Engineering in the K-12 Classroom

Engineering in the K-12 classroom has evolved at an increasingly steady pace for several decades and is now building greater momentum with the inclusion of engineering design and engineering practices in the Next Generation Science Standards 1 . In-service educators have sought engineering content knowledge through professional development, coursework and selfstudy. The foundational underpinnings of this advancing educational sphere are still in development. Contributions to the emerging base of knowledge include elements such as the integration of STEM content 2 , an orientation towards engineering design, and engineering habits of mind 3 , including systems thinking. Yet how educators autonomously integrate engineering into their own classroom is not completely understood. This paper describes a collaborative School of Engineering and School of Education program focused on engineering education 4 . This research focuses on a capstone course in a series of engineering education courses, and new knowledge gained and used by both the instructors of the course and the students involved in the course. This course was taught using the NGSS science standards as an overarching guide for K-12 science/engineering performance expectations. These expectations were then framed by the Lesh Model 5 for curriculum development as teachers were guided to create their own curriculum unit. The course focused on events that would allow teachers experience in engineering design. Teachers debriefed after activities based on specific areas of focus. While the integration of STEM elements is key to course content, the coursework in this program focuses on how engineering influences the student learner with an eye to academic standards. The inclusion of engineering in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has allowed educators to consider science education in student empowering contexts. Performance expectations for engineering design weave together the science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts in an environment that may allow students to understand integrated subjects (including engineering and mathematics) at a deeper level. By diving deeply into a limited number of content areas students will be able to transfer the “big ideas” into a connected construction. It is anticipated that the number of states adopting NGSS will grow in the near future, yet the current status is that a limited number of states have actually adopted NGSS. Teachers integrating NGSS are balancing state academic standards expectations while considering new content contexts including engineering design. This paper will provide an overview of the capstone course content, specific teachers' experiences throughout the course based on written reflections, and the preliminary analysis of the implementation of a teacher created integrated STEM unit in their own classrooms. Written reflections were gathered throughout the course. These reflections, in conjunction with the course goals, provide the framework for classroom observations. Preliminary data collected from written reflections, surveys, interviews and classroom observations are included.