Pre-college (K-12) engineering education: Getting Them Early … and Keeping Them!

The primary goals of this special session are to assist participants with developing strategies for incorporating an engineering design environment into regular pre-college (K-12 in the US) classroom routines, and to develop an engineering design approach to structuring learning activities. Our core philosophy is that the practice of engineering design reinforces and provides a method for integrating concepts in mathematics and science, thereby introducing, clarifying, and strengthening conceptual knowledge. It also supports a problem-solving orientation in students that encourages creativity and innovation, an approach that is aligned with the strengthening STEAM movement. The inclusion of engineering design activities in the recently adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS US) provides another opportunity to advocate for the adoption of design-focused, project-based curricula that truly integrates learning across STEM, humanities, and social sciences: a curriculum developed through an evidence-based approach firmly grounded in results of K-12 engineering education research. The motivation for this work comes from the need to identify and develop educational environments that encourage persistence in STEM studies from the earliest grades by nurturing key cognitive and non-cognitive factors in addition to the acquisition of subject knowledge. Participants will experience an Engineering Teaching Kit (ETK) from the student's perspective and learn how to use them in their classes in this special session. They will also learn how ETKs are developed, tested, and implemented in middle and elementary schools. Participants will help identify potential topics and areas for future ETKs. Finally, we will explore how an integrative engineering design-focused, project-based pedagogy and curriculum can become a regular component of the school day. All participants will gain access to the on-line resources of our program.

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