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1. Creating Opportunities for Reflection: Analyzing Middle School Student Work During a Service-Learning Course on Solar Cells

   https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v7i1.4246  

   Ing, Marsha; Huang, Peter; LaCombe, Nohemi; Martinez-Lopez, Yahaira; Haberer, Elaine D (June 2012, International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship)

   The purpose of this study is to describe how analyzing student work can be used to help undergraduates reflect on the effectiveness of their service-learning experiences. The service-learning collaboration between a university and middle school was designed to increase undergraduates’ and middle school students’ knowledge of solar energy. Three undergraduates enrolled in a service-learning course that covered basic solar energy concepts and formative assessment instructional strategies. The focal point of the course was the implementation of several activities in a middle school classroom that addressed middle school students’ misconceptions about solar energy, such as the amount of solar energy production at low temperatures or on a cloudy day. Data from this study includes student work during a small-group activity on solar cells. Findings suggest that undergraduates can analyze student work and use this information to better understand how their efforts can influence middle school student learning of solar energy. 

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2. Building on Students’ Knowledge of Solar Cells: Integrating Mathematics and Science to Support Engineering Design Tasks

   Ing, Marsha; Ward, Mary; Haberer, Elaine D (February 2013, Science scope)

   As science teachers, you observe excitement among your middle school students when they build things, tinker with materials, and work together. The engineering design practices included in the K–12 Framework for Science Education (NRC 2012) are an attempt to harness this excitement and enthusiasm for science and engineering. Integrating engineering design into your laboratory science teaching is an engaging way to support students in learning mathematics and science concepts (Katehi, Pearson, and Feder 2009). This article describes how the three of us (an education professor, a middle school teacher who implements engineering design activities as part of a green STEM curriculum, and an engineering professor) built on student thinking to design a weeklong unit on solar energy that supported mathematics and science learning. The lesson included students designing and redesigning a model solar car and culminated in a model-solar-car race. 

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3. The Broader Impacts of an Additive Manufacturing Course at Three Large Universities

   Maloney, Patricia; Cong, Weilong; Zhang, Meng; Li, Bingbing (June 2020, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education)

   This paper documents the effects of an additive manufacturing course on two sets of students: (1) the undergraduates who took the course and (2) the middle and high school students who visited our labs. At the time of the conference, nine semesters of data (three years at three schools) will have been collected, as well as data from the middle and high school students who visited our labs. Overall, our research questions were: (1) what is the effect of this course on the content knowledge of (a) enrolled undergraduates and (b) middle and high school students? And (2) what is the effect of this course on the attitudes towards engineering and self-efficacy in engineering for (a) enrolled undergraduates and (b) middle and high school students? To determine the answers, our longitudinal matched-pairs data collection was conducted. In short, as measured by t-test, all students improved on content knowledge (p<.01), but female students improved slightly more than male students (+9.89 versus +9.01, respectively). Undergraduates did not change their minds about the factors that are important in engineering, although they did significantly change their self-efficacy ratings in some skills because of the course. In particular, undergraduates rated themselves higher in teamwork, creativity, and technical skills, which reflect the content and focus of the course. Additionally, we brought multiple field trips of middle and high school students into our labs for outreach. Using a simplified version of the metric described above, we can see that all students improved on content knowledge. 

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4. The Broader Impacts of an Additive Manufacturing Course at Three Large Universities

   Maloney, Patricia A; Cong, Weilong; Zhang, Meng; Li, Bingbing. (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   This paper documents the effects of an additive manufacturing course on two sets of students: (1) the undergraduates who took the course and (2) the middle and high school students who visited our labs. At the time of the conference, nine semesters of data (three years at three schools) will have been collected, as well as data from the middle and high school students who visited our labs. Overall, our research questions were: (1) what is the effect of this course on the content knowledge of (a) enrolled undergraduates and (b) middle and high school students? And (2) what is the effect of this course on the attitudes towards engineering and self-efficacy in engineering for (a) enrolled undergraduates and (b) middle and high school students? To determine the answers, our longitudinal matched-pairs data collection was conducted. In short, as measured by t-test, all students improved on content knowledge (p less than .01), but female students improved slightly more than male students (+9.89 versus +9.01, respectively). Undergraduates did not change their minds about the factors that are important in engineering, although they did significantly change their self-efficacy ratings in some skills because of the course. In particular, undergraduates rated themselves higher in teamwork, creativity, and technical skills, which reflect the content and focus of the course. Additionally, we brought multiple field trips of middle and high school students into our labs for outreach. Using a simplified version of the metric described above, we can see that all students improved on content knowledge. 

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5. EYE: A Middle School STEM Unit on Energy Flow

   Zangori, L; Otto, S (October 2023, Missouri Association for Rural Educators (MARE))

   This middle school STEM unit called Energy in Your Environment (EYE) was co-created by middle school science teachers, architectural studies, and science education faculty with the goal of improving students’ energy literacy and energy conservation knowledge. The unit fosters place-based education by using the school building to enhance systems thinking about energy consumption and flow between the building and surrounding environment. Within the unit, students explore the role of electrical, thermal, and light energy in their school building and consider how building features (such as windows, lighting, and insulation) impact energy flow and conservation. Students use their energy systems knowledge to design and build a desk-top one-room energy efficient building using simple materials to explain how and why their design impacts energy flow. Five teachers implemented the unit with over 200 students. The growth from pre- to post-measurements was statistically significant for students energy flow knowledge and tracing the path of energy (F(1, 209) = 3118.3, p = 0.001). In our presentation, we will provide an overview of the unit, our student learning data, and result summary. 

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