Title: Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs
Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards. Focusing on multiple partners that serve youth in the same community provides opportunities for long-term collaborations and programs developed in response to local needs.
In a significant shift from earlier sets of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards include engineering design, with the goal of providing students with a foundation “to better engage in and aspire to solve the major societal and environmental challenges they will face in decades ahead” (NGSS Lead States 2013, Appendix I). Including engineering in K–12 standards is a positive step forward in introducing students to engineering; however, K–12 teachers are not prepared to facilitate high-quality engineering activities. Research has consistently shown that elementary teachers are not confident in teaching science, especially physical science, and generally have little knowledge of engineering (Trygstad 2013). K–12 teachers, therefore, will need support.
Our goal was to create a program that took advantage of the varied resources across a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystem to support engineering instruction for youth across multiple contexts, while building the capacity of educators and meeting the needs of each organization. Specifically, we developed mutually reinforcing classroom and field trip activities to improve student learning and a curriculum to improve teacher learning. This challenging task required expertise in school-based standards, engineering education, informal education, teacher professional development, and classroom and museum contexts. more »« less
Harlow, D.(
, 2021 American Society for Engineering Education Conference Proceedings)
null
(Ed.)
Interactive science centers are in a unique position to provide opportunities for engineering
education through K-12 field trip programs. However, field trip programs are often disconnected
from students’ classroom learning, and many K-12 teachers lack the engineering education
background to make that connection. Engineering Explorations is a 3-year project funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF) program Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE)
(EEC-1824856 and EEC-1824859). The primary goal of this project is to develop and test
engineering education modules that link K-12 students’ classroom learning to field trip
experiences in an interactive science museum, increasing student learning and extending the field
trip experiences. Each Engineering Explorations module consists of one 50-minute field trip
program completed at an interactive science center and curriculum for three 50-minute lessons to
be implemented by the classroom teacher before (2 lessons) and after (1 lesson) the field trip
program. Our paper will present both development and research outcomes.
Massachusetts defined K-12 Digital Literacy/Computer Science (DLCS) standards in 2016 and developed a 5-12 teacher licensure process, expecting K-4 teachers to be capable of teaching to the
standards under their elementary license. An NSF CSforAll planning grant led to the establishment of an NSF 4-year ResearchPractice Partnership (RPP) of district and school administrators,
teachers, university researchers, and external evaluators in 2018. The RPP focused on the 33 K-5 serving schools to engage all students in integrated CS/CT teaching and learning and to create a
cadre of skilled and confident elementary classroom teachers ready to support their students in learning CS/CT concepts and practices. The pandemic exacerbated barriers and inequities across the district,
which serves over 25,000 diverse students (9.7% white/nonHispanic, 83.7% high needs). Having observed a lack of awareness and expertise among many K-5 teachers for implementing CS/CT
content and practices and seeing barriers to equitable CS/CT teaching and learning, the RPP designed an iterative, teacher-led, co-design of curriculum supported by equity-focused and embedded
professional learning. This experience report describes how we refined our strategies for curriculum development and diffusion, professional learning, and importantly, our commitment to
addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion beyond just reaching all students. The RPP broadened its focus on understanding race and equity to empower students to understand how technology affects
their identities and to equip them to critically participate in the creation and use of technology
Lilly, Sarah; McAlister, Anne M.; Chiu, Jennifer(
, Annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education.)
In this study, we examine the reported beliefs of two elementary science teachers who co-taught a four-week engineering project in which students used a computational model to design engineering solutions to reduce water runoff at their school (Lilly et al., 2020). Specifically, we explore the beliefs that elementary science teachers report while enacting an engineering project in two different classroom contexts and how they report that their beliefs may have affected instructional decisions.
Classroom contexts included one general class with a larger proportion of students in advanced mathematics and one inclusive class with a larger proportion of students with individualized educational programs. During project implementation, we collected daily surveys and weekly interviews to consider teachers’ beliefs of the class sections, classroom activities, and curriculum. Two researchers performed a thematic analysis of the surveys and interviews to code reflections on teachers’ perceived differences between students in the class sections and their experiences teaching engineering in the class sections.
Results suggest that teachers’ beliefs about students in these two different classroom contexts
may have influenced opportunities that students had to understand and engage in disciplinary
practices. The teachers reported making changes to activities based on their perceptions of
student understanding and engagement and to save time which led to different experiences for
students in each class section, specifically a more teacher-centered implementation for the
inclusive class. Teachers also suggested specific professional development and educative
supports to help teachers to support all students to engage in engineering tasks. Thus, it is
important to understand teachers’ beliefs to build support for teachers in their implementation of engineering projects that meet the needs of their students and ensure that students have access and support to engage in engineering practices.
