Conference Session

Ensuring Access to K - 12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lawrence Genalo, Iowa State University; Jamie Gilchrist, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

and problem solving concepts.This paper will describe the twelve week experience of a home schooled group engaged in theTWT program. Home schooling is a growing trend in the United States and it is estimated thattwo million American children are home schooled each year with this number increasing by 15-20% per year1. The students’ progress in this program was measured through specific reflectionquestions, as well as observations and reflections by the TWT facilitators and the cooperatinghome school representative and the parents of the home schooled students.The Toying With TechnologySM ProgramThe Toying With TechnologySM Program at Iowa State University has been reported on manytimes in the literature2-7. This program includes an

Conference Session

Professional Development Programs for Teachers

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Trenor, University of Houston; Jennifer Ruchhoeft, University of Houston; Frank Claydon, Unviersity of Houston; Stuart Long, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, Transfer, and Results.Reactions and Learning— Views of the Program and New Knowledge of Engineering: At the endof the program, teachers were asked to complete two survey assessment tools. One survey askedparticipants to rate their agreement with various statements related to program content andadministration at the end of the program using a Likert scale (responses included “stronglyagree” (5), “agree somewhat” (4), “not sure” (3), “disagree somewhat”(2), “stronglydisagree”(1)). The other survey queried participants on how well their expectations wereachieved during the program, and asked participants to rate each statement in terms of the extentto which each factor was reflected in their summer experience (a score of 1 indicated that it wasnot at

Conference Session

K-12 Activities

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leanne Hirshfield, Tufts University; Barbara Moskal, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

provide students with personalized tutors through the use of educational software.However, without the authoritative involvement of a teacher, many students are not motivated tolearn material presented via computer. The challenge to educational software designers is tocreate environments that motivate students to think reflectively about content, encouraging themto invest time and energy in the learning process. One manner in which to accomplish this goalmay be to include student ideas when developing software. This paper presents the results of aresearch investigation that examined the inclusion of middle school students in the process ofdesigning educational software. Eight middle school students participated in a focus groupdiscussion, during

Conference Session

Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Pelletier, Northern Essex Community College; Wayne Kibbe, Northern Essex Community College; Paul Chanley, Northern Essex Community College

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

operating systems were discussed, includingWindows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. File management, virus protection, andbackup were also discussed. A hands-on lab exercise on configuring an operating systemwas performed.The final course topics were Basic AC Quantities, followed by Light Propagation, Snell’sLaw, and the Critical Angle of Reflection. These modules covered some of the contentfield of Applied Mathematics by using algebra, geometry, and trigonometry to solvetechnical problems. In addition, the content field of Science/Technology was introducedwith the discussions of fiber optics and light propagation. Engineering notation wasexplained, including the importance of representing very large and very small numbers ina systematic way

Conference Session

Ensuring Access to K - 12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Hwang, United InnoWorks Academy and Duke University; Ahrash Bissell, Duke University; Daniel Kaplan, United InnoWorks Academy and Duke University; Matthew Mian, United InnoWorks Academy and Duke University; Vineet Agrawal, United InnoWorks Academy and Duke University; Jessica Manson, United InnoWorks Academy and Duke University; Gary Ybarra, Duke University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

developments, such as learning-styles theories.20 In particular, Kolb’s experientiallearning cycle theory has received significant attention from educational researchers.21,22 Thistheory argues that learning originates from real-world experiences and involves four essentialprocesses: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract hypothesis, and active testing.1The experiential learning cycle was recently integrated with some general principles ofneurobiology, as documented in The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice ofTeaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, by James Zull.18 This synthesis is achieved bydescribing the learning cycle in the context of brain anatomy and physiology. In brief, the humancortical brain can be

Conference Session

Standards Based Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Merrill, Illinois State University; Vincent Childress, North Carolina A&T; Rodney Custer, Illinois State University; Craig Rhodes, North Carolina A&T

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

technology education curriculum. The projectused engineering design challenges in order to lead teachers into experiencing the engineeringprocess, the application of mathematics and science in order to optimize solutions, predict theirbehavior, and analyze solutions, and to reflect on their learning and the implementation process.The Bridges for Engineering Education professional development was highly rated byparticipants as useful and beneficial. It is interesting to note that three of the most important Page 11.762.7things learned by the public school students who participated were:1. Engineering is a very intellectually demanding process.2

