Conference Session

New Engineering Educators Division Technical Session 4

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

use time effectively during class. This paperpresents resources for addressing both of those needs. To uncover a wide variety ofresources, a web-based survey was sent to three listservs for college educators andeducational researchers: the POD Mailing List, the ACM SIGCSE Members List, and theEngineering Technology1 listserv in October 2014. These listservs have a total of about3000 subscribers, but only 32 responses were received. This probably reflects the factthat few educators have yet “flipped” their classes, but since thousands of faculty andhundreds of faculty developers were surveyed, it’s likely that they were able to namemost of the prominent resources and techniques.1 pod@listserv.nd.edu, the listserv of the Professional and

Conference Session

Curriculum Exchange

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Mitchell, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; John M. Keller, California Polytechnic State University; Victor M Castillo Jr, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

stream table, very similar to the actual stream tablesstudents used in the first activity. Students can adjust parameters for the model such as table slope, soilproperties, and water flow rate. They then make observations of the resulting erosion patterns, and discusssimilarities and differences to the real stream table. Students also reflect on the utility of a computationalmodel.Activity #3: RivertownThe second computer-based activity introduces students to Rivertown, a fictional town within the NetLogosimulation, in a flood plain next to a river. The river can overflow its banks, which will flood the town’s Page 26.1355.2fields

Conference Session

Instructional and Learning Assessment in Chemical Engineering

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elif Miskioglu, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

, and thus, suggest that learning styles may be a valuable lens through which to evaluateour methods for developing students as problem solvers. We used the Felder-Silverman modelspecifically because of its historical application in engineering, and its multidimensional natureallowing for two preferences in each of four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive,visual/verbal, sequential/global) with subsequent strengths (strong, moderate, balanced) for eachpreference. This multi-dimensional model accounts for different facets of learning, andadditionally emphasizes that these preferences are not fixed characteristics but merely, as theyare called, preferences. Though not a specific aim of this work, we hypothesized that faculty dohave

Conference Session

Software Engineering Constituent Committee Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vignesh Subbian, University of Cincinnati; Nan Niu, University of Cincinnati; Carla C. Purdy, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Software Engineering Constituent Committee

Assurance (QA) course that integrates evidence from research andnew developments in software testing as well as engineering education. The specific goals are:1. To incorporate empirical studies in software engineering to supplement instruction in testing of all aspects, including safety, security, reliability, and performance.2. To increase focus on particular topics of high relevance such as formal testing of safety- critical systems and software inspection through targeted pedagogical interventions.3. To leverage existing instructional materials from the software engineering education community to create and explore blended learning models such as a flipped classroom.4. To integrate and promote inclusive and reflective teaching practices in

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tanya Kunberger P.E., Florida Gulf Coast University; Laura Frost, Florida Gulf Coast University; Jackie Greene, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, NSF Grantees Poster Session

more of the teaching practices introducedand 3) developing a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project based on experiences intheir revised course. The summer academy includes multiple evidence-based teaching practices(such as POGIL, Mental-Model-Building, and Project Based Learning), an introduction to SoTLand IRB processes, and time for reflection and cross-disciplinary discussion of potentialapplications of each practice into participant courses. Discussion on the progress of participantSoTL projects and classroom peer observations both within and outside participant programs arethe key components of the academic year FLC.May 2014 and academic year 2014-2015 witnessed the first offering of the SPARCT Program,which engaged 16 STEM

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Outreach and Early Transdisciplinary Courses

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Candido Cabo, New York City College of Technology; Reneta Davina Lansiquot, New York City College of Technology

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

arts majors, aswell as between the liberal arts and the areas of study leading to a major or profession.Our findings suggest that the learning objectives and the pedagogical approaches used in thecourse are adequate for a broad range of non-computer majors. Performance on writing andcomputing assessments as well as final grades (75% of students obtained a grade of C or better)indicated that a vast majority of students successfully achieved the learning objectives. Theseresults were consistent with student perceptions as reflected in an end-of-course survey. There isalso evidence that students satisfactorily integrated creative writing and computer programmingto develop their video game prototypes, making in-depth interdisciplinary connections

Conference Session

Pre-College: Resource Exchange

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anna Colleen Sage, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; John R. Reisel, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Tagged Divisions

