Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Education Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Secondary Education

Purdue University

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Engineering Education

Library Steam Kits: Developing Circulatable Curriculum For Community Steam Learning, Daphne Fauber, Ashley Fletcher Dec 2023

Library Steam Kits: Developing Circulatable Curriculum For Community Steam Learning, Daphne Fauber, Ashley Fletcher

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Public libraries serve as repositories for a movement described as cultivation of the Library of Things. In the wake of COVID-19, the West Lafayette Public Library enhanced its existing Library of Things collection through the creation of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) kits. Since 2017, the West Lafayette Public Library has held regular free STEAM programs for the community; those programs were put on hold during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which concurred with a library renovation. These kits provide the community with the ability to learn STEAM concepts at home engaging, hands-on activities that may otherwise …

Go to article

The Intersection Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy And Engineering Design In Secondary Stem, Mariam Manuel, Jessica Gottlieb, Gina Svarovsky, Rebecca Hite Apr 2023

The Intersection Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy And Engineering Design In Secondary Stem, Mariam Manuel, Jessica Gottlieb, Gina Svarovsky, Rebecca Hite

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The instructional practices of the engineering design process and culturally responsive pedagogy have each garnered national attention and multiple decades of research. Findings from the respective literature bases call for educators and policymakers to integrate these two pedagogical approaches into K-12 classroom instruction. Scholars have argued that this integration would improve student engagement and academic achievement. There is a significant amount of research that supports the positive student outcomes associated with each approach, yet there remains a dearth of literature that addresses the integration of these two practices into the science and mathematics content areas. The movement around educational reform …

Go to article

School Personnel Lived Experiences Related To High School Engineering Education And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Justina R. Jackson, Katherine L. Boice, Stephen Cochran, Brooke Skelton, Jeffrey Rosen, Marion Usselman Feb 2023

School Personnel Lived Experiences Related To High School Engineering Education And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Justina R. Jackson, Katherine L. Boice, Stephen Cochran, Brooke Skelton, Jeffrey Rosen, Marion Usselman

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This study investigated the teaching experiences of three school personnel at a public high school during the 2020–2021 school year as they implemented a unique science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) unit with in-person and virtual students in their engineering classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. A research team interviewed two teachers and one administrator at the school to better understand the nuances of pre-college engineering during a pandemic year and how changes in school and district policy affected the instructional delivery of STEAM projects. Narrative analytic methods were utilized to understand each participant’s experience and an inductive content thematic …

Go to article

Inventing The Baby Saver: An Activity Systems Analysis Of Applied Engineering At The High School Level, Jessica Gale Mar 2022

Inventing The Baby Saver: An Activity Systems Analysis Of Applied Engineering At The High School Level, Jessica Gale

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Extant research and engineering education frameworks call for students to engage in personally meaningful engineering projects; however, there are few case studies documenting the work of young engineers working to design solutions to real-world problems that matter to them. This qualitative case study describes the work of a purposively selected group of high school engineering students (the InvenTeam) (n = 15) as they devote a school year to a particularly ambitious invention project: designing and prototyping a device to mitigate deaths occurring when children are left unattended in hot cars. Utilizing cultural historical activity theory as a theoretical and …

Go to article

Insights From Two Decades Of P-12 Engineering Education Research, Cary I. Sneider, Mihir K. Ravel Nov 2021

Insights From Two Decades Of P-12 Engineering Education Research, Cary I. Sneider, Mihir K. Ravel

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The 21st century has seen a growing movement in the United States towards the adoption of engineering and technology as a complement to science education. Motivated by this shift, this article offers insights into engineering education for grades P-12, based on a landscape review of 263 empirical research studies spanning the two decades from January 2000 to June 2021. These insights are organized around three core themes: (1) students’ understandings, skills, and attitudes about engineering and technology; (2) effective methods of P-12 engineering education; and (3) benefits of P-12 engineering education. The insights are captured in the form of evidence-based …

Go to article

Funds Of Knowledge As Pre-College Experiences That Promote Minoritized Students’ Interest, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, And Choice Of Majoring In Engineering, Dina Verdín, Jessica M. Smith, Juan Lucena Jun 2021

