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Session 2793

STOMP: Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program

Merredith Portsmore, Chris Rogers, Melissa Pickering Tufts University

Abstract

The Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program (STOMP) at Tufts University brings engineering students to educational settings to support engineering education. In December 2000, Massachusetts incorporated engineering into its state science and technology frameworks. Educators are now working to integrate these new standards into their classroom teachings. Many educators are not familiar with engineering concepts so they are working hard to learn new concepts at the same time as they are implementing projects and teachings to address the frameworks in their settings. STOMP students, engineering undergraduate and graduate students, serve as a support mechanism for these educators by helping students with hands-on projects, resolving technical issues with equipment, answering engineering questions, doing research on topics, and helping to brainstorm activities. The program has been very successful in facilitating engineering education in 10 local classrooms in grades K-9. STOMP student – teacher partnerships have resulted in some fabulous new curriculum units including a 4th grade unit entitled “Egyptians as Engineers” and a middle school unit entitled “Make your own CD – Learning Digital Logic.” The STOMP program also strives to help engineering students understand the educational system and to encourage their involvement, as future members of industry, in K-12 education. This paper will detail the creation and implementation of a project of this nature as well as highlight the difficulties and successes experienced to date.

Introduction

The mission of the Center For Engineering Education (CEEO) at Tufts University is to make engineering part of K-12 education. Engineers apply math and science knowledge to create products or processes. Giving students design challenges that require their knowledge of math and science motivates their math and science learning and also helps them to gain an understanding of what engineering is. Children naturally like to explore and to build. Engineering projects capitalize on those interests and hence engage and interest students. Massachusetts has recently recognized the importance and power of engineering and has incorporated it into the state science and technology frameworks.1 (Frameworks are the basis for the state’s standardized tests) Many educators are not familiar with engineering concepts so they are working hard to learn new concepts at the same time as they are implementing projects and teachings to address the frameworks in their classes. Engineering projects, while often more rewarding, are also more demanding and resource intensive than lectures and worksheets.

Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ” 2003, American Society for Engineering Education

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Portsmore, M., & Pickering, M., & Rogers, C. (2003, June), Stomp: Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12664