Education Commons^™

A Study Of Grade Level And Gender Differences In Divergent Thinking Among 8th And 11th Graders In A Mid-Western School District., Leah Christine Roue

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing African American High School Students In Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy And Engineering-Related Goal Intentions, Chandra Yvette Austin

Dissertations

A current challenge in the United States is to increase African American pursuit of engineering careers. Minority students generally tend to be under-represented in such careers, as indicated by the National Academy of Engineering, in The Engineer of 2020-Visions of Engineering in the New Century. This study explores the career decision self-efficacy (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1993) and Engineering related goal intentions of African American high school students. There are a variety of reasons explaining the lack of choice of engineering as a career, and these were investigated. This study assessed the effect of specific influences (ethnic identity, demographic factors, …

Effects Of Professional Development On Infusing Engineering Design Into High School Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula, Zanj Kano Avery

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of professional development (PD) on the infusion of engineering design into high school curricula. Four inservice teachers with backgrounds in physics, chemistry, industrial education, math, and electrical engineering participated in the 2006 National Center of Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE)-sponsored PD workshops at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) and provided three sources of data that were used to answer the research question, “What are the effects of PD on infusing engineering design into high school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula”? Three major themes emerged from the data. …

Engineering Problem Finding In High School Students, Benjamin James Franske

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the engineering problem finding ability of high school students at three high schools in Minnesota. Students at each of the three schools had differing backgrounds including pre-engineering coursework, traditional technology education coursework and advanced science coursework. Students were asked to find problems in two different engineering scenarios which were presented to them on a paper and pencil instrument. Responses were scored by a panel of judges based on measures of creativity (flexibility, fluency, originality and elaborateness) and analyzed based on demographic data including gender, prior coursework and school. In addition student responses …

Complex Systems In Engineering And Technology Education: A Mixed Methods Study Investigating The Role Computer Simulations Serve In Student Learning, Douglas James Walrath

Dissertations

This research was conducted to determine if students receiving complex systems instruction in the form of software simulations recognize patterns and underlying elements of complex systems more effectively than students receiving traditional instruction. Complex systems were investigated with an analytic (reductive) approach in a control group and with a synthesis approach in the treatment group. Exploration of this top-down approach to learning complex systems counters traditional bottom-up methodologies, investigating systems and subsystems at the component level. The hypothesis was that students experiencing complex systems scenarios in a computerbased learning environment would outperform their counterparts by constructing a greater number of …

Perceptions Of Creativity In Art, Music And Technology Education, David Russell Stricker

Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the perceptions of art, music, and technology education teachers with regard to creativity in their respective fields. The survey used in this study was designed around the themes borne out of creativity literature generally and creativity specific to the fields of art, music, and technology and engineering education. As a result the themes of creative process, products, personal traits, and environment shaped the items contained in the survey.

Although participants from all three subjects perceived the creative process as important to creative work generally, technology education teachers were less interested in the importance of …

Examination Of Engineering Design In Curriculum Content And Assessment Practices Of Secondary Technology Education, Todd R. Kelley

Dissertations

This descriptive study examined the current status of technology education teacher practices with respect to engineering design. Participants were drawn from the current International Technology Education Association (ITEA) high school teacher membership database. A survey instrument gathered data about the extent to which engineering design concepts are incorporated into the curriculum content, and assessment practices employed by secondary technology educators. Moreover, the survey identified challenges faced by technology educators when seeking to implement engineering design. Current curriculum content that addresses engineering design concepts consisted of the following seven subsets: (a) engineering design, (b) engineering analysis, (c) application of engineering design, …

Engineering-Oriented Professional Development For Secondary Level Teachers: A Multiple Case Study Analysis, Jenny Lynn Daugherty

Dissertations

This study consisted of multiple case studies of selected professional development programs designed to prepare secondary teachers to deliver engineering-oriented education. The focus was on understanding the professional development design, fundamental content knowledge, essential pedagogies, unique challenges, and effective practices involved in this type of professional development. This was achieved by interviewing the leadership, instructors, and participating teachers; observing the in-person workshops; administering a survey to the teachers; and analyzing the project’s documentation. Five professional development programs were examined, including: Engineering the Future, Project Lead the Way, Mathematics Across the Middle School MST Curriculum, The Infinity Project, and INSPIRES. The …

Academic Performance As A Predictor Of Student Growth In Achievement And Mental Motivation During An Engineering Design Challenge In Engineering And Technology Education, Nathan James Mentzer

Dissertations

The purpose of this correlational research study was to determine if students’ academic success was correlated with: (a) the student change in achievement during an engineering design challenge; and (b) student change in mental motivation toward solving problems and critical thinking during an engineering design challenge. Multiple experimental studies have shown engineering design challenges increase student achievement and attitude toward learning, but conflicting evidence surrounded the impact on higher and lower academically achieving students.

A high school classroom was chosen in which elements of engineering design were purposefully taught. Eleventh-grade student participants represented a diverse set of academic backgrounds (measured …