Problems Associated with a Lack of Cohesive Policy in K-12 Pre-college Engineering

Chandler, John; Fontenot, A. Dean; Tate, Derrick

doi:10.7771/2157-9288.1029

Cited by 35 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…How the combination of engineering epistemology and education epistemology combine is not well researched. Chandler et al 7 reported that even the paper called Engineering in K-12 Education released by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council 23 acknowledged there is likely to be a conceptual disconnect between teachers' perceptions and teaching of engineering in K-12 classrooms and the accepted disciplinary and epistemic norms of engineering education. Theoretically, teachers' epistemologies could combine neatly and support each other to a clear, well-refined set of beliefs about teaching engineering.…”

Section: Engineering Education Epistemology (Eee)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chandler et al 7 said that an epistemology is a way of reasoning and understanding the things we encounter in the world. Drawing from Aristotle they content that epistemologies are developed from formal and informal knowledge, lived experiences and assumptions about education as well as training and practice.…”

Section: Epistemology and Teacher Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Science teacher preparation in engineering. Even for experienced science teachers, the inclusion of engineering could be potentially difficult as the vast majority lack formal engineering instruction 7 . Banilower, Smith, Weiss, Malzahn, Campbell and Weis 15 found only 7% of high school science teachers report feeling "very well prepared" to teach engineering (p. 26).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meaningful problems in engineering provide a practical context for acquiring new content, for motivating students, and for preparing them for the workplace 7 . What is engineering education?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Engineering Education Epistemology of a Science Teacher (RTP, Strand 1)

Shirey¹

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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Katey Shirey graduated from the University of Virginia with bachelor's degrees in Physics and Sculpture. She received her master's in secondary science education, also from Virginia. After graduation, Katey spent five years teaching Physics at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA during which she participated as a teacher liaison to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. Katey is now a second-year graduate student in science education at the University of Maryland. Her current research interests are related to the ways that creativity relates to learning in physics instruction and how understanding creativity in the process of engineering design can inform physics instruction. AbstractThe Next Generation Science Standards 1 (NGSS) and an all-out push by President Obama and the Department of Education seek to reform science education by introducing engineering content and practices into Kindergarten through 12 th -grade instruction. Science teachers across the grades are tasked with including engineering in their science curricula creating the need for research on NGSS execution and roadblocks. This qualitative study stemmed from an experienced high school physics teacher's unexpected change in co-planned engineering instruction during a math and science enrichment camp. In an attempt to understand Evan's* actions, this study examined the origins of and tensions within Evan's engineering education epistemology (EEE). My main research questions were, what are some identifiable features of Evan's education epistemology and engineering epistemology? How might these features combine in complex ways to form parts of his EEE? What tensions exist within his EEE? And how do tensions in his EEE affect his use of engineering in instruction? After triangulating Evan's explicit beliefs about engineering with his instructional practices, team conversations, an interview, and a member check, I assert that Evan's engineering epistemology involves reliable and efficient product creation but does he does not think engineers focus on learning new content knowledge as they create products. Evan's education epistemology involves providing opportunities for student success and teaching them new content knowledge. Together these epistemologies interact within his EEE. Evan abandoned engineering design projects for more traditional physics instruction at times when elements of his EEE conflicted. Understanding how Evan's EEE affected his use engineering instruction and his participation in NGSS reform efforts sheds critical light on the potential successes of the NGSS reform agenda in science classrooms. IntroductionIn the summer of 2014 I co-planned and co-taught an engineering-themed high school summer camp for science and math enrichment. My co-teacher Evan was a co-planner of this camp yet he made a sudden and covert shift away from our planned engineering activity on the third day of camp towards a more traditional mode of physics instruction. This paper explores Evan's utterances about instruction in camp and...

