Engineering

Understanding How Integrated Computational Thinking, Engineering Design, and Mathematics Can Help Students Solve Scientific and Technical Problems in Career Technical Education

INITIATE is a 3-year, STEM+C Partnership Program Design and Development project that partners high school Mathematics and Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers in Toledo Public Schools (TPS). Due to mathematics oftentimes serving as a gatekeeper for further STEM study, including technical careers, and to the strong reciprocal relationship between mathematics, computational thinking, and preparation for STEM careers, the project includes teachers of Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Statistics/Analysis.
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Discipline/Topic:
Computer Science
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Broadening Participation
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Target Audience:
High School

Transforming Scientific Practices to Promote Students Interest and Motivation in the Life Sciences: A Teacher Leadership Development Intervention

Principal Investigator:
Pauline Chinn

How Do Teacher Leaders Transform Scientific Practices to Promote Students Interest and Motivation in STEM? Formal and informal K-12+ educators learn to employ strategies of community mapping, curricular mapping and place-based, culturally sustaining pedagogy to write, teach, and evaluate NGSS lessons that engage underrepresented students in mathematics, life, earth, and physical sciences. Two case studies highlight how educators apply these strategies to intersect three domains: experiential/place-based learning, culturally sustaining learning, and disciplinary learning .

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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Assessment
Broadening Participation
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Educational Technology
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Systems Reform
Target Audience:
Teachers

Ed+gineering: An Interdisciplinary Partnership Integrating Engineering into Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs

Principal Investigator:
Jennifer Kidd

While new standards call for elementary students to learn engineering, many teachers do not receive any training in engineering and feel underprepared to teach it. Ed+gineering partners preservice teachers with engineering undergraduate students at three points during their respective preparation programs to develop and teach engineering lessons to elementary students. These three collaborations help engineering students develop interdisciplinary collaboration skills while helping preservice teachers develop the competence and confidence to integrate engineering.

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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Broadening Participation
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Elementary School
Post-secondary

Teaching STEM with Robotics: Design, Development, and Testing of a Research-based Professional Development Program for Teachers

Principal Investigator:
Vikram Kapila

To lower the barriers in STEM disciplines for students, using evidence-based research, we designed and conducted a professional development program that built middle school teachers' capacity to use hands-on robotics and engineering design as the curriculum focus. Through summer workshops, teachers learned to: build and program LEGO robots; create and implement standards-aligned robotics-based STEM lessons; and develop, practice, and examine optimal pedagogical approaches for STEM learning using robotics.
 

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Discipline/Topic:
Computer Science
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Educational Technology
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Middle School

Taking STEM Enrichment Camps Virtual: Strategies & Reflections from Quick Pivot Due to COVID-19

Engineering
Science
Technology
Broadening Participation
Gaming/Virtual Environments
Middle

Since COVID-19 began spreading in the US and quickly established as a global pandemic in March of 2020, the NSF-funded STEM SEALS team at North Florida College faced the touch decision to either

Author/Presenter

Rebecca Zulli Lowe

Adrienne Smith

Christie Prout

G. G. Maresch

Christopher Bacot

Lura Sapp

Bill Eustace

Lead Organization(s)
North Florida Community College (NFCC)
Year
2021
Short Description

This exploratory study aimed to (1) identify the  barriers to moving STEM enrichment programming in a rural environment from in-person to virtual activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) describe key decisions that were made in transitioning to the virtual format along with the rationale behind those decisions, and (3) disseminate best practices that emerged from the inaugural effort.

Resource(s)
Submission_3.9.2021.pdf

Design and Development of Transmedia Narrative-based Curricula to Engage Children in Scientific Thinking and Engineering Design (Collaborative Research: Ellis and McGinnis-Cavanaugh)

Principal Investigator:
Glenn Ellis
Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh
Transforming Engineering Education in Middle Schools (TEEMS) is an NGSS-aligned middle school curriculum that utilizes heroic stories to engage students in learning engineering and science concepts.
 
Our curriculum consists of multiweek units covering Principles of Engineering Design and Materials, Tools, and Manufacturing,  as well as six shorter integrated engineering/science lessons.
 
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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Science
Assessment
Broadening Participation
Cognitive Science
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Middle School

Design and Development of Transmedia Narrative-based Curricula to Engage Children in Scientific Thinking and Engineering Design (Collaborative Research: Ellis and McGinnis-Cavanaugh)

Principal Investigator:
Glenn Ellis
Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh
Transforming Engineering Education in Middle Schools (TEEMS) is an NGSS-aligned middle school curriculum that utilizes heroic stories to engage students in learning engineering and science concepts.
 
Our curriculum consists of multiweek units covering Principles of Engineering Design and Materials, Tools, and Manufacturing,  as well as six shorter integrated engineering/science lessons.
 
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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Science
Assessment
Broadening Participation
Cognitive Science
Curriculum
Disciplinary Content Knowledge
Professional Development
Target Audience:
Middle School

STEM Sea, Air, and Land Remotely Operated Vehicle Design Challenges for Rural, Middle School Youth

Principal Investigator:
Guenter Maresch
STEM SEALs builds collaborative partnerships between North Florida College and local middle schools to bolster STEM pathways for students in this region. It involves the development of inexpensive, rigorous, and versatile design challenges to expose rural middle school students to high quality STEM experiences. Researchers study the feasibility and efficacy of these experiences to promote greater awareness of STEM pathways, increase readiness for STEM study; and generate student identity as STEM-able, STEM-skilled, and STEM-belonging.
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Discipline/Topic:
Computer Science
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Curriculum
Target Audience:
Middle School

Exploring Experienced Designers' Strategies in a CAD Learning Environment

Engineering
Science
Assessment
Educational Technology
Gaming/Virtual Environments
High
Computer-aided design (CAD) simulation environments offer opportunities for students to evaluate, redesign, and visualize engineering design solutions quickly and get feedback. However, the use of CAD simulation tools in precollege settings is relatively rare. This study explores design strategies used by experienced designers in Energy3D, a CAD simulation environment designed for learning settings, to provide insight into supporting students' use of CAD simulation environments in precollege settings.
Access Link
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cae.22441
Author/Presenter

Anne M. McAlister

James P. Bywater

Jennifer L. Chiu

Lead Organization(s)
University of Virginia (UVA)
Year
2021
Short Description

This study explores design strategies used by experienced designers in Energy3D, a computer-aided design (CAD) simulation environment designed for learning settings, to provide insight into supporting students' use of CAD simulation environments in precollege settings.

Collaboratively Engineering for Justice in Sixth Grade STEM

Engineering
Science
Middle

In this article, it is argued that processes of co-production can support teachers and students in organizing resources for justice through science learning. Drawing upon a critical justice conceptual framework, critical ethnographic data from one urban middle school classroom during a unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities were analyzed.

Access Link
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tea.21691
Author/Presenter

Angela Calabrese Barton

Kathleen Schenkel

Edna Tan

Lead Organization(s)
University of Michigan (UM)
Year
2021
Short Description

In this article, it is argued that processes of co-production can support teachers and students in organizing resources for justice through science learning. Drawing upon a critical justice conceptual framework, critical ethnographic data from one urban middle school classroom during a unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities were analyzed.

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