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1. How do we design curricula to foster innovation, motivation, and interest in STEM learning?

   Calabrese, J.E.; Songer, N.B.; Cordner, H.; & Aina, D.K. Jr. (October 2023, Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning)

   Emerald Insight (Ed.)

   Abstract Purpose The authors designed a science and engineering curricular program that includes design features that promote student interest and motivation and examined teachers' and students' views on meaningfulness, motivation and interest. Design/methodology/approach The research approach consisted of mixed methods, including content analyses and descriptive statistics. Findings The curricular program successfully included all four of the US National Academies of Sciences' design features for promoting interest and motivation through scientific investigation and engineering design. During interviews, teachers and students expressed evidence of design features associated with interest and motivation. After experiencing the program, more than 60% of all students scored high on all four science and engineering meaningfulness and interest survey items. Originality/value A curricular program that extends science learning through the engineered design of solutions is an innovative approach to foster both conceptual knowledge development and interest and motivation in science and engineering. 

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2. Usable STEM: Student Outcomes in Science and Engineering Associated with the Iterative Science and Engineering Instructional Model

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111255  

   Songer, Nancy B; Calabrese, Julia E; Cordner, Holly; Aina, Daniel (November 2024, Education Sciences)

   While our world consistently presents complicated, interdisciplinary problems with STEM foundations, most pre-university curricula do not encourage drawing on multidisciplinary knowledge in the sciences and engineering to create solutions. We developed an instructional approach, Iterative Science and Engineering (ISE), that cycles through scientific investigation and engineering design and culminates in constructing a solution to a local environmental challenge. Next, we created, revised, and evaluated a six-week ISE curricular program, Invasive Insects, culminating in 6th–9th-grade students building traps to mitigate local invasive insect populations. Over three Design-Based Research (DBR) cycles, we gathered and analyzed identical pre and post-test data from 554 adolescents to address the research question: what three-dimensional (3D) science and engineering knowledge do adolescents demonstrate over three DBR cycles associated with a curricular program following the Iterative Science and Engineering instructional approach? Results document students’ significant statistical improvements, with differential outcomes in different cycles. For example, most students demonstrated significant learning of 3D science and engineering argument construction in all cycles—still, students only significantly improved engineering design when they performed guided reflection on their designs and physically built a second trap. Our results suggest that the development, refinement, and empirical evaluation of an ISE curricular program led to students’ design, building, evaluation, and sharing of their learning of mitigating local invasive insect populations. To address complex, interdisciplinary challenges, we must provide opportunities for fluid and iterative STEM learning through scientific investigation and engineering design cycles. 

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3. Building Design Experience and a Greater Sense of Community through an Integrated Design Project

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637480  

   Hamel, J.; Strebinger, C.; Gilbertson, E.; Han, Y.-L.; Cook, K.; Mason, G.; Shuman, T.R. (January 2021, Proceedings Frontiers in Education Conference)

   WIP: The Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department at Seattle University was awarded a 2017 NSF RED (Revolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments) grant. This award provided the opportunity to create a program where students and faculty are immersed in a culture of doing engineering with practicing engineers that in turn fosters an identity of being an engineer. Of the many strategies implemented to support this goal, one significant curricular change was the creation of a new multi-year design course sequence. This set of three courses, the integrated design project (IDP) sequence, creates an annual curricular-driven opportunity for students to interact with each other and professional engineers in the context of an open-ended design project. These three courses are offered to all departmental first-, second-, and third-year students simultaneously during the spring quarter each year. Each course consists of design-focused classroom instruction tailored to that class year, and a term design project that is completed by teams of students drawn from all three class years. This structure provides students with regular design education, while also creating a curricular space for students across the department to interact with and learn from one of another in a meaningful way. This structure not only prepares students for their senior design experience, but also builds a sense of community and belonging in the department. Furthermore, to support the "engineering with engineers" vision, volunteer engineers from industry participate as consultants in the design project activities, giving students the opportunity to learn from professionals regularly throughout their entire four years in the program. This course sequence was offered for the first time in 2020, and while the global pandemic impacted the experience, the initial offering was by all accounts a success. This paper provides an overview of the motivation for the three IDP courses, their format, objectives, and specific implementation details, and a discussion of some of the lessons learned. These particulars provide other engineering departments with a roadmap for how to implement this type of a curricular experience in their own programs. 

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4. Do students recognize design features that promote interest in science and engineering?

   https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/15811  

   Calabrese, Julia E; Aina_Jr, Daniel Kalani; Cordner, Holly; Songer, Nancy Butler (January 2025, Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education)

   Unfortunately, most of the world is experiencing a shortage of employees for careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Few students express interest in pursuing these fields, indicating that this shortage has no clear end. Thus, researchers and educators are grappling with ways to increase student interest in STEM fields. One suggestion is to include four critical curricular design features: (1) providing choice or autonomy in learning, (2) promoting personal relevance, (3) presenting appropriately challenging material, and (4) situating the investigations in socially and culturally appropriate contexts. In this mixed-methods study, we explore whether students recognize the incorporation of these curricular design features within a given curriculum and in what ways. 

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5. Usable STEM knowledge for tomorrow's STEM problems

   https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-037-10193  

   Butler Songer, Nancy (January 2023, Open Access Government)

   Usable STEM knowledge for tomorrow's STEM problems More universities and education programs need more STEM knowledge in formal and informal settings to guide learners in applying STEM learning to the creation of solutions. To address this challenge, Nancy Butler Songer, the dean of the College of Education at the University of Utah designed a learning approach, Solutioning, that guides youth to deepen science content through science and engineering practices. Creating a six-week curricular program, the learning approach provided opportunities for students to use engineering design to create and provide feedback on a trap design that would attract a local invasive insect that was harmful to their community. Research was conducted on studies to provide empirical evidence on student STEM knowledge and learning and their ability to define science and engineering. Research results indicate that even elementary-age students demonstrate significant improvement in their understanding of STEM arguments as evaluated with a pre-post assessment before and after implementing a six-week solutioning curricular program. 

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