K-12 Classroom Education and Engineering

Future Cities Engineering: Early Engineering Interventions in the Middle Grades"
Educators conducted qualitative and quantitative research with middle school students participating in a Future City Engineering course at a Las Vegas middle school.  Findings show that student participation in such a course can lay favorable foundations for appreciation of and participation in the engineering profession.  More

“Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Science as the Basis for Secondary Science Curriculum Development: A Three Year Study”
A team of secondary teachers, educational researchers and academic biomedical engineers developed a series of curriculum unites that are based in biomedical engineering for secondary level students in physics and advanced biology classes.; The outcomes favor students working with the experimental materials. More…

“The Effects of Engineering Modules on Student Learning in Middle School Science Classrooms”
The Teachers Integrating Engineering into Science (TIES) Program paired university faculty with middle school science teachers to create three units that included engineering design..; Results indicate that engaging students in engineering curriculum activities may diminish achievement gaps in science for some student populations.; More…

“A New Concept: Academies of Engineering”
The National Academy Foundation (NAF), in collaboration with Project Lead the Way, INC. (PLTW) ® and the National Action Council of Minorities in Engineering (NACME), has developed a new Academy theme in engineering. The initiative is designed to benefit from the core capacities of the collaborating organizations in support of school and partner efforts at the local level.. More …

“Project Lead The Way® Works: A New Type of Career and Technical Program”
High Schools That Work (HSTW) and PLTW began working together in September 1999 to implement an engineering educational career pathway that holds the same objectives asHSTW1 — to prepare more students to pursue postsecondary studies and to enter and advance in a career. More …

“Report on the Third Year of Implementation of the True Outcomes Assessment System for Project Lead The Way”
The third year of assessment (2006-2007) produced the first reliable look at what PLTW students study in their first year of college. An analysis of 171 college transcripts of former PLTW students shows approximately 40% are studying engineering and technology. By comparison, only 4.3% of all beginning postsecondary students selected engineering, and only 8% of freshmen in baccalaureate institutions selected engineering. More ….

“Middle-School Science Through Design- Based Learning versus Scripted Inquiry: Better Overall Science Concept Learning and Equity Gap Reduction”
This paper contrasts performances overall and by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status for middle school science students learning through traditional scripted inquiry, versus a design-based, systems approach. Students designed and built electric alarm systems to learn electricity concepts over a four-week period using authentic engineering design methods. More …

“Engineering Our Future NJ: Promoting Engineering in K-12 Schools through Professional Development, Policy Initiatives, and Partners”
The EOFNJ initiative is a multi-pronged effort launched in 2005 that includes: pre- and in-service teacher professional development; policy initiatives; partnerships and capacity-building efforts; promotion; and a research component. Its stated goal is to ensure all students experience engineering, with a focus on innovation, in the context of required, regular classroom coursework in elementary through high school by 2010. Notable is that New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in science are being revised in 2009. More…

“Efforts to Promote Engineering in K-12 Schools in New Jersey:
A Case Study of Recent Professional Development, Capacity-Building, Awareness-Building and Policy Initiatives”
This paper describes the background, policy context, and major initiatives being implemented in New Jersey, with an emphasis on a program of Stevens Institute of Technology, known as ‘Engineering Our Future NJ’ (EOFNJ). More….

“Partnership to Improve Student Achievement through Real World Learning in Engineering, Science, Mathematics and Technology”
Through a state-sponsored Math-Science Partnership (MSP) program, elementary teachers in New Jersey are receiving professional development in innovative, research-based, science and engineering curricula; classroom-based technical and pedagogical support; and ongoing coaching and mentoring. Two universities, a science center, and a teacher education institution are collaborating on delivering project services to schools.; More …

DSST is a charter school within the Denver Public School (DPS) system. An engineer at the University of Colorado-Boulder, had a large hand in creating the school, which selects its population through a lottery.; By adding a grade a year, the school now serves all four high school grades. With 425 students, about 34% are African American; 24%, Hispanic; and 34% white. Girls make up about 45% of the; population, and 46% of the population comes from low-income households.; Although the school is still quite new, its standardized test scores in math are the best in the DPS. DSST's first class of ninth graders received the highest scores in the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) math exams.;; More ...

The Stevens Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) reports on a variety of initiatives to promote engineering and technology education in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout New Jersey.;; More...

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