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1. “This Began My Journey of Confidence in Teaching Engineering on an Elementary Level!”: Three Cases to Examine the Development of Preservice Teacher Self-Efficacy for Teaching Engineering in the Elementary Classroom.

   Gutierrez, K. S. ( January 2023 , Journal of science teacher education)

   As a result of the increased inclusion of engineering and computer science standards for K-6 schools nationwide, there is a need to better understand how teacher educators can help develop preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) teaching self-efficacy in these areas. Ed+gineering provides novel opportunities for PSTs to experience teaching and learning engineering and coding content by building COVID-companion robots. Growing evidence supports robotics as a powerful approach to STEM learning for PSTs. In this study, Ed+gineering examined three cases to explore this overarching question: In what ways did PSTs’ virtual robotics project experience develop their self-efficacy for teaching engineering and coding? Three PST cases were examined, within the context of their work with other team members (i.e., undergraduate engineering student(s), 5th graders). To understand each of three PSTs’ virtual robotics project experiences, multiple data sources were collected and analyzed which includes mid- and post-semester CATME, end of course short-answer reflections, follow up interviews (including a modified Big Five personality inventory), and Zoom session recordings. Elementary PSTs Brenda, Erica, and Sarah experienced various levels of commitment and engagement in their five Zoom sessions. These factors, along with other personal and external influences, contributed to Bandura’s four identified sources of self-efficacy. This study examines these contributing factors to create an initial working model of how PSTs develop teaching self-efficacy. In this conference session, science teacher educators will learn more about this model and pedagogical decisions that seemed to influence PST’s self-efficacy for teaching engineering and computer science. 

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2. Teaching Coding to Elementary Students – the Use of Col- lective Argumentation

   Foutz, Tim ( June 2019 , ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   This project, titled Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC), aims to use the principles of collective argumentation to teach coding through appropriate reasoning. Creating and critiquing arguments as part of a coding activity promotes a more structured approach rather than the trial-and-error coding activity commonly used by novice programmers. Teaching coding via collective argumentation allows teachers to use methods that are already in use in mathematics and science instruction to teach coding, thus increasing the probability that it will be taught in conjunction with mathematics and science as regular parts of classroom instruction rather than relegated to an after-school or enrichment activity for only some students. Specific objectives of the CALC project are to - increase the attention that coding is given in the elementary classrooms taught by our participating teachers, and -direct students away from informal approaches (e.g.trial-and-error) to develop code to the more formal, structured approach recommended for novice programmers. Our research activities investigate teachers’ understanding of argumentation using the CALC concept and how the implementation of the CALC concept helps students (grades 3-5) learn how to code. The CALC approach supports the learning of coding by providing teachers with a formal, structured means to a) trace the growth of students’ understanding, and misunderstanding, of ideas (i.e., coding) as they form, b) facilitate students’ use of evidence, not opinion, to select a solution among multiple solutions (i.e., different sequencing of the code), and c) help each student realize she/he, as well as others, is a legitimate participant (i.e., a programmer) in the activity of developing, assessing and implementing an idea (e.g., coding of a robot). This paper/presentation discussed the first phase of an on-going investigation and focuses on a prototype graduate-level course designed for and taught to practicing elementary school teachers. The discussion outlines how the course impacted the participating teachers content knowledge of coding and their belief that coding can be made an integral part of everyday lessons, not as an add-on activity. 

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3. Low-Barrier Strategies to Increase Student-Centered Learning Low-Barrier Strategies to Increase Student-Centered Learning

   Friend, Nicole Erin Woodcock ( July 2021 , ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings)

   Evidence has shown that facilitating student-centered learning (SCL) in STEM classrooms enhances student learning and satisfaction [1]–[3]. However, despite increased support from educational and government bodies to incorporate SCL practices [1], minimal changes have been made in undergraduate STEM curriculum [4]. Faculty often teach as they were taught, relying heavily on traditional lecture-based teaching to disseminate knowledge [4]. Though some faculty express the desire to improve their teaching strategies, they feel limited by a lack of time, training, and incentives [4], [5]. To maximize student learning while minimizing instructor effort to change content, courses can be designed to incorporate simpler, less time-consuming SCL strategies that still have a positive impact on student experience. In this paper, we present one example of utilizing a variety of simple SCL strategies throughout the design and implementation of a 4-week long module. This module focused on introductory tissue engineering concepts and was designed to help students learn foundational knowledge within the field as well as develop critical technical skills. Further, the module sought to develop important professional skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, and communication. During module design and implementation, evidence-based SCL teaching strategies were applied to ensure students developed important knowledge and skills within the short timeframe. Lectures featured discussion-based active learning exercises to encourage student engagement and peer collaboration [6]–[8]. The module was designed using a situated perspective, acknowledging that knowing is inseparable from doing [9], and therefore each week, the material taught in the two lecture sessions was directly applied to that week’s lab to reinforce students’ conceptual knowledge through hands-on activities and experimental outcomes. Additionally, the majority of assignments served as formative assessments to motivate student performance while providing instructors with feedback to identify misconceptions and make real-time module improvements [10]–[12]. Students anonymously responded to pre- and post-module surveys, which focused on topics such as student motivation for enrolling in the module, module expectations, and prior experience. Students were also surveyed for student satisfaction, learning gains, and graduate student teaching team (GSTT) performance. Data suggests a high level of student satisfaction, as most students’ expectations were met, and often exceeded. Students reported developing a deeper understanding of the field of tissue engineering and learning many of the targeted basic lab skills. In addition to hands-on skills, students gained confidence to participate in research and an appreciation for interacting with and learning from peers. Finally, responses with respect to GSTT performance indicated a perceived emphasis on a learner-centered and knowledge/community-centered approaches over assessment-centeredness [13]. Overall, student feedback indicated that SCL teaching strategies can enhance student learning outcomes and experience, even over the short timeframe of this module. Student recommendations for module improvement focused primarily on modifying the lecture content and laboratory component of the module, and not on changing the teaching strategies employed. The success of this module exemplifies how instructors can implement similar strategies to increase student engagement and encourage in-depth discussions without drastically increasing instructor effort to re-format course content. Introduction. 