Pre-College Engineering Education Division

.-Checklist Template (see below)ACTIVITY:-Ask Students to brainstorm things they see every day that consume energy. Create a list of student ideas (i.e. therefrigerator).- Play BrainPop’s Conserving Energy video and discuss key concepts. (Note: The quiz that goes along with thevideo can be taken as a pre-test and then retaken after the video as a means of assessment for objective 1.)- Refer back to the list of student ideas of thingsthat consume energy. Ask students to brainstormways in which we could use less energy witheach item.-Assign the Sustainable energy checklist to becompleted at home that assesses several simpleareas of energy efficiency. After completing thechecklist, have students write a short reflection ofways they could improve their

Conference Session

Manufacturing Curriculum and Course Innovations

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aditya Akundi, University of Texas, El Paso; Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, University of Texas, El Paso; Md Fashiar Rahman; Eric D Smith, University of Texas, El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

testing (UT). The sound energypropagates through the test specimen in the form of waves. When the waves face any discontinuityor crack, some part of the energy is reflected due to the acoustic impedance mismatch [8] at thepoint of cracks. The transducer captures the reflected signal and transforms it into the electricalsignal which is displayed on a screen. By analyzing the signal, one can easily obtain thequantitative information about the size, location and orientation of the crack. A schematic view ofa typical UT system is shown in figure 1. Pulser/Receiver Transducer

Conference Session

Technical Session 3: The Best of Computers in Education

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phyllis Beck, Mississippi State University; Mahnas Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, Mississippi State University; Christopher Archibald, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

writing and further clarifies and improves the understanding the source code from anoutside perspective. A second level of classification is still needed to further classify sufficientcomments into their own categories. These include conceptual, reflective, organizational andliteral comment types. This classification system is further documented in a previous work [3].2. Cleaning and Processing the DataThe data set for this investigation comes from six sections of an Introduction to Programmingcourse; two sections (section 05 and section 08) are writing-to-learn to program sections and theadditional four sections are taught using the traditional lab approach. The training set consists of761 comments with 30% randomly sampled out as the test data

Conference Session

Pre-College Engineering Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Margaret Pinnell, University of Dayton; M. Suzanne Franco, Wright State University; Mary-Kate Sableski, University of Dayton; Todd Bennett Smith, University of Dayton

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Pre-College Engineering Education

undergraduate engineering student, and an undergraduate teacher educationstudent. The STEM Stories afterschool program began in September and ran through April. Itmet twice a week for two hours each day at the school.EVALUATIONThe evaluation was approved by the UD’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). The evaluationincluded pre- and post- survey data, attendance data, and reading scores.Participants: Fifty-five grade 2 and 3 students registered for the afterschool program.Attendance records reflect that six students attended between 66% and 100% of the time; fourstudents attended between 51 and 65% of the time, eight students attended between 31 and 50%of the time, and 37 students attended between 0 – 30% of the time. The school has a 54 %minority

Conference Session

Works in Progress I

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ivan Detchev, University of Calgary; Elena V. Rangelova, University of Calgary; Scott C. Packer, University of Calgary ; Quazi K. Hassan, University of Calgary; Kyle O'Keefe P.Eng., University of Calgary

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

research assistant observes a series of lectures in a particular class, and fills out a classroom observation protocol with categories such as content; instruction, student cognitive engagement, and student behavioural engagement with space for examples and comments under each category) [9];  Individual or group think-aloud sessions (where a research assistant records students while they work on homework assignments or laboratory reports, and where the students are expected to verbalize out loud their thinking process);  Self-reflections (similar to the individual think-aloud sessions but done in writing by the students as opposed to being recorded by the research assistant);  Minute papers on muddiest concepts (where

Conference Session

Works-in-Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tracy L. Carter, Northeastern University; Samira M. Azarin, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Janie Brennan, Washington University in St. Louis; Elizabeth Hill, University of Minnesota Duluth; Amy J. Karlsson, University of Maryland - College Park

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

creatingchange in the education system. In 2011, after reviewing the literature on change in highereducation, Henderson et al. proposed a change model for “Facilitating Change in UndergraduateSTEM”. This model identified four strategies that facilitate change in safety education: 1.“Disseminating curriculum and pedagogy”, 2. “Developing reflective teachers”, 3. “Enactingpolicy”, and 4. “Developing shared vision” [14].Following the 2017 ASEE Chemical Engineering Summer School, the authors of this paperformed a collaboration with the shared vision of investigating safety education in UOlaboratories across their respective institutions. The authors’ universities are diverse in terms ofsize, public vs. private, and research focus, and are also