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Meetu Walia, Polytechnic University; EDWIN YU, Polytechnic University; Vikram Kapila, Polytechnic University; Magued Iskander, Polytechnic University; Noel Kriftcher, Polytechnic University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Sensors in High School Living Environment Labs: A GK-12 Project1. Introduction In a series of recent op-ed pieces in The New York Times and in his latest book The WorldIs Flat,1 Thomas Friedman points to an urgent need to develop a strong and technologicallytrained workforce to ensure the American leadership in scientific discovery and technologicalinnovation. This call to action has been joined by business and government advisory groups suchas the American Electronics Association,2 the National Innovation Initiative,3 and the NationalAcademy of Engineering;4 and reflected in the remarks delivered by industry captains such asBill Gates at the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools.5 In a recent letter6 to

Conference Session

Ensuring Access to K - 12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Taryn Bayles, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Ted Foster, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Dean Sheridan, Glen Elg High School, Howard County Public Schools, Maryland; Carolyn Parker, George Washington University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

enjoyable additions to the seminars. The Board of Directors expressed theirdelight with the improved attendance and format of the YESS program and asked the co-leadersof the 2004 YESS program to lead the 2005 YESS program again with this revised hand-onapproach. A full description of the 2004 YESS program was highlighted in the HistoricalElectronics Museum, Reflections newsletter5.The 2005 program was similar to the 2004 program and was designed to have the high schoolstudents learn how to go from brainstorming to designing, building, and testing. The over-arching project, performed in teams, was to design a mousetrap vehicle which had to meetvarious design criteria, which include maximizing distance traveled, pulling capability, speedover a

Conference Session

Promoting Scientific and Technological Literacy

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suzanne Soled, University of Cincinnati; Patricia McNerney, University of Cincinnati; Laura Koehl, University of Cincinnati; Kelly Obarski, University of Cincinnati; Anant Kukreti, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

, demonstrations, laboratory exercises, individual andgroup projects, and field experiences to: 1) enable high school students to directlyexperience authentic learning practices that require them to use higher-order thinkingskills; 2) encourage creative problem-solving skills that require collaborative learning,teamwork, writing, and presentation; 3) cultivate an interest in service learning, in whichstudents are active participants, achieve outcomes that show a perceptible impact, andengage in evaluative reflection; and 4) better motivate and prepare secondary schoolstudents for advanced education. The Fellows have been and continue to be trained tocreate and implement these activities.Through the course of each year, the Fellows complete a specially

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stacy Klein-Gardner; Cynthia Paschal, Vanderbilt University; Christopher Garay, Vanderbilt University; Aubrey McKelvey, Vanderbilt University; Patrick Gonzales, Vanderbilt University; Alex Nguyen, University of Rochester

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

rate of several drops per second. A picture of blood cells istaped to the bottom of an aluminum foil pan representing the blood cells in the body.Holding the cup as high as possible, water is allowed to slowly and steadily drip into thepan as it is moved up and down. This activity demonstrates that targets moving towardthe wave sources reflect things at a higher frequency than targets moving away from thewave source. Blinded observers are asked to guess if the pan is moving up or downbased on the frequency of the drip sounds created.Standards MetThis curriculum meets numerous National Science Education Content Standards(A,B,C,E,F,G). Students are provided with an opportunity to do scientific inquirythrough the challenge based curriculum

Conference Session

Elementary School Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen High, Oklahoma State University; Caroline Beller, Oklahoma State University; Pamela Fry, Oklahoma State University; Adrienne Redmond, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

minutes to two hour) laboratory exercises toexpose them to a variety of science content areas. One of the lab periods was used toexplore Oklahoma agriculture in the classroom activities2. A lab notebook was due atthe end of the semester that included self reflection on the science content of theexercises and the appropriate grade level.The majority of the second half of the semester was devoted to science module trainingand teaching. The students were trained in science modules for grades 1-5 at theOklahoma State University Center for Science Literacy3. During the module training, thestudents were taught how to keep laboratory notebooks. The science modules used weredeveloped by the National Science Resources Center (NSRC) that is operated by

Conference Session

Assessing Perceptions of Engineers and Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharon Kurpius-Robinson, Arizona State University; Dale Baker, Arizona State University; Stephen Krause, Arizona State University; Chell Roberts, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

questions addressing DET.Next, a group of education and engineering faculty reviewed the survey items and identified theitems that best reflected the information being sought. A hard copy of the second draft of thesurvey was then created and field tested with a focus group of five teachers who helped refinethe wording and added or eliminated items. These teachers were given an honorarium for theirparticipation. A final electronic version of the survey was placed on a website that allowedteachers to respond to the survey via internet. The final version of the survey included 69 items,each with a four-point response format ranging from one to four. Sixty-five of the survey itemswere to be answered by teachers at all grade levels. The last four items

