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K-12 Teacher Internships: Professional Development in the Engineering Design Process and STEM Learning

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Conference

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Publication Date

June 15, 2014

Start Date

June 15, 2014

End Date

June 18, 2014

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

K-12 and Pre-College Engineering Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page Count

8

Page Numbers

24.836.1 - 24.836.8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--20727

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/20727

Download Count

465

Paper Authors

biography

Bradley Bowen North Dakota State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3987-308X

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Bradley Bowen is an assistant professor at North Dakota State University. He has a duel appointment with the Teacher Education Department and the Department of Construction Management and Engineering. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech and received a Master's of Civil Engineering and an Ed.D. in Technology Education from N.C. State University. He specializes in developing and integrating project-based activities into the K-12 classroom that incorporate engineering and STEM learning concepts as well as providing professional development for K-12 teachers.

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Abstract

Changing Classroom Practices: The Need for Professional Development in STEM and the Engineering Design Process (Research to Practice; Professional Development)The idea of STEM learning is becoming well-known in the education community. There aremany undergraduate, graduate, outreach, and professional development programs focused onSTEM education. Although many teachers have heard of STEM learning and the engineeringdesign process (EDP), they typically have different definitions of what these mean (authorreference ASEE 2013 paper). Professional development in these areas allows K-12 teachers theopportunity to gain practical knowledge about what STEM concepts are and how they can beimplemented in the classroom. Also, with the integration of engineering into the Next GenerationScience Standards, it is imperative that teachers have knowledge about the engineering designprocess and how it is used for problem solving (NGSS, 2013). ________ University and the________ Public School System have been working to develop programs that offer professiondevelopment for teachers in the area of STEM learning and the EDP. These programs arefocused on changing teachers' classroom practices to include more problem solving processes forthe students as well as changing teacher behaviors in applying more STEM learning concepts.The ________ Program and the ________ STEM Academy are two programs that complementeach other to achieve the goals of increasing teachers' knowledge in the area of STEM learningand the EDP. By participating in ________ Program, teachers gain first-hand practicalknowledge of how the EDP is being used in industry to solve technological problems (authorreference ASEE 2013 paper). By participating in the ________ STEM Academy, teachers spendpart of the time learning about STEM concepts and how they can be applied ion the classroom.Teachers then spend time working directly with students in a summer STEM program toimplement the practical application of the concepts and lessons developed during the academy.These programs have been shown to increase a teachers' knowledge about STEM learning andthe EDP, as well as the confidence to implement these concepts in the classroom. Bothquantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to measure the teachers' gains in knowledgeabout these concepts as well as how they use STEM-based concepts and problem solvingprocesses in the classroom. By participating in one or both of these programs during the courseof a summer, teachers gain knowledge about STEM learning and change their classroompractices to incorporate more STEM-based concepts and problem solving processes. Evidenceexits that these programs increase a teacher's knowledge about STEM learning concepts and theEDP, as well as changing their classroom practices to demonstrate the practical application ofthese ideas.

Bowen, B. (2014, June), K-12 Teacher Internships: Professional Development in the Engineering Design Process and STEM Learning Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20727

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