A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education & Entrepreneurship

Chet Boncek

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Programs in Support of Systems Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Systems Engineering
Page Count: 41
Page Numbers: 23.86.1 - 23.86.41
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19100
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19100
Download Count: 766

Paper Authors

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Chet Boncek Jr Raytheon Company

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Biography: Mr. Boncek is Senior Principal Engineer at Raytheon. He holds a BSEE from Northeastern University and an MSEE from Georgia Tech. Mr. Boncek is actively involved in community activities related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and enjoys working with students in middle and high school. He has partnered with several schools in Massachusetts as a guest speaker developing and facilitating units on topics such as remote sensing, feedback control systems and rocketry. In partnership with the educational branch of the New England Patriots, Mr. Boncek designed the ‘Power to Hear’ engineering design challenge to encourage students to explore areas of STEM especially those related to communications systems. Mr. Boncek has been a technical advisor in the “Science-of-Sports” program for four years.

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Abstract

A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education & EntrepreneurshipAbstract: It has been said that ―it takes a village‖, a partnership, a community effort to raise andadvance the next generation. This is true for all aspects of development of the school age child.By imparting expectations and behavioral norms for effective cooperation and teaming, effectivestudy habits and by serving as role models of success-oriented behaviors it is our challenge toposition the upcoming generation to preserve and further the gains of science and technologytoward solving the challenges facing humanity. Many traditional paradigms exist such asapprenticeships, tutoring, job shadowing, internships and even ‗externships‘ which bringteachers to industry for a summer of ‗on-the-job‘ training. This paper will discuss a newparadigm, a novel collaboration --a seemingly unlikely partnership-- of two apparently unrelatedbut very influential organizations whose combined efforts have proven successful in advancingScience, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics –herein STEM— education in the middleand high school age groups.The paper includes several examples of students‘ results to an engineering design challenge forwhich they had to design, manufacture, test, and present a functioning electromechanical deviceon limited budget and within a short time frame.The competition was structured to represent the challenges faced by industry teams whendesigning and manufacturing devices for today‘s highly competitive global marketplace.As stated later in the introduction of the paper: “…curricula historically did not allocatemuch time to the science and math behind the advanced technology of items like homecomputers, cell phones, GPS devices, and the wireless devices regularly used today. The non-treatment or casual treatment of these topics positioned students only to be avid consumers orperhaps savvy end-users, but, fell short by not imparting at least some understanding of whatis takes to design, manufacture and bring such items to market.”The results of the competition were truly surprising for work done at the middle school gradelevel. Not only did the students deliver functioning products within the time and budget allowed,but their devices were true works-of-art with surprisingly sophisticated and aesthetically pleasingdesigns.The paper maps the students‘ work to a set of standards used in the comprehensive assessment ofstudent learning for grades six through twelve. A subset of the mappings focuses on theunderlying mathematics the students used to create and manufacture their sophisticated andelegant devices.The ideas presented are easily adaptable for use by others. As such the paper introduces asuccessful paradigm into the tool box of those interested in advancing STEM education anddeveloping the next generation of entrepreneurs --those who share the view summarized by thisyear‘s theme: “Engineering Education: Frankly, We Do Give a D*mn”.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Note to the reviewers: The paper is 95% complete and the required permissions have alreadybeen secured.Applicable sessions for ASEE 2013 include:K-12 STEM EducationDesign in Engineering Education DEEDEntrepreneurship and Engineering InnovationMathematicsMechanical EngineeringElectrical Engineering

Citation
Format

Boncek, C. (2013, June), A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education & Entrepreneurship Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19100

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -           A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education &amp;                               EntrepreneurshipAbstract: It has been said that ―it takes a village‖, a partnership, a community effort to raise andadvance the next generation. This is true for all aspects of development of the school age child.By imparting expectations and behavioral norms for effective cooperation and teaming, effectivestudy habits and by serving as role models of success-oriented behaviors it is our challenge toposition the upcoming generation to preserve and further the gains of science and technologytoward solving the challenges facing humanity. Many traditional paradigms exist such asapprenticeships, tutoring, job shadowing, internships and even ‗externships‘ which bringteachers to industry for a summer of ‗on-the-job‘ training. This paper will discuss a newparadigm, a novel collaboration --a seemingly unlikely partnership-- of two apparently unrelatedbut very influential organizations whose combined efforts have proven successful in advancingScience, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics –herein STEM— education in the middleand high school age groups.The paper includes several examples of students‘ results to an engineering design challenge forwhich they had to design, manufacture, test, and present a functioning electromechanical deviceon limited budget and within a short time frame.The competition was structured to represent the challenges faced by industry teams whendesigning and manufacturing devices for today‘s highly competitive global marketplace.As stated later in the introduction of the paper: “…curricula historically did not allocatemuch time to the science and math behind the advanced technology of items like homecomputers, cell phones, GPS devices, and the wireless devices regularly used today. The non-treatment or casual treatment of these topics positioned students only to be avid consumers orperhaps savvy end-users, but, fell short by not imparting at least some understanding of whatis takes to design, manufacture and bring such items to market.”The results of the competition were truly surprising for work done at the middle school gradelevel. Not only did the students deliver functioning products within the time and budget allowed,but their devices were true works-of-art with surprisingly sophisticated and aesthetically pleasingdesigns.The paper maps the students‘ work to a set of standards used in the comprehensive assessment ofstudent learning for grades six through twelve. A subset of the mappings focuses on theunderlying mathematics the students used to create and manufacture their sophisticated andelegant devices.The ideas presented are easily adaptable for use by others. As such the paper introduces asuccessful paradigm into the tool box of those interested in advancing STEM education anddeveloping the next generation of entrepreneurs --those who share the view summarized by thisyear‘s theme: “Engineering Education: Frankly, We Do Give a D*mn”.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Note to the reviewers: The paper is 95% complete and the required permissions have alreadybeen secured.Applicable sessions for ASEE 2013 include:K-12 STEM EducationDesign in Engineering Education DEEDEntrepreneurship and Engineering InnovationMathematicsMechanical EngineeringElectrical Engineering
AU  - Chet Boncek Jr
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - A Novel Partnership for Advancing K-12 STEM Education & Entrepreneurship
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/19100
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--19100
ER  -