Conference Session

Track: Special Topic - Identity Technical Session 12

Collection

2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity

Authors

Cara Margherio, University of Washington; Coleen Carrigan, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Joyce Yen, University of Washington; Marie Claire Horner-Devine; Eve A. Riskin, University of Washington; Julie Ivy, North Carolina State University; Christine S. Grant, North Carolina State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Special Topic: Identity

the national-level by positively impacting early-career women in academicengineering. LATTICE is a collaborative project between the University ofWashington, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and North Carolina State University. 1I serve as evaluator of LATTICE, on a team of women working to broadenparticipation and accelerate the success of women faculty in engineering through aprogram called LATTICE. Diversity and inclusion are at the core of our worktogether and are reflected in our LATTICE team as well as in how we do ourwork together. We come from a range of social identities, including personaland professional experiences with career development programs

Conference Session

Track: Special Topic - Social Justice & Reform Technical Session 3

Collection

2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity

Authors

Rachel M. Johnson, University of Minnesota; Michelle Kay Bothwell, Oregon State University; Devlin Montfort, Oregon State University; Kali Furman, Oregon State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Special Topic: Social Justice & Reform

theories of systems of oppression, provide aforum to critique particular ideologies central to engineering culture that hinder authenticprofessional discussion and reflection on the political, social and ethical dimensions of scienceand technology, and present participants with particular examples where systems of power haveinterlaced with engineering science and design such that access to opportunities, resources andgoods have been stratified across various social identity groups. Having the ability to measure anindividual’s growth in conceptualization of oppression and privilege would be instructive for theindividual and for measuring success of programs designed to promote this learning. The lack ofsuch an instrument provided motivation for

Conference Session

First-year Programs: Research and Spatial Skills

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Asefeh Kardgar, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

1, Green indicates the course topic. Grey indicates the background knowledge required for this course, which students need to achieve in other core courses in the college. Red indicates the big idea, and Blue indicates the enduring understanding. Purple reflects important to know ideas and yellow shows good familiar with. The concept map indicates the relationship between all concepts of infographic design. Table 1: Visual table for infographic designBig Ideas Guiding Essential Enduring • Important to Good to be Concepts Questions Outcomes Know familiar withUnderstan • Data • What is data? • Determine

Conference Session

Pre-college Engineering Education Division Technical Session 16

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Jacqueline A. Zeiber, New Mexico State University; Tamara Elise Stimatze, New Mexico State University; Patricia A. Sullivan, New Mexico State University; Steven J. Stochaj, New Mexico State University

Tagged Divisions

Pre-College Engineering Education

continuing their education,obtaining more STEM-related experience, and preparing themselves for the future.While our hypotheses were generally not supported, the results of this evaluation may suggestNM PREP is an effective means of helping students identify whether they are interested infurther pursuing engineering-related activities. It is possible these results reflect the nature of theprogram in that students’ may feel overwhelmed with the amount of information they are givenin a period of two weeks. It is also possible the lack of significant results is related to changes inthe evaluation procedures throughout the program’s implementation.Table 2.Independent Samples t-Test Survey Results Self-Efficacy: Self-Efficacy

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators 3 - Grading: Grate or Great

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Jennifer Pascal, University of Connecticut; Troy J. Vogel, University of Notre Dame; Kristina Wagstrom, University of Connecticut

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

research, (2) technical communication, (3) project management, (4)teamwork, (5) environmental health and safety, and (6) research ethics. Students can elect to take1, 2, or 3 credits of research each semester. Developing a concrete grading scheme that is both effective and efficient has long been adifficult task. To combat this problem, the co-author has implemented a specifications gradingapproach during the last three semesters (starting in Fall 2018). The defined specifications aremade up of two components: deliverables and hours of effort. The deliverables are comprised of mandatory university safety trainings to gain access tothe lab, responsible conduct of research training, educational and skills modules, reflections,planning