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Venkat Chandrasekhar, Northwestern University; Marcel Grdinic, Glenbrook North High School; Nathan Unterman, Glenbrook North High School; R.P.H. Chang, Northwestern University; Emma Tevaarwerk, Northwestern University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

NCLT is based at Northwestern University, and involvescollaboration with a wide range of universities and colleges, including the University ofMichigan and Purdue, as well as high schools across the country. Our goals includeusing cutting-edge research to engage and inspire pre-college students to becomeinterested in science and engineering, particularly nanoscience and nanotechnology.Background and ApproachTraditionally, we think of “looking” at something small with a light microscope. In fact,the size of objects resolved with a light microscope is limited by diffraction to roughly200 nm. Hence, we cannot see nano-objects because the wavelength of the visible light issimply too large to be reflected off of them. So another “touch” based

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Don Engelberg, Queensborough Community College; Cheryl Bluestone, Queensborough Community College; Amy Bieber, Queensborough Community College; James Valentino, Queensborough Community College; Patrick Wallach, Queensborough Community College; Joseph Goldenberg, Queensborough Community College; Clara Wajngurt, Queensborough Community College; Paul Marchese, Queensborough Community College

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. Projectinstructors worked with participants hands-on each week , and every 4 – 5 weeks hadparticipants individually demonstrate the skills. Instructors worked with all participants untilthey could perform each skill well.. Each week they also learned background theory. Among theexperiments were ones on lenses and image formation, polarization, reflection and refraction,spectral dispersion and bandwidth, spatial filtering and beam expansion, and analog and digitaloscilloscopes. The groups made their own holograms and were allowed to keep them. Theywere able to see the difference between s and p-type polarization, to understand why polarizedsunglasses work, and they saw a high-power laser demonstration that included a discussion ofwhich lasers work the best

Conference Session

Promoting Scientific and Technological Literacy

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jan DeWaters, Clarkson University; Susan Powers, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

achievement and student attitude iswell documented.[28-31] Likewise, student attitudes toward a subject will be reflected by theirinterest levels in the classroom. If we are to believe that students learn more when they areinterested in the material, then a measure of student attitude should provide insight into thepotential for enhancing student achievement or competency.Attempts to quantify improvements in student attitudes toward STEM by analyzing the pre/postprogram “I Like Math” attitude surveys have been marginally successful. The data haveprovided sporadic results which largely consist of a smattering of positive and negative findings,none of which represent any real or consistent trend. In fact, looking at the bigger picture, wehave seen that

Conference Session

Assessing Perceptions of Engineers and Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Reginald Hobbs, Tufts University; Nataliia Perova, Tufts University; Igor Verner, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Chris Rogers, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

research methodologies.6 The reflection aspect of actionresearch is used to review the previous action and plan the next one.7-8 By conducting andmodifying the module in brief time periods we can learn the most effective way to emphasizeand enhance learning about anatomy, engineering, and physics in an interdisciplinary learningexperience.The goal of our research is to determine where this interdisciplinary instructional unit can beintegrated into the curriculum. In any change of the curriculum it is important to use what isknown about individual differences of the students to determine for whom any particularinstructional method is appropriate and for whom it is not appropriate.6

Conference Session

Standards Based Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kazem Kazerounian, University of Connecticut; David M. Moss, University of Connecticut; David Giblin, University of Connecticut; Elias Faraclas, University of Connecticut; Cathi Koehler, University of Connecticut

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

written science education frameworks that guide theirscience programs in grades K-12. Many use the Benchmarks, NSES [3] or both as the guidingframework for science content often reflecting this content through the traditional sciencedisciplines, e.g. earth science, biology, chemistry and physics. As demonstrated in this brief Page 11.229.4expose, Benchmarks [2] and NSES [3] recommend the blend of technology into the scienceframeworks as a means to promote scientific literacy. As science educators develop and revisetheir science curriculums, the inclusion of technology and engineering concepts, asrecommended by these documents, would augment their

Conference Session

Ensuring Access to K - 12 Engineering Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amit Nimunkar, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin-Madison; GWEN EBERT, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

studies and b) how thesecourses work together to help students develop engineering skills. Assessment instrumentsincluded beginning, middle, and end-of-design experience questionnaires, videotapes of studentpresentations, and a reflective letter to their parents. Through the data collected, the paperanswers the following questions: a) Are real-life student design projects an effective means ofintegrating different courses? b) Did the real-life student design projects provide better studentunderstanding of engineering in general? c) Did the exercise of designing and presentingprojects, stimulate student interest in science and engineering careers? This pilot assessmentplan will be used to improve the program as well as to assess student learning

