Penn State Erie, The Behrend College participates in Pennsylvania's Tech Prep Program. Articulation agreements between Penn State Erie and participating local high schools are designed to recruit students into two year programs. Students meeting the specified requirements upon graduation from high school are automatically granted admission to Penn State Erie. Penn State Erie hosted a week long residence camp exposing high school Tech Prep students to hands on experiences. Activities for the camp focused on manufacturing in the Electrical Engineering Technology, Mechanical Engineering Technology and Plastics Engineering Technology programs, through the study of model rocketry.
An outreach project has been designed and implemented to provide kindergarten students with engineering technology experiences. In engineering education much has been done in outreach to middle school students and high school students. But very little is being done to reach out to K-6 and practically none for kindergarten students, especially in the field of engineering. This paper describes electrical engineering technology experiences tailored for kindergarten students. The experiences are hands-on experiments with the hope that kindergartners can learn at-their-level fundamental electricity concepts. Knowledge of electricity theory through experiences is the end goal. One way this will be accomplished is by providing the students with first a concept, then asking them to make predictions. Introducing students to engineering at the kindergarten level is obviously a long term investment but what better a time to peak their interest and curiosity at such a vital age. The project also provides university faculty with the opportunity to serve the community.
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