Collection

2019 ASEE Zone I Conference & Workshop

Authors

Matthew Rhudy

force students to thinkcarefully about their words and effectively improve their learning within the course. This ismotivated by the idea that if students have less to write, they will have more time to think abouttheir writing, as well as to reflect and revise, which is a critical component of improvingcomposition as well as developing self-criticism skills7. Since most engineering students plan towork in industry, real-world context is useful for giving them an idea of the types of writing theymay encounter in their future career.ImplementationTo satisfy the proposed objectives, five unique assignments were designed for the course whichinvolves the completion of five multi-week laboratory projects. By considering differentassignments for each

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Curricula III

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kurt Paterson, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

podcast viewing application (iTunes or similar)is automatically notified when a new episode is available. This eliminates the need forstudents to continually check for new episodes at the class web site.3. Pedagogical DesignIn the Introduction to Environmental Engineering class the enhanced-podcast wasdesigned as a critical component to a balanced learning environment, not as a newdelivery of ineffective teaching methods (e.g. creating hour-long lectures on an iPod).Core lecture segments were shifted to the podcast, allowing class time to be used foractive learning exclusively. Podcasts have the advantages of pause and replay by thestudent, important for such reflective course elements like lecture. The podcast, andcompanion web site, directed

Conference Session

Collaborative & New Efforts in Engineering Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Bramhall, Sheffield Hallam University; Keith Radley, Sheffield Hallam University

Tagged Divisions

International

• Critical reflection • Self-awareness • Taking responsibility for own learning • Working creatively with complex situationsMost recent research agrees that autonomy is a developmental process which cannot betaught or learnt 3. However, the Sheffield Hallam model with constant interactions betweenpedagogic learning environments, learner autonomy characteristics and policy impacts,achieves ‘pedagogic resonance’ for students4 - creating a space for new learning partnerships.We draw upon different traditions e.g. constructivist theories of learning, particularlyexperiential learning5,6,7, and also the central idea of a learner-led curriculum8 that isincreasingly made possible through the appropriate use of technology. Constructivism isbased

Conference Session

Creating 'Materials' Awareness

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Johnson, Central Washington University; Beth Rogers, Yakima Valley Community College; OraLynn Manweller, Smiths Aerospace Corporation

Tagged Divisions

Materials

. This first activity cost about $200. Most of that was the cost of theglycerin soap. This type of soap is available at many local craft stores, but has a wide pricerange. Page 12.1283.4Feedback was sought from both students and instructors. The university Human SubjectsReview Committee supported a group, oral interaction. Thus the instructors recorded studentresponses during the activity. The instructors also pooled group data for the Temperature vs.inverse delta time curves. Finally, the instructors reflected on other aspects of the activity.NSF MatEd: The MatEd Program requested activities to support their concept inventory. So theywere

Conference Session

FPD2 -- Highlighting First-Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Burton, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Islam in his 2001 paper “Reflections on large class teaching in the social sciences”2 talks about the need for students to be active, as opposed to passive learners, and the need forlarge classes to be interesting. An interactive teaching style helps significantly to achieve this.The Importance and Role of Tutorial GroupsTutorial groups are an essential follow-on from lectures and a valuable opportunity forstudents to get extra assistance in a small group environment after first attending the lecture.They are often opportunities, particularly in respect of large first year classes, for students topose questions that they might not want to ask in a large group, to go over material covered inthe lecture in more depth and to benefit from each

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics III

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Borenstein, Georgia Tech; Matthew Drake, Duquesne University; Robert Kirkman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Julie Swann, Georgia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. However, assessing theeffectiveness of ethics education programs generally, not just in science and engineering, hasproven to be a rather daunting task. Many of the attempts at assessment have made use of the Defining Issues Test (DIT), aninstrument that measures moral reasoning based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.[1]Briefly put, the DIT elicits subjects’ responses to moral dilemmas and sorts those responsesaccording to three types of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, andpostconventional. A subject’s responses are scored on the simple prevalence of postconventionalreasoning, which involves reflecting on universal principles that apply to all of humanity, andalso the prevalence of postconventional reasoning

Conference Session

Venturing Out: Service Learning, Study Abroad, and Criterion H

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joe Tranquillo, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

different means by which students learnnew concepts. Although visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning are the most commonlylisted learning styles, little attention has been given to kinesthetic learning. This isespecially true in lecture-based courses at the college level where the format favorsverbal and visual learners. Here we make a tentative argument for the value of includingkinesthetic learning activities in lecture-based classes as a vehicle for teaching concepts.To begin, it is important to make clear how our working definition of kinesthetic learningmay be different from previous work. First, the term “active learning” already meanssomething to the education community and may include instructor demonstrations,brainstorming, reflections

