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Session 2686

Teaching Teachers to Apply Engineering: A Tale of Two High School Classrooms

Janet M. Sharp, Tracy L. Chandler, John. A. Petersen Iowa State University/Northeast Hamilton High School/Ankeny High School

Abstract

Mathematics and science are two of the corner stones supporting the curriculum encountered by a typical high school student. Effective teachers of these content areas utilize a variety of techniques that enable all students in their classes to learn the content. This includes providing students will opportunities to engage in worthwhile tasks that incite meaningful mental involvement. For teachers to create such tasks, the teachers themselves must hold great facility with their content knowledge, as well as with the professional knowledge about the nature of teaching and learning. Engineering provides an excellent theme in which worthwhile tasks about mathematics and science can be considered. However, this requires that the teachers understand a great deal of basic engineering concepts. This paper describes the units that two high school teachers developed after they learned some engineering concepts. The mathematics teacher focused his lessons on vectors. The science teacher focused his lessons on forces. One important result is that the teachers were able to remain true to their districts’ curricular requirements while they imported engineering into their respective areas.

Introduction

Vectors and forces, which are two key foundations of engineering, are components of the typical high school curricula that most secondary students encounter. In order to effectively teach and learn about these concepts, their teachers must pose worthwhile tasks and structure meaningful inquiry for them. However, such teaching requires that teachers possess in-depth understanding of not only the mathematics and science content, but also connections within and between these disciplines. Furthermore, they must weave their extensive knowledge of content into a rich fabric of professional knowledge about how students learn mathematics and science.

Clearly, engineering provides an exceptional field of study in which to study mathematics or science. And, sagacious faculty of engineering colleges know that high school teachers who are knowledgeable in engineering would likely use that knowledge to better prepare incoming students with strong understandings of important concepts, such as vectors and forces. In order for teachers to make meaningful connections between engineering and school curriculum areas, the teachers themselves must understand engineering. Moreover, they must experience this content in ways consistent with how they will one day teach it in their classrooms. In other words, they must learn about engineering through inquiry, problem-solving, and laboratory investigations. They must see the content through multiple representations and, in the end, be able to connect the content to the curriculum they will teach to their students. However, most

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Chandler, T. L., & Petersen, J. A., & Sharp, J. M. (2000, June), Teaching Teachers To Apply Engineering: A Tale Of Two High School Classrooms Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8759