Conference Session

Elementary School Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M. David Burghardt, Hofstra University; Krowles Christine, Plainview School Distict

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

) help students construct meaning. Further, when Page 11.587.3students are encouraged to create artifacts (Appleton, 2000), they both reflect and enhancestudent understanding.The particular design strategy used was based on the informed design cycle (Burghardt andHacker, 2003). It is iterative and allows, even encourages, users to revisit earlier assumptionsand findings as they proceed. Figure 1 shows the overall cycle. A key differentiating factor inthe informed design process is in the Research and Investigation phase. The use of Knowledgeand Skill Builders (KSBs) provides structured research in key ideas that underpin the designsolution

Conference Session

Assessing K - 12 Engineering Education Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna Barrett, Georgia Institute of Technology; Marion Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

questions • Learners evaluate their explanations in light of alternative explanations, particularly reflecting scientific understanding • Learners communicate and justify their proposed explanations. Research also suggests that the quality of the teaching workforce is the single mostimportant factor in predicting student achievement.15 Robert Marzano has conducted anextensive review of the research studies involving factors that impact student achievement andconducted meta-analyses of those studies to determine the effect size of the factors on studentachievement16. He describes three types of factors that impact student achievement: school-level factors, student-level factors and teacher-level factors. What factors can SWEPT/RETs

Conference Session

K-12 Activities

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Aslam, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

reflected light and the card is thrown inthe basket in the front (see Figure 8). However, when a white cardis placed on the belt, the sensor receives the reflected light and theRIS is programmed to reverse the motor for 1.5 seconds. Thus, thecard is thrown in the rear basket. The RIS was also used to study Newton's laws in a number ofexperiments (see a sample of a manual for one such experiment inAppendix A). The experiments include distance measurement(Figure 9), velocity measurement, acceleration measurement, valueof gravitation constant, spring constant, etc. A rotation sensorattached to one of the wheels of the robot is used for distancemeasurement. The RIS can be used to measure the area of a circle, a triangle ora shape made of right

Conference Session

Professional Development Programs for Teachers

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelly Bradley, University of Kentucky; Janet Lumpp, University of Kentucky

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

commitment to studentassessment, and teacher and program accountability, the Kirkpatrick evaluation model provides arigorous way to address the complex demands of today’s professional development models.Successful teacher education initiatives create a set of experiences that encourage participatingteachers to become genuine "learners” in situations intended to model a proposed instructionalapproach.13,14 Like students, teachers must be actively involved in learning, with opportunities todiscuss, reflect upon, and try out instructional approaches. Positive, self-sustaining curricularchanges are most likely to occur when teacher learning takes place within a professionalcommunity that is nurtured and developed from with the school and beyond

Conference Session

Programs for High School Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patrick Rousche, University of Illinois-Chicago; Michael Cho, University of Illinois-Chicago; Yang Dai, University of Illinois-Chicago; Hui Lu, University of Illinois-Chicago; J Hetling, University of Illinois-Chicago; jie liang, University of Illinois-Chicago; Susan McCormick, University of Illinois-Chicago; David Schneeweis, University of Illinois-Chicago; Richard Magin, University of Illinois-Chicago

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

. Changes were not seen regarding student intent to study at a 4-year college vs. acommunity college, nor were there changes in the intent of students to study bioengineering atour university or any other. For the former, we naively presumed passive exposure to theuniversity environment would cause some changes in these areas. However, the mean of 9.53for this question in CY2 suggests that this was not an area that needed improvement. At anyrate, without actively addressing these issues via lectures or laboratory sessions, no significantchanges in these attitudes were recorded. Interestingly, the means for post-camp CY2 andCY3 were very similar overall, likely reflecting a consistent pool of students. For instance,the highest mean of 9.53 in CY2

Conference Session

Assessing K - 12 Engineering Education Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cejka, Tufts University; Chris Rogers, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

seem to overcome these problems. In fact,46% report that they have gained positive relationships with colleagues through the program. Page 11.718.12 11The decreased availability at the office is troublesome for at least one classroom mentor whoworry that his time away from the office may reflect poorly on him: “While I have enjoyed [the program], it does impact my job in that I do spend time away from my desk. I'm also never fully sure how my time away is seen by my superiors. Do they view it as slacking off or helping

