McAuliffe, L., & Ellis, G. W., & Ellis, S. K., & Huff, I., & McGinnis-Cavanaugh, B. (2011, June), Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18782

\bibitem{asee_peer_18782}
  McAuliffe, L., \& Ellis, G. W., \& Ellis, S. K., \& Huff, I., \& McGinnis-Cavanaugh, B. (2011, June), \emph{Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering}
  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC.
  10.18260/1-2--18782

Lucy McAuliffe, Glenn W. Ellis, Sonia Katrin Ellis, Isabel Huff, and Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh.  "Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering".  2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2011.  https://peer.asee.org/18782 Internet.  15 Oct, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_18782}
  Lucy McAuliffe, Glenn W. Ellis, Sonia Katrin Ellis, Isabel Huff, and Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh.
  "Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering".
  \emph{2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2011.
  https://peer.asee.org/18782 Internet.  15 Oct, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_18782
author = "Lucy McAuliffe, Glenn W. Ellis, Sonia Katrin Ellis, Isabel Huff, and Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh"
title = "Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering"
booktitle = "2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2011"
month = "June"
address = "Vancouver, BC"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/18782}
number = {10.18260/1-2--18782}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                     Mysteries and Heroes: Using Imaginative Education                     to Engage Middle School Learners in EngineeringThis paper will present the application of Imaginative Education in the development of anengineering education website. Included in the paper will be an overview of the Talk to Mewebsite, featuring: a young adult novel in which the fictional characters learn about engineeringconcepts while solving a mystery; artificial intelligence, engineering ethics and engineeringdesign activities that tie into the novel; and a blog in which undergraduate engineering studentswrite about what it is like to study engineering in college. An independent assessment ofSpringfield Public School (SPS) teachers’ reactions to the website and an assessment of a pilottest of the website with SPS summer students will also be included.Imaginative Education was chosen as an educational strategy for the website based on theresearch showing its effectiveness in both engaging learners and supporting deep learning.Developed by Kieran Egan, Imaginative Education supports the development of five differenttypes of understanding that enable students to make sense of the world in different ways. A setof cognitive tools is associated with each level of understanding. Middle school learners aredeveloping what Egan refers to as Mythic and Romantic understanding. Mythic understanding isthe developmental stage when learners first acquire oral language and engage with topics such asmystery, story, humor, and games. Romantic understanding evolves when learners reach thestage of written language and engage with topics such as a sense of reality, extremes and limitsof reality, and association with heroes. A well-crafted narrative involving these topics will bothconvey concepts in a coherent and memorable form and help the learner engage emotionally withthe information being communicated.The Talk to Me website uses narrative and other cognitive tools associated with Mythic andRomantic understanding throughout the novel and tie-in activities to engage middle schoollearners. A beta version of the website was launched in July 2010. It was piloted in a two-weekNSF-funded workshop for SPS middle school engineering/technology teachers in which theywere introduced to the website, learned about Imaginative Education and engineering concepts,and were given tips on how to incorporate Talk to Me into their classrooms. An independentassessment at the conclusion of the workshop found that 85.7% of the workshop participantsstrongly agreed or agreed with the statement, “The content of the Talk to Me website is morelikely to engage students in engineering than what is currently available for me to use.”Additionally, 92.8% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “If in the future the Talk to Mewebsite were designed to address the Massachusetts learning standards fortechnology/engineering, I would utilize it in my classroom.”The first analyzed student use of Talk to Me occurred in a July 2010 summer robotics camp,where the SPS teachers used it for a one-day session on Artificial Intelligence. Data showed thatthe students engaged with the characters and were interested in using the website and reading thenovel after the one-day session ended. Further studies of student use and interaction with Talk toMe are in progress in Springfield, and results will be available for inclusion in the paper.
AU  - Lucy McAuliffe
AU  - Glenn W. Ellis
AU  - Sonia Katrin Ellis
AU  - Isabel Huff
AU  - Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Mysteries and Heroes:  Using Imaginative Education  to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/18782
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18782
ER  -