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1. Engineering Design in Scientific Inquiry

   Atkins Elliott, Leslie (January 2019, American Society of Engineering Education)

   The Engineering Design in Scientific Inquiry (EDISIn) Project addresses the engineering preparation of secondary science teachers by embedding engineering design into a science course for single-subject STEM education majors (future secondary teachers), and developing a sequence of lesson plans and annotated video for faculty who seek to embed engineering design in their science courses. While undergraduate laboratories are rich with designed experimental apparatus, it is rare that students themselves play a role in designing and producing artifacts in the service of scientific inquiry. Our expectation is that (1) existing science courses offer opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with engineering practices, by solving design challenges that emerge in the construction of scientific ideas; and (2) doing so can capitalize on existing curricula that science education has developed, facilitating the adoption of engineering design into preservice teacher education. As part of NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) funding program, this proposal is part of a broader effort to transform undergraduate science education, preparing students to be innovators and leaders in STEM. 

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2. The Continued Development and Validity Testing of an Engineering Design Value-Expectancy Scale (EDVES) for High School Students

   Youssef, S. (August 2022, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   As more institutions create first year engineering programs that teach an engineering design process, there is a growing desire to prepare students for this coursework in the high school setting. When exposing such a broad population to these ideas, a primary question arises regarding student attitudes toward engineering and how these attitudes develop over time. That is, how does this exposure to engineering design influence student attitudes toward engineering? Moreover, answering this question will allow educators to better understand what motivates students to learn, how much their motivation impacts their overall mastery of these skills, and how these aspects of engineering self-efficacy and engineering design may differ between those who are on a pre-engineering track and those who are not. To begin answering this question, high school students enrolled in the Olathe City school system of Olathe, Kansas completed Engineering Problem-Framing Design Activities (EPDAs) in participating science courses (AP physics, physics, advanced biotechnology, chemistry, honors chemistry, biology, honors biology, and physical science specifically) of the traditional science and engineering academy curriculums offered by the district. Student engineering self-efficacy and motivation was also measured at the beginning and end of their coursework. This was conducted via a new instrument, the Engineering Design Value-Expectancy Scale (EDVES), which includes 38 items across three primary subscales: expectancy of success in, perceived value of, and identification with engineering and design. The development of this tool was presented and discussed in a previous study where the EDVES instrument was analyzed for validity among first-year undergraduate engineering students. In this work, the responses of high school students on the EDVES were analyzed to establish validity in this new population and to begin exploring trends in student responses based on their sub-population. Validity testing was completed via Cook’s validation evidence model with respect to scoring, generalization, and extrapolation evidence. The pre-course EDVES responses obtained were used to complete validation and trend analysis (note that post-course data was not readily available at the time of analysis). 

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3. Reflections on Launching a Networked Improvement Community with Computer Science Educators

   https://doi.org/10.1109/respect49803.2020.9272443  

   Fletcher, Carol L.; Torbey, Ryan; Childs, Joshua; Zarch, Rebecca (March 2020, 2020 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)

   null (Ed.)

   This experience report details the lessons learned while launching a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) with 23 teachers in Texas as part of the NSF-funded Accelerating Women’s Success and Mastery in Computer Science (AWSM in CS) project. Conceived to address the persistent gender inequities in computer science (CS) education, the NIC was designed to bring together researchers and practitioners to collaboratively develop and implement solutions with the goal of increasing female participation in CS courses. This experience report explores the lessons learned, such as the importance of building a sense of community, trust, and collaboration, before jumping into problem solving as a NIC. Additionally, the report addresses considerations for sustaining the NIC virtually given the logistical constraints placed on teacher collaboration during the school year. 

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4. Exploring the Impact of High School Engineering Exposure on Science Interests (Work in Progress)

   Bond-Trittipo, B.; Berhane, B. T.; Lee, E. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition)

   null (Ed.)

   Research on K-12 integrated STEM settings suggests that engineering design activities play an important role in supporting students’ science learning. Moreover, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine named improvement in science achievement as an objective of K-12 engineering education. Despite promising findings and the theorized importance of engineering education on science learning, there is little literature that investigates the impact of independent engineering design courses on students’ science learning at the high school level. This sparse exploration motivates our work-in-progress study, which explores the impact of high school students’ exposure to engineering design curriculum on their interest in science through a semi-structured student focus group method. This study is a part of a National Science Foundation-funded project that investigates the implementation of [de-identified program], a yearlong high school course that introduces students across the United States to engineering design principles. The Fall 2020 student focus group protocol built on the [de-identified program] 2019-2020 protocol with the addition of a science interest item to the existing engineering self-efficacy and interest items. Approximately thirty-minute semi-structured student focus groups were conducted and recorded via Zoom, then the transcripts and notes were analyzed using an in-vivo coding method. Our preliminary findings suggest that future studies should aim to gain a deeper understanding of the influence standalone engineering design courses have on students’ science interests and explore the role engineering design teachers play in increasing students’ interest in science. 

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5. Long-Term Outcomes of RET Programs on Female and Minority Student High School Graduation Rates and Undergraduate STEM Major Rates (Fundamental)

   Nichol, C.; Crawford, C. A.; Barr, C.; Cerda, I. (January 2021, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are National Science Foundation (NSF) funded programs designed to provide K- 12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers with immersive, hands-on research experiences at Universities around the country. The NSF RET in nanotechnology encourages teachers to translate cutting-edge research into culturally relevant Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and engineering curriculum. Traditionally, the evaluation of RET programs focuses on the growth and development of teacher self-efficacy, engineering content knowledge gains, or classroom implementation of developed curriculum materials. However, reported methods for evaluating the impact of RETs on their female, minority student populations' high school graduation and undergraduate STEM major rates are limited. This study's objective was to compare RET high school student graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates across gender, race, and ethnicity to a comparison sample to determine the RET program's long-term impact on students' likelihood of pursuing STEM careers. The approach of collecting and analyzing the Texas Education Research Center Database (EdRC) data is a novel methodology for assessing RET programs' effectiveness on students. The EdRC is a repository of K-12 student data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Higher Education data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). This joint database contains demographic, course registration, graduation, standardized testing, and college major, among others, for all students that attended a K-12 public school in Texas and any college in Texas, public or private. The RET program participants at Rice University (2010 – 2018) taught numerous students, a sample size of 11,240 students. A propensity score matching generated the student comparison group within the database. Students' school campus, gender, race/ethnic status, and English proficiency status were applied to produce a graduation comparison sample size of 11,240 students of Non-RET participants. Linking the TEA database to the THECB database resulted in college STEM participants and comparison sample sizes of 4,029 students. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict high school graduation rates as a whole and by individual variables: gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. All models were significant at p less than 0.05, with models in favor of students RET teachers. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict student STEM undergraduate major rates as a whole and by individual variables: Gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. African American and Caucasian models were significant at p less than 0.05; Gender, Asian American, and Latinx models were marginally significant (0.05 less than p greater than 0.1), where RET students had higher STEM major rates than matched controls. The findings demonstrate that RET programs have a long-term positive impact on the students' high school graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates. As teachers who participate in the RET programs are more likely to conduct courses using PjBL strategies and incorporate real-world engineering practices, female and minority students are more likely to benefit from these practices and seek careers utilizing these skills. 

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