Partnering with Rural K-12 Schools in Southwest Virginia to Broaden Participation in Engineering

Felicity Bilow; Hannah Glisson; Malle R Schilling; Jacob R Grohs

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Conference: 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: February 9, 2025
Start Date: February 9, 2025
End Date: February 11, 2025
Conference Session: Track 5: Technical Session 5: Partnering with Rural K-12 Schools in Southwest Virginia to Broaden Participation in Engineering
Tagged Topics: Diversity and 2025 CoNECD Paper Submissions
Page Count: 27
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/54104
Download Count: 4

Paper Authors

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Felicity Bilow Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Felicity Bilow is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.

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Hannah Glisson Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Dr. Hannah E. Glisson currently serves as a Postdoctoral Associate in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Hannah's research interests include broadening participation in engineering, sense of belonging among women in in engineering, undergraduate student support, and K-12 engineering outreach. She holds degrees in industrial and systems engineering (BS and MENG), higher education and student affairs (MSEd), and engineering education (PhD).

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Malle R Schilling Arizona State University orcid.org/0000-0002-2943-1969

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Malle Schilling is an Assistant Professor in The Polytechnic School. Malle’s primary research areas focus on rural engineering education and how rural students access engineering pathways, and community engagement to address wicked problems through collaboration and systems thinking.

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Jacob R Grohs Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Jacob Grohs is an Assistant Professor in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech with Affiliate Faculty status in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics and the Learning Sciences and Technologies at Virginia Tech. He holds degrees in Engineering Mechanics (

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Abstract

Keywords: Pre-college; Engineering

Engineering requires a diverse range of experiences and perspectives to develop the most effective solutions. One group of individuals who continue to be underrepresented in higher education and engineering is rural students. To increase the participation of rural students in engineering, it is important to understand how engineering educators and researchers can support rural K-12 teachers in incorporating engineering and technology into their classrooms. This is of particular importance given that the integration of engineering into rural students’ curriculum could broaden their perceptions of what engineering is and who can be an engineer, which could lead them to become more interested in pursuing engineering after graduating.

This presentation will report on an effort to partner with rural K-12 teachers and administrators in Southwest Virginia to help them integrate engineering and technology into whatever subject they may be teaching (e.g., Art, English, Math, etc.). This effort began with a needs assessment using a survey and interviews. We broadly surveyed K-12 teachers and administrators in the region to determine their perceptions of available professional development, desired topic areas for professional development (e.g., curriculum, teaching and instruction, etc.), and motivations and challenges for integrating art and engineering into their curriculum. Interviews were also conducted with K-12 teachers and administrators from the region to provide a more in-depth understanding of educators’ professional development needs, experiences, interests, and accessibility, as well as the challenges they experience and support they receive when trying to implement new subjects or topics into their existing curriculum, including engineering.

Using data from the surveys and interviews, we developed a two-day professional development workshop for high school teachers in the region. The workshop targets topics and needs expressed by teachers that are specifically relevant to the Southwest Virginia context. It will focus on innovative ways to integrate engineering concepts by using systems thinking, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) in connection with their current curriculum. Sixteen teachers were selected to participate in this workshop. All participants will have the option to receive ongoing support from our team as they implement what they learned during the workshop into their classrooms throughout the upcoming academic year. Additionally, we hope this workshop will be the beginning of continued partnerships with the school systems in the Southwest Virginia region.

This presentation will highlight the key insights obtained from all stages of this effort - from the needs assessment through workshop implementation. These insights will shed light on how higher education institutions can better support K-12 teachers’ efforts to integrate engineering and technology into their classrooms through professional development opportunities, with a specific focus on rural contexts. An increase in rural K-12 teachers integrating engineering into their curriculum could lead more rural students to become interested in engineering, helping to improve the diversity of the engineering workforce.

Citation
Format

Bilow, F., & Glisson, H., & Schilling, M. R., & Grohs, J. R. (2025, February), Partnering with Rural K-12 Schools in Southwest Virginia to Broaden Participation in Engineering Paper presented at 2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), San Antonio, Texas. https://peer.asee.org/54104

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Keywords: Pre-college; Engineering

Engineering requires a diverse range of experiences and perspectives to develop the most effective solutions. One group of individuals who continue to be underrepresented in higher education and engineering is rural students. To increase the participation of rural students in engineering, it is important to understand how engineering educators and researchers can support rural K-12 teachers in incorporating engineering and technology into their classrooms. This is of particular importance given that the integration of engineering into rural students’ curriculum could broaden their perceptions of what engineering is and who can be an engineer, which could lead them to become more interested in pursuing engineering after graduating.

This presentation will report on an effort to partner with rural K-12 teachers and administrators in Southwest Virginia to help them integrate engineering and technology into whatever subject they may be teaching (e.g., Art, English, Math, etc.). This effort began with a needs assessment using a survey and interviews. We broadly surveyed K-12 teachers and administrators in the region to determine their perceptions of available professional development, desired topic areas for professional development (e.g., curriculum, teaching and instruction, etc.), and motivations and challenges for integrating art and engineering into their curriculum. Interviews were also conducted with K-12 teachers and administrators from the region to provide a more in-depth understanding of educators’ professional development needs, experiences, interests, and accessibility, as well as the challenges they experience and support they receive when trying to implement new subjects or topics into their existing curriculum, including engineering.

Using data from the surveys and interviews, we developed a two-day professional development workshop for high school teachers in the region. The workshop targets topics and needs expressed by teachers that are specifically relevant to the Southwest Virginia context. It will focus on innovative ways to integrate engineering concepts by using systems thinking, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) in connection with their current curriculum. Sixteen teachers were selected to participate in this workshop. All participants will have the option to receive ongoing support from our team as they implement what they learned during the workshop into their classrooms throughout the upcoming academic year. Additionally, we hope this workshop will be the beginning of continued partnerships with the school systems in the Southwest Virginia region.

This presentation will highlight the key insights obtained from all stages of this effort - from the needs assessment through workshop implementation. These insights will shed light on how higher education institutions can better support K-12 teachers’ efforts to integrate engineering and technology into their classrooms through professional development opportunities, with a specific focus on rural contexts. An increase in rural K-12 teachers integrating engineering into their curriculum could lead more rural students to become interested in engineering, helping to improve the diversity of the engineering workforce.

AU  - Felicity Bilow
AU  - Hannah Glisson
AU  - Malle R Schilling
AU  - Jacob R Grohs
CY  - San Antonio, Texas
DA  - 2025/02/09
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Partnering with Rural K-12 Schools in Southwest Virginia to Broaden Participation in Engineering
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/54104
ER  -