A Novel Approach To Professional Development
- Conference
- Location
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Louisville, Kentucky
- Publication Date
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June 20, 2010
- Start Date
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June 20, 2010
- End Date
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June 23, 2010
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
- Page Count
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17
- Page Numbers
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15.68.1 - 15.68.17
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--16813
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/16813
- Download Count
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518
Paper Authors
Robert Reeves University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Robert Reeves graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2009 with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He will finish his MS in Chemical Engineering also from UMBC in May 2010 and will begin his career with OSIsoft, LLC. He has been working on the INSPIRES program for the last year.
Julia Ross University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Julia Ross is Professor and Chair of the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her technical research interests are in the area of cellular engineering. In particular, her work focuses on bacterial adhesion to physiological surfaces. In addition, she maintains an active research program in curriculum development with a focus on workforce development. She is also the 2007 recipient of the ASEE Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education.
Taryn Bayles University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Taryn Bayles is a Professor of the Practice of Chemical Engineering in the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department at UMBC, where she incorporates her industrial experience by bringing practical examples and interactive learning to help students understand fundamental engineering principles. Her current research focuses on engineering education, outreach and curriculum development.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
A Novel Approach to Professional Development
Abstract The INSPIRES project (INcreasing Student Participation, Interest, and Recruitment in Engineering and Science) stemmed from an NSF-IMD grant and focuses on developing engineering curriculum to introduce high school students to the engineering design process. Curriculum features include professionally produced video segments, a large culminating open- ended engineering design challenge, online content with interactive animations, an online mathematical simulation, and a variety of hands-on activities. One module included in the curriculum is Engineering in Health Care: A Hemodialysis Case Study, which has been used successfully for the past four years. Data has shown that the curriculum is effective at increasing student interest and learning engineering design and science content. Initially, we have focused on developing the curriculum and teacher Professional Development (PD) was limited to just two days. With the support of an NSF-DRK-12 grant and by partnering with the Education Department, we are currently working to enhance the PD program for the high school teachers. The new PD program threads the use of the INSPIRES curriculum with deepened content, practice instruction, and reflection. The morning sessions focus on deepened content, taught by engineering faculty modeling pedagogical “best practices”. This was followed by teachers going through the section of the curriculum that paralleled the content lesson, including hands-on activities and the online module. In the afternoon sessions, the teachers applied their new found technical and pedagogical knowledge as they taught the curriculum to students enrolled in the Upward Bound program. While teaching, the teachers were videotaped and observed. After the lesson each day, the teachers reviewed videotapes and highlighted what went well and what needed improvement. Together, the teachers and PD facilitators provided constructive criticism on how to improve the delivery of the curriculum. This provided a unique type of feedback that most teachers had not received before. In July 2009, this PD program was piloted with 12 pre-engineering/technology high school teachers using the Engineering in Health Care module. This module was chosen because of its proven success and available student learning data compiled from previous years. All of the teachers who attended the PD program last summer plan to implement the Health Care module in their respective class rooms during the 2009-2010 school year. Student learning data will be collected and compared to past years data to quantify the success of the PD program.
Background
INSPIRES Curriculum The INSPIRES curriculum, funded by the National Science Foundation, has been developed and continues to be expanded to increase recruitment of students in STEM-related fields. This program serves to combat the trend of declining engineering enrollment within the
Reeves, R., & Ross, J., & Bayles, T. (2010, June), A Novel Approach To Professional Development Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16813
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