Cunningham, C. M., & Kelly, G. J. (2017). Framing Engineering Practices in Elementary School Classrooms. International Journal of Engineering Education, 33(1B), 295–307.
This article focused on engineering practices for elementary classrooms.
This commentary highlights key themes across the five chapters of this volume, as well as offers specific recommendations concerning future directions for inquiry on the issue of family–school connections. A case is made that in order to advance scientific knowledge of this issue and its application, dialogue is sorely needed that is multidisciplinary, engages mixed methods and emic traditions, and attends to how context shapes family–school connections.
This commentary highlights key themes across the five chapters of this volume, as well as offers specific recommendations concerning future directions for inquiry on the issue of family–school connections.
Background Inclusive STEM (traditionally known to stand for “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math”) high schools are emerging across the country as a mechanism for improving STEM education and getting more and diverse students into STEM majors and careers. However, there is no consensus on what these schools are or should be, making it difficult to both evaluate their effectiveness and scale successful models. We addressed this problem by working with inclusive STEM high school leaders and stakeholders to articulate and understand their intended school models.
This framework offers a clear picture of what exactly inclusive STEM schools are and common language for both researchers and practitioners.
The logic underlying inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs) posits that requiring all students to take advanced college preparatory STEM courses while providing student-centered, reform-oriented instruction, ample student supports, and real-world STEM experiences and role models will prepare and inspire students admitted on the basis of STEM interest rather than prior achievement for postsecondary STEM. This study tests that logic model by comparing the high school experiences and achievement of students in ISHSs and comparison schools in North Carolina.
This study tests that logic model by comparing the high school experiences and achievement of students in ISHSs and comparison schools in North Carolina.
The integration of augmented reality (AR) techniques in user interface design has enhanced interactive experiences in teleoperation of robots, hands-on learning in classrooms, laboratory, and special education, and user training in an array of fields, e.g., aerospace, automotive, construction, manufacturing, medical, etc. However, AR-based user interfaces that command machines and tools have not been fully explored for their potential to enhance interactive learning of engineering concepts in the laboratory.
This paper outlines the development of a mobile application executing on a tablet device, which renders an immersive AR-based graphical user interface to enable users to monitor, interact with, and control a four link underactuated planar robot.
The use of augmented reality (AR) and mobile applications has recently been investigated in the teaching of advanced concepts and training of skills in a variety of fields. By developing educational mobile applications that incorporate augmented reality, unique interactive learning experiences can be provided to learners on their personal smartphones and tablet computers.
This paper presents the development of an immersive user interface on a tablet device that can be used by engineering students to interact with a motor test-bed as they examine the effects of discrete-time pole locations on the closed-loop dynamic response of the test-bed.
No longer only for the elite, a new generation of science high schools could help low-income and minority students get better jobs.
Lucadamo, K. (2016, September 6). Can All Students Succeed at Science and Tec High Schools? U.S News Report. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-26/can-all-students-succeed….
No longer only for the elite, a new generation of science high schools could help low-income and minority students get better jobs.
Novel Engineering activities are premised on the integration of engineering and literacy: students identify and engineer solutions to problems that arise for fictional characters in stories they read for class. There are advantages to this integration, for both engineering and literacy goals of instruction: the stories provide ‘‘clients’’ to support students’ engagement in engineering, and understanding clients’ needs involves careful interpretation of text. Outcomes are encouraging, but mixed, in part owing to variation in how students frame the task.
We examine a pair of students who share a central objective of designing an optimal solution for their fictional client, and who persist in achieving their objective. We argue that the students’ stable framing of the activity involves their engagement in engineering design, and that the abilities they demonstrate in pursuit of a solution are evidence of their productive beginnings in engineering design.
Researchers and educators agree: Children demonstrate a clear readiness to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning early in life. And, just as with language and literacy, STEM education should start early in order to maximize its benefits and effectiveness. So why is STEM not woven more seamlessly into early childhood education? What can we do – in the classroom, in homes, in museums, in research labs, and in the halls of legislating bodies – to ensure that all young children have access to high-quality STEM learning early in life?
This report summarizes the latest research findings on the importance and impact of early STEM across the child's ecological systems, as well as the critical importance of framing communications about early STEM in an effective way. It also articulates six recommendations for practice, policy, and research that will promote dramatic improvement in early STEM education for all young children.
Demand for computer scientists is robust, but the pipeline for producing them is not. US universities are only meeting about a third of demand for computer scientists, and recruiting a diverse student body is a struggle; the number of women in computer science has actually declined in the past decade. To help change the perception of the computing field, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology developed EarSketch. EarSketch is an authentic STEAM (STEM + Arts) environment for teaching and learning programming (i.e.
In this paper, we present a description of the EarSketch environment and curriculum. We also present an overview of the classroom environments in which EarSketch has been implemented to date, including professional development feedback, student artifacts, student engagement data, and student achievement.
