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K-12 Engineering Outreach Impact on University Teaching Fellows

Paul A. Klenk, Gary A. Ybarra and Glenda T. Kelly

Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, Durham, NC

Abstract

Graduate and undergraduate Engineering Teaching Fellows develop important skills through participation in K-12 engineering outreach programs. The K-12 teaching experience augments the traditional university educational experience of the Fellows in several ways including improvement of communication skills through oral exp lanations of complex subjects to K-12 students and improvement of their ability to function on multidisciplinary teams through team- teaching content with Fellows from other engineering disciplines. These value-added impacts are affected significantly by the amount and type of training provided for the Fellows and their partnership teachers. Training in teaching methodologies including inquiry-based instruction and classroom management are necessary for effective classroom intervention. This paper examines self-reported evidence that demonstrates significant positive impact of participation in engineering outreach on Fellows’ ability to communicate effectively and function on multidisciplinary teams.

Introduction

Outreach programs placing graduate and undergraduate engineering students in K-12 classrooms as Engineering Teaching Fellows have demonstrated the ability to positively impact K-12 students.[1-5] The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program has provided funding for such Fellows programs at more than 20 engineering colleges. These programs generally utilize graduate level Engineering Teaching Fellows to create and implement project-based curricula using engineering to teach math and science concepts in the K-12 classroom.

Three such programs have been implemented by the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering’s K-Ph.D. Program: Duke-NCSU Engineering Teaching Fellows in Elementary Education sponsored by an NSF GK-12 Track 1 grant [6], MUSCLE: Math Understanding through the Science of Life sponsored by the GE Foundation Math Excellence Program [7, 8] , and Techtronics: Hands-on Exploration of Technology in Everyday Life sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Student Science Enrichment Program[9-11] . This paper examines the impacts on Engineering Teaching Fellows of participating in these three programs.

From 1999-2003, the Duke-NCSU GK-12 Engineering Teaching Fellows Program placed graduate and undergraduate teaching Fellows in 7 schools in 4 counties. Fellows provided

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

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Kelly, G., & Klenk, P., & Ybarra, G. (2005, June), K 12 Engineering Outreach Impact On University Teaching Fellows Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14729