Students’ Lived Experiences with the Integrated STEM Activities

Maram Alaqra; Bugrahan Yalvac; Michael Johnson; Emel Cevik; Mathew Kuttolamadom; Jay Porter; Jennifer Whitfield

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: ETD - A Technology Potpourri I
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40858
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40858
Download Count: 806

Paper Authors

biography

Michael Johnson Texas A&M University

visit author page

Dr. Michael D. Johnson is a professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University. He also serves as the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Faculty Success in the College of Engineering. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, he was a senior product development engineer at the 3M Corporate Research Laboratory in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University. Dr. Johnson received his S.M. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on engineering education, production economics, and design tools. Dr. Johnson has over 80 peer reviewed publications and several patents. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and industry.

Dr. Johnson is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, SME, and a senior member of IEEE. He served as the president of the Tau Alpha Pi Engineering Technology Honor Society national board from 2014-2018. He is past chair of the Mechanical Engineering Technology Leadership Committee. He is also a member of the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET. Dr. Johnson has won several departmental and college-level awards for teaching, research, and service. He is also an ASEE National Engineering Technology Teaching Award and Fredrick J. Berger Award winner.

visit author page

biography

Jay Porter Texas A&M University

visit author page

Dr. Jay Porter received his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1987, his MS in Physics in 1989, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1993, all from Texas A&M University. He has been on faculty in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University since 1998 and teaches in the areas of circuits, electronics, and applied electromagnetics. Dr. Porter currently serves as the Associate Dean for Engineering at Texas A&M-Galveston. His applied research interests include STEM education and the design of application-specific instrumentation solutions.

visit author page

author page

Abstract

Engineering has been rarely taught in K-12 schools in US. Integrated STEM education can be a means to teach engineering and engineering related concepts. Students who learn about engineering in K-12 will be more interested in choosing STEM careers.

The overall goal of the present study was to explore the impact a Professional Development (PD) program designed for teachers on students’ lived experiences as they completed integrated STEM activities. The STEM activities involved cutting edge technologies and their implementation in daily life. These activities were then embedded in their science and mathematics courses.

Researchers at Texas A&M University received a National Science Foundation (NSF) engineering education grant in 2016. The overarching goal of the grant was to increase the STEM pipeline by providing engineering focused PD activities to in-service science and mathematics teachers. The teachers were trained and guided to develop lesson plans for the purpose to implement them in their classrooms. Throughout the year, the teachers taught their students the cutting-edge technologies and their implementations.

In this paper, we report the findings from one classroom where the teacher of the classroom participated in the project activities. The design of the research was a case study. The case under investigation was one of the teacher participants' classrooms and their students. We visited the teacher’s classroom and collected firsthand data from the student participants. We purposively selected six students and interviewed them one on one. In the interviews we asked questions to explore the students' lived experiences with the integrated STEM activities. We also interviewed the teacher at another session. We attended one of the class meetings and took field notes along with images of the projects students completed. The interview data collected were transcribed. The textual data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Analyses reveal the student's lived experiences with the newly implemented engineering focused integrated STEM activities.

Citation
Format

Johnson, M., & Porter, J., & Cevik, E., & Kuttolamadom, M., & Whitfield, J., & Yalvac, B., & Alaqra, M. (2022, August), Students’ Lived Experiences with the Integrated STEM Activities Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40858

TY - CPAPER
AB - Engineering has been rarely taught in K-12 schools in US. Integrated STEM education can be a means to teach engineering and engineering related concepts. Students who learn about engineering in K-12 will be more interested in choosing STEM careers.

The overall goal of the present study was to explore the impact a Professional Development (PD) program designed for teachers on students’ lived experiences as they completed integrated STEM activities. The STEM activities involved cutting edge technologies and their implementation in daily life. These activities were then embedded in their science and mathematics courses.

Researchers at Texas A&M University received a National Science Foundation (NSF) engineering education grant in 2016. The overarching goal of the grant was to increase the STEM pipeline by providing engineering focused PD activities to in-service science and mathematics teachers. The teachers were trained and guided to develop lesson plans for the purpose to implement them in their classrooms. Throughout the year, the teachers taught their students the cutting-edge technologies and their implementations.

In this paper, we report the findings from one classroom where the teacher of the classroom participated in the project activities. The design of the research was a case study. The case under investigation was one of the teacher participants' classrooms and their students. We visited the teacher’s classroom and collected firsthand data from the student participants. We purposively selected six students and interviewed them one on one. In the interviews we asked questions to explore the students' lived experiences with the integrated STEM activities. We also interviewed the teacher at another session. We attended one of the class meetings and took field notes along with images of the projects students completed. The interview data collected were transcribed. The textual data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Analyses reveal the student's lived experiences with the newly implemented engineering focused integrated STEM activities.

AU - Michael Johnson
AU - Jay Porter
AU - Emel Cevik
AU - Mathew Kuttolamadom
AU - Jennifer Whitfield
AU - Bugrahan Yalvac
AU - Maram Alaqra
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Students’ Lived Experiences with the Integrated STEM Activities
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40858
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40858
ER -