Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Main Menu

The IEEE Virtual Museum: Using Web-based Education and a Humanistic Approach to Promote Engineering at the K-12 Level

Michael Geselowitz, Kim Breitfelder IEEE History Center

Abstract

This paper examines ways that the humanities can be integrated into the science and technology curricula of an international audience of pre-college students. Historically, engineering curricula at the college level have ignored the humanities and liberal arts. This division has its roots in the elementary and secondary school levels where little effort is made to bring an understanding of one branch of learning into the context of the other. This results in an under appreciation of the engineering endeavor as well as decreased exposure to the possibility of engineering as a potential career. The IEEE Virtual Museum uses the history of science and technology to bridge the gap between these two disciplines at the pre-college level. The IEEE, an international organization, has chosen the World Wide Web as its medium because of its potential to reach the largest number of educators and their students worldwide. The site explores how technology works while examining the social ramifications of that technology. It is augmented by instructional materials that help educators implement the material found on the site, and which can be tailored to local conditions. In this way, science and technology teachers learn how to bring the humanities into their classrooms, while humanities teachers learn to integrate science and technology into theirs. The challenges of developing a site and supporting materials for an international audience (e.g., bandwidth, language, inclusiveness) are also addressed.

Introduction

Enriching all of our children’s scientific and technical education enables them to become more fully participatory citizens in an increasingly technological world. Encouraging careers in engineering for young people will raise the number of engineering students, especially among groups, such as women, that have been traditionally underrepresented in technological fields. The IEEE, as the world’s largest technical society, has been concerned, as have many others, with the state of literacy in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

IEEE is particularly concerned with technology and engineering, the fields of their membership and the fields that transformed the world in the 20 th century. These fields have grown increasingly complex and diverse, and it is difficult for the layperson to grasp their interconnection. IEEE has therefore increasingly turned its attention to pre-college education and to technological literacy, mainly in its own fields, but not necessarily drawing strict boundaries as to what will and will not be covered.

Main Menu

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Geselowitz, M., & Breitfelder, K. (2002, June), The Ieee Virtual Museum: Using Web Based Education And A Humanistic Approach To Promote Engineering At The K 12 Level Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10158