Using Video Diaries to Explore Perceptions of Engineering: A Comparison of Engineers and Educators

Abstract

Dr. Nicholas Lux has is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in MSU's Department of Education. His teaching and research interests are in the area of educational technology. He has worked in the fields of K-12 and higher education for 18 years, and currently teaches in the Montana State University Teacher Education Program. He has experience in educational technology theory and practice in K-12 contexts and teacher education, with a focus on STEM teaching and learning, technology integration, online course design and delivery, program evaluation, and assessment. Dr. Lux's current research agenda is STEM teaching and learning in K-12 contexts, technology integration in teacher preparation and K-12 contexts, educational gaming design and integration, and new technologies for teaching and learning.

Empowering Elementary Students with Community-Based Engineering: A Teacher’s Experience in a Rural School District

“…Holly, like many teachers, does not live in the community where she teaches, so she was not very familiar with the potential engineering opportunities within the community. This required Holly to take purposeful steps to learn more about her students' funds of knowledge [33,34] and community by employing ethnographic methods [15,35,36]-covered during the first summer PD [37]-and reaching out to experts within the local community for additional information and support. This training and support was instrumental in Holly's lesson development and implementation.…”

“…The PD program was hybrid and consisted of two phases. The first phase was implemented in the summer of 2020 and aimed to equip participants with skills in ethnographic methods [25], such as photo journal elicitation. The intent of this first phase of the PD was to provide teachers with data collection and analysis skills coupled with learner documentation techniques such as photo journal elicitation and apply those new skills to their classroom instruction.…”

“…The second phase was held in the summer of 2021 and focused on building upon the first session by supporting teachers in developing community-focused engineering curricula. During this phase, teachers worked with project team members to identify local opportunities around which to center classroom engineering activities and developed a plan for implementing the community-based engineering lessons in their classrooms throughout the 2021-2022 academic year (for additional details, see [25,26]).…”

Using Ethnography to Enhance Elementary Teachers' Readiness to Teach Engineering

“…As part of the qualitative coding module, teachers were introduced to an Adobe Spark photo novella prompt that the research team previously developed and piloted [9]. Adobe Spark is a web-based multimedia authoring platform that allows for the generation of a variety of outputs, photo novellas included.…”