.The premise of this project is students are ‘clueless’ about manufacturing and manufacturingcareers: what it involves, how parts are manufactured, what is manufactured in their ownbackyards, and the skills required for manufacturing them.A Spring 2007 NSF-ATE survey asked middle school students involved in the project to nametheir Top Three Career Choices. The project evaluators categorized the choices using the 16federal career clusters6. Table 1 Students’ Choices

Conference Session

Engineering in the Elementary School

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mercedes McKay, Stevens Institute of Technology; Augusto Macalalag, Stevens Institute of Technology; Carol Shields, Stevens Institute of Technology; Debra Brockway, Stevens Institute of Technology; Beth McGrath, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

13.963.3teachers will have an impact on student learning of science topics and processes, technology, andengineering. The program was designed to integrate engineering/technology and science in away that supports the learning in each of these disciplines. Engineering complements theinstruction of science by supplying a context for application outside of the science lesson.Curricula Content and Structure of Teacher Professional DevelopmentEach year of the three-year MSP program focuses on a different science discipline. The firstyear, which ends in June, 2008 focuses on life science, environmental science and technology.Table 1 shows the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards covered in the first year.Subsequent years will focus on earth science and

Conference Session

Public Engineering of Engineering, K12 Standards, and Overview

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Welty, University of Wisconsin, Stout; Linda Katehi, University of Illinois; Greg Pearson, National Academy of Engineering; Michael Feder, National Research Council

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

responsible for its initial development. It also had to containone or more salient pieces that have undergone field testing or external evaluation andsubsequent revision and are no longer being identified as “drafts.”The K-12 engineering education initiatives that so far have met the selection criteria are listed inTable 1. It is possible that additional materials will be added to the analysis or that somecurrently listed will not receive a full review. At the time this paper was prepared, reviews foronly about a third of the materials had been completed; another third were in some intermediate Page 13.202.4stage of review. Thus, the observations

Conference Session

Engineering in High Schools

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nicholas Oswald, Oklahoma State University; Charlie Huddleston, Oklahoma State University; Alan Cheville, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page 13.95.2students. The sample was not diverse ethnically; only one student was not white. Nine of thetwelve participants were women. One student was deaf, and had a translator in the classroom.The sample participated in a mini-course simply titled “Engineering”. The course goals for thefirst iteration of the Upward Bound program were to 1) generate interest in engineering as acareer path, 2) address any misconceptions of engineering and engineering careers held bystudents, and 3) give students an opportunity to apply the math and science knowledge gained inother Upward Bound courses. These objectives are similar to other pre-college programsreported in the literature3-8. A project based learning approach 9-12 was used to give studentshands

Conference Session

K-12 Engineering Outreach Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Lim, University of Southern California

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Conference Session

Public Engineering of Engineering, K12 Standards, and Overview

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Don Giddens, Georgia Institute of Technology; Greg Pearson, National Academy of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Academy of Engineering(NAE) in 2002 of 177 organizations involved in PUE activities revealed that they spendan estimated $400 million annually.1 However, the actual national investment can beassumed to be much higher, because the survey is believed to have reached only afraction of the institutions that have PUE initiatives.Despite these efforts, the impact of engineering on our daily lives, the nature of whatengineers do, and the opportunities available through an engineering education are stilllargely unknown to most Americans. Educational researchers have found that K–12teachers and students generally have a poor understanding of what engineers do.2 3 4Polling data comparing scientists and engineers show that the public sees engineers asbeing

Conference Session

K-12 Engineering Outreach Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cindy Waters, North Carolina A&T State University; Devdas Pai, North Carolina A&T State University; Alice Stewart, NCA&T State University; Jagannathan Sankar, North Carolina A&T State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

camps.References:1. C. Jonas, G.P. Sparks, “Interactive Engagement as a Tool for Increasing StudentAchievement,” 2005, http://mercystreetdallas.org/v1/IE%20Study.pdf2. Quizdom Education: Interactive Learning System http://www.qwizdom.com3. Materials World Modules, http://www.materialsworldmodules.org Page 13.1232.7

Conference Session

Successful K-12 Programs for Girls & Minorities

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Tolley, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Deborah Sharer, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Anthony Brizendine, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Michael Phillips, Department of Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Adam Harris

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Carolina at Charlotte(UNC Charlotte), the National Science Foundation, and local partners. NCJETS involves over 30middle and high schools from seven counties. The purpose of the program is to engage studentsin educational, interesting, and challenging activities that: (1) introduce them to variousdisciplines and career opportunities afforded by the engineering profession; (2) inform themabout two- and four-year college admission requirements and actions they need to ensure theireligibility for admission; and (3) establish a sense of community with Lee College students andfaculty prior to their graduation from high school. Week-long resident summer camps areprovided for middle and high school students, where the high school students receive a

Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K12 Teachers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jodi Cullum, Utah State University; Christine Hailey, Utah State University; Daniel Householder, Utah State University; Chris Merrill, Illinois State University; James Dorward, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

and one Hispanic female. The demographic of theprofessional development providers included seven white males, one African Americanmale, one Asian male and one African American female.The professional development workshop was guided by three goals. 1) Increase high schoolSTEM teachers’ content knowledge regarding constraints, optimization and predictiveanalysis in an engineering design context; 2) Increase high school STEM teachers’ ability todevelop, use and assess curriculum materials that addressed engineering design; and 3)Involve all participants in reflection on their experiences in order to establish thecharacteristics of an effective PD program for high school teachers infusing engineeringdesign concepts into STEM classrooms

Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K12 Teachers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Austin Talley, University of Texas at Austin; Kathy Schmidt, University of Texas at Austin; Kristin Wood, University of Texas at Austin; Richard Crawford, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Kolbmodel describes an entire cycle of the learning experience20. Bloom’s Taxonomy describes sixlevels in which learning can occur. The levels in the taxonomy range from basic memorizationof information to evaluation and critiquing of a topic21. These learning models have beenembodied in the DTEACh model (hands-on technology exploration, interactive discussions,exploratory labs, open-ended design problems, and project reporting process.) The DTEAChtraining is structured according to this model so that the participants experience this method ofteaching in the training workshops. The steps in the model and examples of implementation inthe DTEACh training are described below: 1. Hands-on Technology Exploration: Introducing a topic to students

Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K12 Teachers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brant Miller, University Of Minnesota; Tamara Moore, University Of Minnesota

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

.Overview of SDSM&T RET ProgramThe main objective of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) ResearchExperience for Teachers (RET) Site: “Inspiring Educators in Rural America through Research”is to provide an authentic research experience to practicing middle and high school science, math,and technology teachers. As an outcome of the research experience, the teachers take back totheir classroom newly acquired experiences, knowledge, and demonstrations which they willreadily share with their students. The objectives of the SDSM&T RET Site are: 1. to provide ten (10) sixth through twelfth grade teachers (RET Research Assistants) the opportunity to work side-by-side with undergraduate students, graduate students

Conference Session

Assessment of K-12 Engineering Programs and Issues

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Carpinelli, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Howard Kimmel, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Linda Hirsch, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Levelle Burr-Alexander, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Ronald Rockland, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Mark OShea, CSU Monterey Bay

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

or behaviors that will be provided by students?• Does each of the objectives include qualifying statements or phrases that describe proficient or “good enough” performance for each product or behavior expected of students?• Are the lesson objectives sufficient to meet all critical learning expectations included in the content descriptions of the selected standard or indicator? Was anything left out?As a result, a rubric with seven elements has been developed. Each is evaluated on a three pointscale where in general 0 indicates poor, vague, or non-existent, 1 indicates somewhat lacking butacceptable and 2 indicates clear, concise, objective, measurable or complete (see Appendix).For example, the first element is whether

Conference Session

Topics in K-12 Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melanie Ford, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

show MythBusters to get the kids excited about theengineering principles and to demonstrate that sometimes you have to “do” in order to find outhow something works or does not work.ProgramThe week long sessions are set up for 15 hours a week. Either from 9:00 am till 12:00 pm in themornings or from 1:00 pm till 4:00 pm in the afternoon. Typically the kids are given a 15 – 20minute break during the middle of the session.Each 3 hour time period includes a discussion on a particular engineering field with follow-uphands-on activities, and experiments. An episode of MythBusters might be shown if it relates tothe topic for that session. Most of the attendees are already huge fans of the show or become fanswhen they leave the class.During the first

Conference Session

Engineering in the Elementary School

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Parry, North Carolina State University; Laura Bottomley, North Carolina State University; Elizabeth Miars, Rachel Freeman Elementary School; Lizette Day, Rachel Freeman Elementary School

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

addition the poor performance of American students, including our best and brightest, on international comparative assessments is alarming. But retention of knowledge is not the measure of most concern. Rather, it is the lackluster performance of American 15 year olds on the two most recent Programme for 1 International Student Assessment (PISA) assessments , which measures how well students can apply the knowledge they have gained, that is the strongest indicator of the need for major changes in the way K-12 students are taught.The long time and accepted methods of pedagogy practiced in today’s classrooms weredeveloped for an industrial revolution era society. Relying on the efficacy of

Conference Session

Assessment of K-12 Engineering Programs and Issues

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Faik Karatas, Purdue University; Amy Micklos, Purdue University; George Bodner, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page 13.1083.3researcher from a major engineering school gave an hour lecture/seminar about engineering tothe target population at the same school long before the study began. As seen in Table 1, total of370 students enrolled in 6th grade in these schools. Participants were 20 Caucasian 6th-gradestudents that were 11-12 years old. An equal number of male and female students waspurposefully selected among the volunteers in the study. In phenomenographic studies, a samplesize of 15-20 with maximum variation is traditionally believed adequate to investigate thephenomenon. In this study, variation was sought only for gender. Ethnicity and economic statuswas not part of our selection process because of ethnic homogeneity among the volunteers