Funds Of Knowledge As Pre-College Experiences That Promote Minoritized Students’ Interest, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, And Choice Of Majoring In Engineering, Dina Verdín, Jessica M. Smith, Juan Lucena

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Pre-college experiences both inside and outside of the classroom inform students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related activities, help them evaluate their knowledge and skills in various tasks, and shape their perceptions of themselves as individuals who can participate in STEM. Yet little empirical research examines the valuable pre-college knowledge, practices, and skills that minoritized students acquire through their home experiences and how they can support students’ transition into an engineering pathway. This study addresses this gap by investigating how students’ funds of knowledge support their interest in engineering, self-efficacy beliefs, and certainty of pursuing an engineering major. …

Go to article

Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz May 2021

Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Due to economic inequality in society, millions of Latinx high school youth work after-school jobs and summer jobs in order to provide additional income for their families. The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with transnational Latinx youth, was to identify the engineering-related skills and bodies of knowledge they developed and applied while in different workplaces. This study is framed in complementary theories of funds of knowledge, Vygotskian theories of mediated action, and theories of resistant capital. Specifically, this study is based in the premise that youth can develop engineering-related funds of knowledge through tool-mediated, goal-directed activities jointly conducted with …

Go to article

Argument-Driven Engineering In Middle School Science: An Exploratory Study Of Changes In Engineering Identity Over An Academic Year, Lawrence Chu, Victor Sampson, Todd L. Hutner, Stephanie Rivale, Richard H. Crawford, Christina L. Baze, Hannah S. Brooks Oct 2019

Argument-Driven Engineering In Middle School Science: An Exploratory Study Of Changes In Engineering Identity Over An Academic Year, Lawrence Chu, Victor Sampson, Todd L. Hutner, Stephanie Rivale, Richard H. Crawford, Christina L. Baze, Hannah S. Brooks

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The goal of this study was to examine how the use of a new instructional model is related to changes in middle school students’ engineering identity. The intent of this instructional model, which is called argument-driven engineering (ADE), is to give students opportunities to design and critique solutions to meaningful problems using the core ideas and practices of science and engineering. The model also reflects current recommendations found in the literature for supporting the development or maintenance of engineering identity. This study took place in the context of an eighth-grade science classroom in order to explore how middle school students’ …

Go to article

‘‘Lend A Hand’’ Project Helps Students: Improved Spatial Visualization Skills Through Engaging In Hands-On 3-D Printed Prosthetics Project During A 9th Grade Engineering Course, Shaunna Smith, Kimberly Talley May 2018

‘‘Lend A Hand’’ Project Helps Students: Improved Spatial Visualization Skills Through Engaging In Hands-On 3-D Printed Prosthetics Project During A 9th Grade Engineering Course, Shaunna Smith, Kimberly Talley

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Research shows that high spatial ability is linked to success and persistence in STEM. Empirical investigations often report a gender gap in favor of male students. The purpose of this research study was to assess changes to 9th grade engineering students’ spatial visualization skills through engagement in a nine-week collaborative 3-D printed prosthetics project embedded within their existing ‘‘Beginning Concepts of Engineering’’ course curriculum. Using concurrent mixed methods, this study examined pre-/post-test scores on the Revised Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (Revised PSVT:R) in connection with gender, course grades, and level of involvement in the project. Both male and female …

Go to article

Undergraduate Engineers And Teachers: Can Students Be Both?, Malinda S. Zarske, Maia L. Vadeen, Janet Y. Tsai, Jacquelyn F. Sullivan, Denise W. Carlson Jun 2017

Undergraduate Engineers And Teachers: Can Students Be Both?, Malinda S. Zarske, Maia L. Vadeen, Janet Y. Tsai, Jacquelyn F. Sullivan, Denise W. Carlson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Today’s college-aged students are graduating into a world that relies on multidisciplinary talents to succeed. Engineering college majors are more likely to find jobs after college that are outside of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, including jobs in healthcare, management, and social services. A survey of engineering undergraduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder in November 2012 indicated a desire by students to simultaneously pursue secondary teacher licensure alongside their engineering degrees: 25 percent ‘‘agreed’’ or ‘‘strongly agreed’’ that they ‘‘would be interested in earning grades 7–12 science or math teaching licenses while [they] earn [their] engineering …

Go to article