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Section: Engineering Education Epistemology (Eee)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Epistemology and Teacher Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Engineering Education Epistemology of a Science Teacher (RTP, Strand 1)

Shirey¹

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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“…Most authors agree that, currently, there is a lack of systemic infrastructure and support mechanisms for pre-engineering programs and that there is not a common, agreed-upon definition of a body of engineering knowledge that are appropriate at the pre-collegiate level (Chandler, et al 2011). Marshall and Berland (2012) posited that the primary goal of any pre-collegiate engineering programs should be to develop a command of the engineering design process that transcends traditional mathematics and science curriculum goals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Problem Solving Among Pre-collegiate Engineering Students via Materials Science Principles

Djokic¹,

Srubar²

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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Given that fundamental materials science principles transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, a grand opportunity exists to leverage materials science concepts to facilitate multidisciplinary teaching and learning. This paper presents the development and implementation of a three-phase teaching module designed to foster organic, cross-disciplinary discourse and learning among pre-collegiate engineering students. Thirty domestic and international high school students were selected for an introductory four-week summer course in engineering. The students were divided into two classes, either civil engineering or nuclear engineering, according to their disciplinary preferences. In Phase I of the interdisciplinary module, the students were taught fundamental discipline-specific concepts in separate classrooms by their respective instructor (e.g., static equilibrium, nuclear reactor physics) over the course of one week. In Phase II, a joint lecture on diffusion, a materials science topic of mutual importance to both disciplines, was given to all students and facilitated by both instructors. In Phase III, the students worked in mixed, interdisciplinary teams in a structured problem-solving session in which they were asked to apply their knowledge of static equilibrium, diffusion, and nuclear principles to solve engineering design problems regarding reactor pressure vessels and radioactive waste casks.The effectiveness of this collaborative module in promoting cross-disciplinary learning was assessed through an analysis of student responses to an anonymous survey. The results show that the module was effective in (a) teaching students the fundamental principles of diffusion, (b) fostering peer-to-peer teaching and learning, and (c) emphasizing the importance of teamwork and problem-solving across disciplines. The results also indicate that students developed a broader view regarding the applicability of their knowledge beyond their own disciplinary boundaries. Given its universality, this materials-focused teaching module has the potential to serve as an effective model to foster interdisciplinary teaching and learning between other engineering disciplines. IntroductionEngineers must gain the ability to communicate and collaborate across disciplines in addition to gaining a deep technical disciplinary knowledge. This is increasingly true in modern society in which scientists and engineers must address complex, interdisciplinary challenges on a global scale. While current efforts at teaching interdisciplinary problem-solving at the collegiate-level (e.g., class projects, capstone courses) exist, the effectiveness of many of these approaches are ineffective in achieving interdisciplinary learning objectives. Richter and Paretti (2009) identified two main learning barriers to common interdisciplinary approaches: (1) students are unable to identify the relationship between their own discipline and an interdisciplinary subject; and (2) students are unable to identify and value the contributions of multiple tec...

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Engineering in the K‐12 STEM Standards of the 50 U.S. States: An Analysis of Presence and Extent

Carr

Ströbel

2012

J of Engineering Edu

146

101

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BACKGROUNDFederal initiatives promoting STEM education to bridge the achievement gap and maintain the nation's creative leadership inspired this study investigating engineering content in elementary education standards. The literature review concluded that common national P-12 engineering education standards are beneficial, particularly when amplified by the common core standards movement. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)Compilation and analysis of engineering present in states' academic standards was performed to determine if a consensus on the big ideas of engineering already exists and to organize and present those big ideas so that they can be infused into state or national standards. DESIGN/METHODExtensive examination and broad coding of mathematics, science, technology and vocational/career standards in all 50 states identified instances of engineering content in existing standards. Explicit coding categorized engineering-relevant standards by subject area. Manual and electronic content analysis identified key engineering skills and knowledge in existing standards. Inter-rater reliability verified consistency among five individuals through descriptive statistical measures. RESULTSEngineering skills and knowledge were found in 41 states' standards. Most items rated as engineering through strict coding were found in either science or technology and vocational standards. Engineering was found in only one state's math standard. Some states explicitly mentioned engineering standards without any specifics. A consensus of big ideas found in standards is provided in the discussion. CONCLUSIONSWhile engineering standards do exist, uniform or systematically introduced engineering standards are less prevalent. Now is the time to move forward in the formation of national standards based on the state standards identified in this study.

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Problems Associated with a Lack of Cohesive Policy in K-12 Pre-college Engineering

Cited by 35 publications

References 7 publications

The Engineering Education Epistemology of a Science Teacher (RTP, Strand 1)

The Engineering Education Epistemology of a Science Teacher (RTP, Strand 1)

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Problem Solving Among Pre-collegiate Engineering Students via Materials Science Principles

Engineering in the K‐12 STEM Standards of the 50 U.S. States: An Analysis of Presence and Extent

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