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Background Early-age engineering education can enhance preparedness and generate interest in engineering careers prior to college. This article reports on collaboration between a university engineer and science teacher educators to introduce engineering career awareness in elementary classrooms. The resulting elementary school curriculum, Engineering is Everywhere, features video instruction by the engineer, a teacher activity guide, and a materials kit.Purpose/Research Questions Our research question was, "How might engineers and educators best collaborate in elementary engineering outreach efforts?" We co-developed curricula, prepared classroom teachers, and compared fifth-grade student learning outcomes to determine the most beneficial type of engineer instruction. Design/MethodA quasi-experimental research design assessed the effectiveness of three instructional formats: engineer-led, engineer-visit, and engineer-video. Pre-and post-tests captured changes in fifth-grade students' understanding about the work of engineers and attitudes about engineering.Results Findings indicated significant gains in all students' understanding, with some differences across the three instructional formats. The engineer-led students did not show significant changes in overall engineering attitudes. Only the engineer-video students demonstrated significant gains in engineering job interests.Conclusions A qualitative comparison of the costs and benefits of each instructional format raised important considerations for planning engineer outreach. We recommend that engineers collaborate with science teacher educators in the design of video instruction and assist in preparing elementary classroom teachers to administer the lesson activities.

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Citizen science is key to the success of Future Earth Initiatives for urban sustainability. Emerging research in urban land teleconnections highlights the benefits of incorporating theoretical insights from political ecology and participatory action research. Reviewing some of the forces propelling the recent popularity of citizen science, this article outlines challenges to processes of collaboration between scientists and non-scientists. We distinguish these concerns from others that may arise from the data or other products resulting from citizen science projects. Careful consideration of the processes and products of citizen science could engender a more fruitful relationship between professional scientists and their research communities and help universities to build effective partnerships with those in wider society whose expertise comes from their life experience.

This critical discourse analysis examined climate change denial books intended for children and parents as examples of pseudo-educational materials reproduced within the conservative echo chamber in the United States. Guided by previous excavations in climate change denial discourses, we identified different types of skepticism, policy frames, contested scientific knowledge, and uncertainty appeals. Findings identify the ways these children's books introduced a logic of non-problematicity about environmental problems bolstered by contradictory forms of climate change skepticism and polarizing social-conflict frames. These results pose pedagogical dilemmas for educators, environmental advocates, and communication experts interested in advancing understanding and action in the face of rapid climate change.

Researchers worked with a rural education cooperative to deliver engineering education professional development to 38 elementary teachers. Teachers received training in Engineering is Elementary (EiE) and Family Engineering curriculum and then implemented those lessons with their 2nd-5th grade students. Researchers administered pre-and post-measures to gauge changes in teachers' and students' knowledge and perceptions regarding engineering. Additionally, changes in teachers' self-efficacy of teaching engineering and students' attitudes about science and engineering were measured. This article discusses the value of elementary engineering education in rural communities.

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