Conference Session

Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Wilkins, Maui Economic Development Board

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

diverse young technology professionals whograduated from local high schools on the subject of “How I Got My Start.” The final activity is avisit to the normally inaccessible observatories at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex, tenthousand feet above sea level atop Mount Haleakala.In its first year, Tech Careers employed a passive recruitment process to enroll interestedstudents. Sixty-six percent of participants were male, and most came from private schools orthose in wealthier districts. Anecdotally, they were also primarily Caucasian. In subsequentyears, gender equity recruitment protocols were implemented and refined so that now theparticipant population appropriately reflects the gender, socio-economic and ethnic diversity ofthe community

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tammy VanDeGrift, University of Portland; Sheryl Burgstahler, University of Washington; Richard Ladner, University of Washington; Annemarie Poginy, University of Portland

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

disseminate the workshop model and key properties to other colleges and Page 11.1293.2universities so that engineering and computer science may attract a more diverse population. Weprovide evidence regarding the success of the workshop through students’ work, a case study,and analysis of program evaluation data.1. IntroductionEngineers and computer scientists build products for use by a diverse population; therefore, it issensible and necessary that engineers form a diverse population. Unfortunately, thedemographics of US students earning engineering degrees and those practicing as professionalengineers do not reflect the US population1. Among the

Conference Session

Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Vallas, University of Virginia; Larry Richards, University of Virginia; Anaïs Miodek, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

School of Engineeringand Applied Science. Initially, the MITE program was intended to serve as a preparation andrecruitment program for first-generation college students and minority groups in engineering,defined as: women, African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. In 2002, the programwas renamed the Introduction to Engineering, reflecting a conscious decision to make theprogram more overtly inclusive of all demographic groups. The OMP continued to run theprogram and was officially renamed the Center for Diversity in Engineering (CDE) in 2004. Inaddition, in 2003, a new emphasis on hands-on engineering was introduced and material frominteractive engineering teaching kits was incorporated into the ITE program. This included theadoption

Conference Session

Standards Based Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sara Titus, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; John Raczek, University of Maryland-College Park; Bruce Jarrell, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Carolyn Parker, George Washington University; Taryn Bayles, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Julia Ross, University of Maryland-Baltimore County

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

mathematical simulations. The authors speculate that thisdecrease may reflect a new appreciation for the complexity of engineering design and a healthyreassessment of their expertise after exposure to the curriculum unit. Similar decreases inconfidence in math have been reported in the literature.5 Close attention will be paid to whetherthis trend persists in future trials and modification will be made to the module as necessary toaddress this issue. Finally, students also took a Post Module Questionnaire at the completion of thecurriculum unit. This questionnaire was broken into two sections. The first section askedstudents to indicate whether their interest or skills in certain areas increased, decreased orremained the same as compared to

Conference Session

Assessing K - 12 Engineering Education Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gordon Kingsley, Georgia Institute of Technology; Monica Gaughan, Georgia Institute of Technology; Donna Llewellyn, Georgia Institute of Technology; Marion Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

assignments, the separateyears depicted in this figure are cross-sectional, and should not be interpreted longitudinally.What is particularly striking is the central role played by the Fellows in facilitating therelationship between the Westlake and Georgia Tech communities. Despite recruiting newFellows and professor-mentors each year, the structure and size of the Fellow social networks isremarkably consistent. The increasing size over time of the complete Westlake-Georgia Technetwork is not reflected in the egonet of the STEP Fellows.Mathematical AnalysesEach of the social networks depicted in the Figures is based on person-by-person and person-by-activity matrices. These same matrices can also be analyzed for aggregate characteristics of

Conference Session

Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eugene Brown, Virginia Tech; Robert Kavetsky, Office of Naval Research; Robert L. Stiegler, NSWCDD; Peter N. Squire, NSWCDD; Juanita Jo Matkins, College of William and Mary; Gail Hardinge, College of William and Mary; John A. McLaughlin, McLauglin Associates

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

-world challenges and problems, and the utilization of theseproblems to help students understand and appreciate the work which scientists and engineers do.In reality, the NSWCDD mentors play three roles: they serve as exemplary individuals workingin a Navy setting, colleagues working with the teachers in the classroom, and role models andmentors to the students. Since the community as a whole (students, parents, teachers, schoolsystem, and employers) is invested in the program, such mentoring programs are more effectivethan if only a school-based program was implemented. See Nation et al (2005)9.Anecdotal comments, reflecting indirectly on the role of the mentors, support the quantitativeindications (see next section) of the success of the