Conference Session

Engineering and Technology for Everyone

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Carlson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

commitment to 21st century education focuses onlife and career skills. In this section, teachers indicated to what degree Moodle – with itsemphasis on visualization, rich context, staged problem solving, and electronically enabledcollaboration / communication – help students learn skills that mirror professional STEMpractices in a technology-based environment. The segment also contained items on skillsfoundational to group work – such as communication and collaboration.This cluster contains encouraging results for a set of competencies that move beyond the three“Rs” in the traditional view of K-12 instruction (see Table 4). We note that these more nuancedskills are difficult to teach and require substantive preparation and monitoring from a

Conference Session

Engineering Courses for Non-engineers

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Blake, Austin Peay State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

system work. The story includesmany examples where engineers, operating under constraints, identify and solve problems.October Sky tells an autobiographical story of a group of young men who, after a long learningcurve with many failures, develops the technology to make very successful small rockets. Whilethis is a story about high school students, it reflects the perspective of an author who went on toan engineering career with NASA, and the story is a useful study for technological projects atany level. Moving to fiction and a setting in the distant future, Forbidden Planet tells a story ofthe enticing benefits of new technological marvels. It also explores the risks of unintended andunanticipated consequences. While these movies illustrate

Conference Session

Engineering and Technology for Everyone

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

community has responded enthusiastically to the need toincrease the career awareness and understanding of engineering among K-12 students. Howeverefforts directed at the undergraduate non-engineering student population have been limited. Page 14.545.1To achieve widespread impact, classes must be taught at many institutions around the country.To accomplish this, standard models of technological literacy courses must be developed.Standard course models will reduce the effort needed by instructors who desire to offer coursesfor non-engineers. As a beginning to this process, a workshop was convened at the NationalAcademy of Engineering of representative

Conference Session

Engineering Courses for Non-engineers

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bradley Bishop, United States Naval Academy

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

class because I did not have room for it in my matrix. It was the best course I have ever taken, hands down. It was interesting and very informative. I learned a lot about new technologies, which was really cool. It was interesting, informative, and showed the 'why' of engineering, where the other classes focused on the 'how'. Hands down the best (and most different) class that I've taken. ... I didn't want to take bathroom breaks during class because I didn't want to miss anything.ConclusionIt is difficult to anticipate the impact of this course on the students’ careers, but it is clear that thetopic is interesting, motivating and valued. The most challenging aspect of the course ismaintaining