K-12 Engineering for Service: Do Project-based Service-learning Design Experiences Impact Attitudes in High School Engineering Students?

Malinda S. Zarske; Janet L. Yowell; Jacquelyn F. Sullivan; Angela R. Bielefeldt; Daniel W. Knight; Travis O'Hair

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Service as an Element of Education
Tagged Division: K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
Page Count: 15
Page Numbers: 25.870.1 - 25.870.15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21627
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21627
Download Count: 440

Paper Authors

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Malinda S. Zarske University of Colorado, Boulder

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Malinda S. Zarske is the Director of K-12 Engineering Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. A former high school and middle school science and math teacher, she has advanced degrees in teaching secondary science from the Johns Hopkins University and in civil engineering from CU, Boulder. She is also a First-year Engineering Projects Instructor and on the development team for the TeachEngineering.org digital library. Her primary research interests are on the impacts of project-based service-learning on student identity, recruitment, and retention in K-12 and undergraduate engineering.

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Janet L. Yowell University of Colorado, Boulder

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Janet Yowell is the Associate Director of K-12 Engineering Education at the University of Colorado’s Integrated Teaching and Learning Program. Involved in the college’s outreach initiative since 2000, she oversees the ambitious K-12 engineering initiative, including the capacity-building and school partnership programs. She is a collaborator on the NSF-funded TEAMS Program (Tomorrow’s Engineers... creAte. iMagine. Succeed.) and the TeachEngineering digital library, for which she is a contributing curriculum writer and editor.

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Jacquelyn F. Sullivan University of Colorado, Boulder

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Jacquelyn F. Sullivan is founding Co-director of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, and Associate Dean for inclusive excellence at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. She received her Ph.D. in environmental health physics and toxicology from Purdue University and held leadership positions in the energy and software industries for 13 years. She founded and leads CU’s extensive K-12 engineering initiative and the BOLD Center, and spearheaded the Engineering GoldShirt Program. She led the founding of the ASEE K-12 Division in 2004, was awarded ASEE’s 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award, and was conferred as an ASEE fellow member in 2011. She was awarded NAE’s 2008 Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education.

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Angela R. Bielefeldt University of Colorado, Boulder

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Angela Bielefeldt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has incorporated service-learning projects into the senior capstone design course for environmental engineering since 2001. Her engineering education research interests include sustainable engineering, ethics, and retention of female students.

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Daniel W. Knight University of Colorado, Boulder

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Daniel W. Knight is the engineering Assessment Specialist at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program (ITLL) and the Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity (BOLD) Center in CU’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a B.A. in psychology from the Louisiana State University and an M.S. degree in industrial/organizational psychology and a Ph.D. degree in counseling psychology, both from the University of Tennessee. Knight’s research interests are in the areas of retention, program evaluation, and teamwork practices in engineering education. His current duties include assessment, evaluation, and research for the ITL Program’s and BOLD Center’s hands-on initiatives.

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Travis O'Hair Skyline High School

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Travis O'Hair is a dedicated and passionate science and STEM educator at Skyline High School. He is also a Co-founder and the current Academy Coordinator of the Skyline High School STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Academy. The focus of this program is to allow a highly diverse, underrepresented population of students to focus their high school studies in pre-engineering curriculum.

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Abstract

K-12 Engineering for Service: Do project-based service-learning design experiences impact attitudes in high school engineering students?Despite well-intentioned efforts, our nation’s education system is still not proficiently arming ourK-12 students with the tools to succeed and compete in science, technology, engineering, andmath (STEM) fields. To help close achievement gaps, engineering in K-12 classrooms offers areal-world application of the fundamental science and math principles that students learnthroughout their STEM education.K-12 engineering efforts are increasing around the nation, often grounded in current research oninquiry- and project-based learning, which has become popular as a result of the research inneuroscience and psychology on cognitive development. The past decade’s increase in project-based instructional methods in K-12 education has researchers touting its success as a catalyst forincreasing student learning of basic skills, complex problem solving, as well as professionalskills and creativity. As a result, the K-12 engineering community has tailored project-basedengineering design experiences for K-12 audiences. Project-based service-learning (PBSL)design experiences reportedly offer an added benefit of providing students with meaningfullearning experiences in a (often local) community-based context. Our preliminary analysissupports PBSL engineering design instruction as an intervention to increase high school studentinterest in engineering and possible persistence into engineering undergraduate enrollment.One goal of this paper is to further examine the impact of PBSL in existing high schoolengineering design courses. Specifically, we compared three sections of a 10th grade CreativeEngineering Design course at a partner high school course engaged in service-based projectswith four sections of the course engaged in non-service based projects at the same school. Usingmultiple quantitative data analysis methods informed by current education research, we analyzedhow the context of service-based engineering impacts students’ attitudes, efficacy, and identitywith regard to engineering and community service. We also examined any differential impactson students by gender and ethnicity. Specifically this research paper addresses, “When comparedto conventional design experiences, do PBSL design opportunities significantly increase K-12student identity and interest in engineering futures and, if so, are certain groups differentiallyaffected?”

Citation
Format

Zarske, M. S., & Yowell, J. L., & Sullivan, J. F., & Bielefeldt, A. R., & Knight, D. W., & O'Hair, T. (2012, June), K-12 Engineering for Service: Do Project-based Service-learning Design Experiences Impact Attitudes in High School Engineering Students? Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21627

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                           K-12 Engineering for Service:           Do project-based service-learning design experiences impact                  attitudes in high school engineering students?Despite well-intentioned efforts, our nation’s education system is still not proficiently arming ourK-12 students with the tools to succeed and compete in science, technology, engineering, andmath (STEM) fields. To help close achievement gaps, engineering in K-12 classrooms offers areal-world application of the fundamental science and math principles that students learnthroughout their STEM education.K-12 engineering efforts are increasing around the nation, often grounded in current research oninquiry- and project-based learning, which has become popular as a result of the research inneuroscience and psychology on cognitive development. The past decade’s increase in project-based instructional methods in K-12 education has researchers touting its success as a catalyst forincreasing student learning of basic skills, complex problem solving, as well as professionalskills and creativity. As a result, the K-12 engineering community has tailored project-basedengineering design experiences for K-12 audiences. Project-based service-learning (PBSL)design experiences reportedly offer an added benefit of providing students with meaningfullearning experiences in a (often local) community-based context. Our preliminary analysissupports PBSL engineering design instruction as an intervention to increase high school studentinterest in engineering and possible persistence into engineering undergraduate enrollment.One goal of this paper is to further examine the impact of PBSL in existing high schoolengineering design courses. Specifically, we compared three sections of a 10th grade CreativeEngineering Design course at a partner high school course engaged in service-based projectswith four sections of the course engaged in non-service based projects at the same school. Usingmultiple quantitative data analysis methods informed by current education research, we analyzedhow the context of service-based engineering impacts students’ attitudes, efficacy, and identitywith regard to engineering and community service. We also examined any differential impactson students by gender and ethnicity. Specifically this research paper addresses, “When comparedto conventional design experiences, do PBSL design opportunities significantly increase K-12student identity and interest in engineering futures and, if so, are certain groups differentiallyaffected?”
AU  - Malinda S. Zarske
AU  - Janet L. Yowell
AU  - Jacquelyn F. Sullivan
AU  - Angela R. Bielefeldt
AU  - Daniel W. Knight
AU  - Travis O'Hair
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2012/06/10
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - K-12 Engineering for Service: Do Project-based Service-learning Design Experiences Impact Attitudes in High School Engineering Students?
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/21627
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--21627
ER  -