Worsley, Marcelo(
, Interaction Design and Children)
Around the world, many K-12 school systems are seeking ways to provide youth with computer science (CS) learning experiences. Often organizations aim to develop these opportunities by building capacity among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers. In other instances, school may engage with language arts, history, and library teachers to teach computer science content. Seldom, however, do schools leverage the rich opportunities for integrating computer science with physical education (PE). This paper explores an on-going partnership among university researchers, and elementary school coding and PE teachers. During spring of 2021, the group designed and tested coding and physical movement related activities for students to complete across their PE and coding classes. The team iterated on those activities throughout 2021 and 2022. This paper highlights the utility of this unique collaboration and describes some of the initial designs that emerged. The paper also touches on preliminary evaluation of the activities, and notes some of the project team's plans for future iterations. Broadly speaking, the activities piqued student interest and helped advance new perspectives of themselves, CS, and their teachers.
Lesko, H. L.; Grohs, J. R.; Matusovich, H. M.; Kirk, G. R.; Carrico, C.; van Montfrans, V.; Gillen, A. L.; Paradise, T.; Blackowski, S. A.; Baum, L. M.(
, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)
Our NSF-funded ITEST project focuses on the collaborative design, implementation, and study of recurrent hands-on engineering activities with middle school youth in three rural communities in or near Appalachia. To achieve this aim, our team of faculty and graduate students partner with school educators and industry experts embedded in students’ local communities to collectively develop curriculum to aim at teacher-identified science standard and facilitate regular in-class interventions throughout the academic year. Leveraging local expertise is especially critical in this project because family pressures, cultural milieu, and preference for local, stable jobs play considerable roles in how Appalachian youth choose possible careers.
Our partner communities have voluntarily opted to participate with us in a shared implementation-research program and as our project unfolds we are responsive to community-identified needs and preferences while maintaining the research program’s integrity. Our primary focus has been working to incorporate hands-on activities into science classrooms aimed at state science standards in recognition of the demands placed on teachers to align classroom time with state standards and associated standardized achievement tests. Our focus on serving diverse communities while being attentive to relevant research such as the preference for local, stable jobs attention to cultural relevance led us to reach out to advanced manufacturing facilities based in the target communities in order to enhance the connection students and teachers feel to local engineers. Each manufacturer has committed to designating several employees (engineers) to co-facilitate interventions six times each academic year.
Launching our project has involved coordination across stakeholder groups to understand distinct values, goals, strengths and needs. In the first academic year, we are working with 9 different 6th grade science teachers across 7 schools in 3 counties. Co-facilitating in the classroom are representatives from our project team, graduate student volunteers from across the college of engineering, and volunteering engineers from our three industry partners. Developing this multi-stakeholder partnership has involved discussions and approvals across both school systems (e.g., superintendents, STEM coordinators, teachers) and our industry partners (e.g., managers, HR staff, volunteering engineers).
The aim of this engagement-in-practice paper is to explore our lessons learned in navigating the day-to-day challenges of (1) developing and facilitating curriculum at the intersection of science standards, hands-on activities, cultural relevancy, and engineering thinking, (2) collaborating with volunteers from our industry partners and within our own college of engineering in order to deliver content in every science class of our 9 6th grade teachers one full school day/month, and (3) adapting to emergent needs that arise due to school and division differences (e.g., logistics of scheduling and curriculum pacing), community differences across our three counties (e.g., available resources in schools), and partner constraints.
Harlow, D. Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10192351. Connected science learning 2.1
Harlow, D. Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs. Connected science learning, 2 (1). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10192351.
Harlow, D.
"Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs". Connected science learning 2 (1). Country unknown/Code not available. https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10192351.
@article{osti_10192351,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Partnering to Develop a Coordinated Engineering Education Program Across Schools, Museum Field Trips, and Afterschool Programs},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10192351},
abstractNote = {Engineering Explorations are curriculum modules that engage children across contexts in learning about science and engineering. We used them to leverage multiple education sectors (K–12 schools, museums, higher education, and afterschool programs) across a community to provide engineering learning experiences for youth, while increasing local teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality engineering learning opportunities that align with school standards. Focusing on multiple partners that serve youth in the same community provides opportunities for long-term collaborations and programs developed in response to local needs. In a significant shift from earlier sets of standards, the Next Generation Science Standards include engineering design, with the goal of providing students with a foundation “to better engage in and aspire to solve the major societal and environmental challenges they will face in decades ahead” (NGSS Lead States 2013, Appendix I). Including engineering in K–12 standards is a positive step forward in introducing students to engineering; however, K–12 teachers are not prepared to facilitate high-quality engineering activities. Research has consistently shown that elementary teachers are not confident in teaching science, especially physical science, and generally have little knowledge of engineering (Trygstad 2013). K–12 teachers, therefore, will need support. Our goal was to create a program that took advantage of the varied resources across a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystem to support engineering instruction for youth across multiple contexts, while building the capacity of educators and meeting the needs of each organization. Specifically, we developed mutually reinforcing classroom and field trip activities to improve student learning and a curriculum to improve teacher learning. This challenging task required expertise in school-based standards, engineering education, informal education, teacher professional development, and classroom and museum contexts.},
journal = {Connected science learning},
volume = {2},
number = {1},
author = {Harlow, D.},
}
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