Turn the Lights On! Part I: An Engineering Design-Based Curriculum for Teaching 8th Grade Students Renewable Energy (Resource Exchange)
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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4
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41079
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/41079
- Download Count
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297
Paper Authors
Ruben Lopez-Parra Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Ruben D. Lopez-Parra is a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He has worked as a K-16 instructor and curriculum designer using various evidence-based active and passive learning strategies. In 2015, Ruben earned an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, where he also received the title of Chemical Engineer in 2012. His research interests are grounded in the learning sciences and include how K-16 students develop engineering thinking and professional skills through diverse learning environments. He aims to apply his research to the design of better educational experiences.
Barbara Fagundes
Nrupaja Bhide Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI)
Diallo Wallace Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Joana Marques Melo Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Joana Marques Melo, PhD worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Engineering Education at Purdue University. Dr. Marques Melo graduated from Penn State University with a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering, and B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Her research interests rely on understanding how different languages and cultures impact students' learning engineering in the US.
Maeve Drummond Oakes Purdue University College of Engineering
Maeve Drummond Oakes is the Associate Director of Education for the NSF Engineering Research Center, CISTAR. She has extensive experience in academic program management at Purdue University, successfully leading programs at undergraduate and graduate education in the School of Civil of Engineering. In Biomedical Engineering she led the creation of new experiential activities for students with industry and through study abroad. As the university coordinator for the Purdue EPICS program she was responsible for the development of a consortium of more than 40 universities, globally. At CISTAR she oversees all of the programming for CISTAR's engineering workforce development pillar.
Allison Godwin Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. She is also the Engineering Workforce Development Director for CISTAR, the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. Her research focuses on how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belonging and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development.
Tamara Moore Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Tamara J. Moore, Ph.D., is a Professor of Engineering Education, University Faculty Scholar, and the Executive Director of the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering at Purdue University. Dr. Moore’s research is centered on the integration of STEM concepts in K-12 and postsecondary classrooms in order to help students make connections among the STEM disciplines and achieve deep understanding. Her work focuses on defining STEM integration and investigating its power for student learning. She has examined different mechanisms of bringing engineering content and standards into the classrooms that led to a framework for quality K-12 engineering education. Dr. Moore’s team has developed several sets of instructional modules for elementary and middle school learners that employ engineering and literacy contexts to integrate STEM and computational thinking content in meaningful and significant ways. In 2012, she received a U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her work with urban youth. In 2016, she received Purdue University’s Faculty Engagement Scholarship Award for working with teachers and students across the United States on teaching and learning engineering.
Abstract
Turn the Lights On! is a project in partnership between EngrTEAMS and the Center for the Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR) NSF Engineering Research Center that teaches 8th graders about renewable energy resources and sustainability through an engineering design-based STEM integration unit. This unit will be implemented primarily in schools with high enrollment of Black, Latinx, Indigenous youth, and low-income students. The project includes the engineering design-based curriculum (Part I) and online professional development aid for teachers interested in implementing this curriculum (Part II). This Resource Exchange will introduce Part I of this project. The curriculum encompasses eighteen 50-minute class periods distributed in nine lessons. Throughout the lessons, students frame an engineering problem related to energy supply, learn about energy sources using scientific experiments, and build a model for a new power generation system (PGS) that includes multiple energy sources. Then, they test their model using environmental impact analysis and cost analysis. Finally, they redesign their initial model based on their results and additional information provided related to CISTAR’s engineering innovations. While addressing this problem, students will learn about electrical energy, chemical and physical changes, ecosystems and diversity, measuring instruments, proportional reasoning, and data representation, among other concepts. The curriculum with the materials for the construction of the PGS model and the assessment guidelines are available online.
Lopez-Parra, R., & Fagundes, B., & Bhide, N., & Wallace, D., & Marques Melo, J., & Drummond Oakes, M., & Godwin, A., & Moore, T. (2022, August), Turn the Lights On! Part I: An Engineering Design-Based Curriculum for Teaching 8th Grade Students Renewable Energy (Resource Exchange) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41079
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