Conference Session

Global Engineering Education Initiatives

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ivan Esparragoza, Pennsylvania State University; Alex Friess; Maria M. Larrondo Petrie, Florida Atlantic University

Tagged Divisions

International

quantitative and qualitative data for measurement purpose,and these data will be collected by using the appropriate assessment tools11. The measurementtools that will be used are:1. OVERALL ASSESSMENT DESIGN MATRIX11: This matrix is basically the strategic plan for the initiative reflecting the goal, objectives, and targets. Al future surveys and forms of evaluation will be based on the information presented in this matrix. This will serve as the guideline for the structure of the activities, tasks, students’ performance and content evaluations.2. SURVEYS. Two internal surveys will be designed for each initiative: a pre-survey given before the beginning of the tasks to learn about the actual knowledge and skills level of the participants

Conference Session

Curriculum Development and Teaching Models in NRE

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erich Schneider, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Divisions

Nuclear and Radiological

discrete ordinates equations in slab geometry subjectto reflecting boundary conditions. Figure 1 shows how an animation helps explain the conceptsof iterating on the scattering source, assembling the angular fluxes ψi,ng for each mesh point i,ordinate n and group g via successive left-to-right and right-to-left sweeps, and banking scatteredand reflected neutrons for use in the next iteration.In the animation, of which only a snapshot can be depicted in this paper, a source of reflectedneutrons is present at the left-hand edge of the slab of transporting material (yellow). Theanimation shows how the reflected neutron field is used to determine the ordinate fluxes for therightward-directed ordinates at the first mesh boundary point x1/2. The

Conference Session

FPD7 - Global Warming & Sustainability for First-Year Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Blair Rowley, Wright State University; Kumar Yelamarthi, Central Michigan University; Thomas Bazzoli, Wright State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

limited to 60 watts. The use a compact florescent lamp whose light output exceeds that of a 60 watt light bulb would not be recommended. _____ 7. My car gets 34 mpg on the highway. That hybrid car also gets 34 mpg on the highway. So, my car’s contribution to global warming is about the same as the hybrid. _____ 8. My elected officials are familiar with global warming issues. _____ 9. Global warming will cause spreading of disease. _____10. A good investment would be a vacation/retirement home on the coast of Florida. ____11. The most common greenhouse gas emitted from human activities is methane. _____12. Greenhouse gases are not good for humans. _____13. Cutting down trees contributes to global warming. _____14. Greenhouse gases reflect

Conference Session

Innovative Mechanics Education Programs and Projects

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Morgan, Texas A&M University; Luciana Barroso, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

16 29 22 13 Report Requirements 1 13 21 41 29 5 Page 12.541.8Mid-term and final course evaluations for this class reflect that, though students find the coursechallenging, they indicate that these are courses where they see how the material relates to thepractice of civil engineering, and that these connections enhance their learning of the material.Table 3 shows the student’s responses to questions regarding course overall. Table 3: Results from Final Course Evaluation in Fall 2006

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Odon Musimbi, Colorado School of Mines; Barbara Moskal, Colorado School of Mines; David Munoz, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

respondents would be completing theirsenior year. The current investigation compares student attitudes as reflected in 2004 to those ofseniors in 2007. The research questions that guide this investigation are: 1. Is there a difference in students’ attitudes with respect to service learning activities as measured by CSAS from 2004 to 2007? 2. Can identified differences in student attitudes with respect to service learning be linked to the activities of the Humanitarian Engineering program?II. MethodsThis section describes the Humanitarian Engineering program at CSM, the courses in which datawere collected, the participating student population, and the analysis techniques.II.1. Humanitarian Engineering ProgramThe Humanitarian Engineering

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

acquired also include books based on student interests.Reading and Engineering IntegrationIn addition, teachers at Jamerson use grade level literature that reflects science and mathconcepts. Through teacher read aloud, small guided group reading instruction and independentreading, students are building their scientific and engineering background knowledge andbecoming better readers. In the Natural Resources unit, the fourth grade students read TheCalusas, a fourth grade Florida social studies supplemental non fiction reading resource. TheCalusas were an early Floridian tribe. In reading, the students use this text to deepen theirunderstanding of the early Calusa life using the non fiction text elements, drawing conclusionsand writing a summary of