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4. What do Undergraduate Engineering Students and Pre-service Teachers Learn by Collaborating and Teaching Engineering and Coding Through Robotics?

   Kidd, J. ; Kaipa, K. ; Sacks, S. ; Ringleb, S. ; Pazos, P. ; Gutierrez, K. ; Ayala, O. M. ; de Souza Almeida, L. M. ( June 2020 , 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Online)

   This research paper presents preliminary results of an NSF-supported interdisciplinary collaboration between undergraduate engineering students and preservice teachers. The fields of engineering and elementary education share similar challenges when it comes to preparing undergraduate students for the new demands they will encounter in their profession. Engineering students need interprofessional skills that will help them value and negotiate the contributions of various disciplines while working on problems that require a multidisciplinary approach. Increasingly, the solutions to today's complex problems must integrate knowledge and practices from multiple disciplines and engineers must be able to recognize when expertise from outside their field can enhance their perspective and ability to develop innovative solutions. However, research suggests that it is challenging even for professional engineers to understand the roles, responsibilities, and integration of various disciplines, and engineering curricula have traditionally left little room for development of non-technical skills such as effective communication with a range of audiences and an ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams. Meanwhile, preservice teachers need new technical knowledge and skills that go beyond traditional core content knowledge, as they are now expected to embed engineering into science and coding concepts into traditional subject areas. There are nationwide calls to integrate engineering and coding into PreK-6 education as part of a larger campaign to attract more students to STEM disciplines and to increase exposure for girls and minority students who remain significantly underrepresented in engineering and computer science. Accordingly, schools need teachers who have not only the knowledge and skills to integrate these topics into mainstream subjects, but also the intention to do so. However, research suggests that preservice teachers do not feel academically prepared and confident enough to teach engineering-related topics. This interdisciplinary project provided engineering students with an opportunity to develop interprofessional skills as well as to reinforce their technical knowledge, while preservice teachers had the opportunity to be exposed to engineering content, more specifically coding, and develop competence for their future teaching careers. Undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a computational methods course and preservice teachers enrolled in an educational technology course partnered to plan and deliver robotics lessons to fifth and sixth graders. This paper reports on the effects of this collaboration on twenty engineering students and eight preservice teachers. T-tests were used to compare participants’ pre-/post- scores on a coding quiz. A post-lesson written reflection asked the undergraduate students to describe their robotics lessons and what they learned from interacting with their cross disciplinary peers and the fifth/sixth graders. Content analysis was used to identify emergent themes. Engineering students’ perceptions were generally positive, recounting enjoyment interacting with elementary students and gaining communication skills from collaborating with non-technical partners. Preservice teachers demonstrated gains in their technical knowledge as measured by the coding quiz, but reported lacking the confidence to teach coding and robotics independently of their partner engineering students. Both groups reported gaining new perspectives from working in interdisciplinary teams and seeing benefits for the fifth and sixth grade participants, including exposing girls and students of color to engineering and computing. 

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5. Development of an Interdisciplinary, Project-based Scientific Research Course for STEM Departments

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34455  

   Yildiz, Faruk ; Thompson, David E. ( January 2020 , Zone 1 Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education)

   The Project-Based Scientific Research is a new interdisciplinary course developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF - IUSE) funded STEM center at _______ State University. The implementation of this new course was one of the major three goals for this five year grant to strengthen the STEM undergraduate research community at ______ State University by helping undergraduates who are interested in hands-on and/or scientific research. The course is designed to introduce undergraduate junior and senior science, engineering technology and math students to the vibrant world of real research; to build foundational skills for research; to help STEM students meet potential mentors whose research labs they might join with the goal of gaining experimental research experience while on campus. On top of course content and requirements the following goals are aimed for the student and faculty mentors to strengthen the research community; (1) helping undergraduate students who are interested in research connect with faculty partners who are committed to mentoring undergraduates in research, (2) to guide students in reading through papers that introduce the type of research being carried out in a faculty partners lab, (3) to guide students in drafting a mini-review of 5 papers relevant to that research, (4) to guide students in identifying and writing up a research proposal which they will complete in the lab of the faculty partner. The learning objectives for the students in this course are summarized as; (a) by the end of this course, all students build a foundational understanding of the principles of STEM research through the exploration and discussion of important historical interdisciplinary projects; (b) interact with faculty researchers who perform projects across STEM disciplines; (c) be able to describe the similarities and differences between experimental and theoretical STEM research; (d) explore and present several possibilities for future research topics; (e) design and present a research prospectus, complete with a review of some of the relevant literature; (f) and be prepared to continue a research project with a chosen faculty mentor or mentors. First year, six academic departments out of eight participated this new course by offering a cross-listed course for their students under one major course taught by one of the PIs at the STEM Center. All the details such as challenges faced, outcomes, resources used, faculty involved, student and faculty feedback etc. for this course will be shared with academia in the paper. 

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