Impacts Of Industry Employee Volunteering In K 12 Classrooms
- Conference
- Location
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Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
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June 18, 2006
- Start Date
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June 18, 2006
- End Date
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June 21, 2006
- 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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16
- Page Numbers
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11.718.1 - 11.718.16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--1373
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/1373
- Download Count
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458
Paper Authors
Erin Cejka Tufts University
Erin Cejka is a doctoral student in Tufts University's Math, Science, Technology, and Engineering (MSTE) Education program. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in MSTE Education, both from Tufts. Her major research interest is in professional development for K-8 teachers in engineering education. Erin works at Tufts Center for Engineering Educational Outreach (CEEO), managing their industry outreach program.
Chris Rogers Tufts University
Dr. Chris Rogers is a professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University. He currently works in six different research areas: particle-laden flows, robotics, slurry flows in chemical-mechanical planarization, the engineering of musical instruments, gene-based assay experiment design, and elementary school engineering education.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Impacts of Industry Employee Volunteering in K-12 Classrooms
Abstract
Engineering education has the potential to improve K-12 students’ problem-solving and critical
thinking skills while motivating them to learn science and math. However, for teachers to
effectively implement hands-on engineering activities in the classroom, they may need additional
adult support for curriculum content, classroom management, and technical support. Initial
research findings in this area indicate that programs providing this support may not only impact
K-12 students, but may also benefit the classroom volunteers. This paper presents an exploratory
research study involving one such program run by National Instruments with a network of local
schools. This program has placed nearly 250 employee volunteers in K-12 classrooms in Central
Texas as support for classroom teachers. The “classroom mentors,” the majority of who are
engineers, help teachers bring hands-on engineering design activities into the classroom that
focus on developing math, science, technology, and engineering skills.
The goal of this research is to produce a descriptive picture of the perceived outcomes of the
program from the perspectives of those closely involved — the classroom mentors and the
teachers. Surveys were developed for both of the groups and taken by 37 classroom mentors and
21 teachers. The responses were analyzed in order to evaluate the impacts made by the program
and how these impacts are perceived across and amongst groups. The research aims to
understand not only the effect on students and schools but also how the program has affected
conceptual and attitudinal change in the classroom mentors and the company as a whole. The
1
Cejka, E., & Rogers, C. (2006, June), Impacts Of Industry Employee Volunteering In K 12 Classrooms Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1373
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