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Despite limited success in broadening participation in engineering with rural and Appalachian youth, there remain challenges such as misunderstandings around engineering careers, misalignments with youth’s sociocultural background, and other environmental barriers. In addition, middle school science teachers may be unfamiliar with engineering or how to integrate engineering concepts into science lessons. Furthermore, teachers interested in incorporating engineering into their curriculum may not have the time or resources to do so. The result may be single interventions such as a professional development workshop for teachers or a career day for students. However, those are unlikely to cause major change or sustained interest development. To address these challenges, we have undertaken our NSF ITEST project titled, Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools (VT PEERS). Through this project, we sought to improve youth awareness of and preparation for engineering related careers and educational pathways. Utilizing regular engagement in engineering-aligned classroom activities and culturally relevant programming, we sought to spark an interest with some students. In addition, our project involves a partnership with teachers, school districts, and local industry to provide a holistic and, hopefully, sustainable influence. By engaging over time we aspired to promote sustainability beyond this NSF project via increased teacher confidence with engineering related activities, continued integration within their science curriculum, and continued relationships with local industry. From the 2017-2020 school years the project has been in seven schools across three rural counties. Each year a grade level was added; that is, the teachers and students from the first year remained for all three years. Year 1 included eight 6th grade science teachers, year 2 added eight 7th grade science teachers, and year 3 added three 8th grade science teachers and a career and technology teacher. The number of students increased from over 500 students in year 1 to over 2500 in year 3. Our three industry partners have remained active throughout the project. During the third and final year in the classrooms, we focused on the sustainable aspects of the project. In particular, on how the intervention support has evolved each year based on data, support requests from the school divisions, and in scaffolding “ownership” of the engineering activities. Qualitative data were used to support our understanding of teachers’ confidence to incorporate engineering into their lessons plans and how their confidence changed over time. Noteworthy, our student data analysis resulted in an instrument change for the third year; however due to COVID, pre and post data was limited to schools who taught on a semester basis. Throughout the project we have utilized the ITEST STEM Workforce Education Helix model to support a pragmatic approach of our research informing our practice to enable an “iterative relationship between STEM content development and STEM career development activities… within the cultural context of schools, with teachers supported by professional development, and through programs supported by effective partnerships.” For example, over the course of the project, scaffolding from the University leading interventions to teachers leading interventions occurred.
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Developing K-5 Engineering Educators through Authentic Experiences in a Research Laboratory
The University of Florida Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers (MRET) is a 3- year program bringing together engineering research scientists, K-5 teachers, and industry professionals with the goal to increase interest in and preparation for STEM careers through the incorporation of STEM concepts, practices, and role models into elementary classrooms. MRET includes four elements that are designed to heighten participating teachers’ STEM awareness and expertise: (1) 6-weeks of immersive research experience; (2) curriculum development led by an education expert; (3) exposure to STEM careers through seminars and field trips led by industry professionals; and (4) engineering researcher involvement during curriculum development and implementation. This year-one evaluation is focused on the research question: What elements of the research experience support the project’s goals? and involved a mixed method approach to understanding the experience of six participating elementary teachers and six engineering graduate students who worked together as protégé-mentors in each of three different laboratories.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1711543
- PAR ID:
- 10056828
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE Southeast Section Conference Proceedings
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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