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Session # 3455

Graduate Student Personal Experiences: Improving Collegiate Teaching through K-12 Outreach

Daria Kotys-Schwartz and Malinda Schaefer Zarske

College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado at Boulder

Abstract

In 1995, the National Science Foundation published recommendations for Systemic Engineering Education Reform.1 Almost a decade later, the engineering education community still strives to meet the long-term challenges that were set forth by the NSF Engineering Directorate. The goal still remains to educate graduating engineers to: Understand the functional core of the engineering process, Analyze and synthesize engineering problems, Become proficient working in teams, Think across disciplines, and Communicate ideas effectively to diverse groups.

One of the key actions for sustaining such cultural changes is to train future engineering faculty to realize this new engineering education paradigm.

Supported by National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Education grants, the Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) Program’s outreach initiative has engaged engineering graduate and undergraduate Fellows in K-12 classrooms as science and math content experts and engineering role models for the past six years. One program goal is to improve the communication and instructional skills of engineering students, while providing them with classroom experience that serves as a foundation for those who pursue a career in academia. The program also seeks to enhance the graduate Fellow’s engineering education experience by improving their ability to teach to diverse populations. In addition, their fellowship affords them an opportunity to understand and appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of their engineering specialty. Engineering Fellows also act as service-learning leaders for the college, and it is hoped that they continue their passion for outreach and teaching into their future careers.

In this paper, we explore the experiences of two graduate students who participated in the ITL Program’s K-12 outreach initiative at the University of Colorado at Boulder and subsequently taught university junior- and senior-level engineering courses. The personal and institutional benefits realized will be discussed.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Zarske, M., & Kotys-Schwartz, D. (2005, June), Graduate Student Personal Experiences: Improving Collegiate Teaching Through K 12 Outreach Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14894