Engineering Education Commons^™

Open-Ended Project Learning Experience In Graphical Communication, Lulu Sun, Christopher Grant

Publications

This paper includes the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in the introduction to graphical communication course and shows how students are moved up Bloom’s taxonomy by changing previous guided individual final project to open-ended projects. Instead of following the instructor’s direction to complete the model design, students are required to research the product they want to design, and build the model by themselves. The open-ended projects enable and challenge students to work on higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy by emphasizing design creativity, exploring real engineering design problem, and enhancing their oral and written skills.

The Path Of Innovation: From Traditional Classroom To Hybrid Experience, Lulu Sun, Matthew Kindy, Caroline Liron

Publications

“Introduction to Computing for Engineers” is a programming course emphasizing problem solving. However, the lack of time for practice and the algorithm-centric nature of programming results in inadequate comprehension of this course material. Through course evaluations, faculty experience, and discussions, we feel that students in a programming course should have more time for “hands-on” learning, rather than trying to absorb content through lectures. We believe that by getting students involved and excited about engineering from the beginning of their first year, we will markedly improve comprehension of the course content. To that end, a hybrid course is implemented that involves …

A Possible Pathway For High School Science In A Stem World, Cary Sneider

Publications

Today‘s high school science teachers find themselves in a period of transition. For the past decade there have been calls for replacing a narrow focus on science education—the traditional courses in physics, chemistry, biology, and Earth and space science—with a broader curriculum on STEM (that is, the four allied fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). However, at present there are no guidelines on what that broader curriculum should include or how it should be designed, and the gulf that has separated science and mathematics seems as wide as ever, despite decades of efforts to bridge the two disciplines. Next …

Mapping Engineering Concepts For Secondary Level Education, Jenny L. Daugherty

Publications

Much of the national attention on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education tends to concentrate on science and mathematics, with its emphasis on standardized test scores. However as the National Academy of Engineering Committee on K-12 Engineering Education stressed, engineering can contribute to the development of an effective and interconnected STEM education system (Katehi, Pearson, & Feder, 2009). In addition, engineering can provide authentic learning contexts for science, technology, and mathematics. Numerous K-12 engineering initiatives have emerged across the U.S. developing curriculum and conducting teacher professional development (Brophy, Klein, Portsmore, & Rogers, 2008). The focus of pre-college engineering education …

Mapping Engineering Concepts For Secondary Level Education, J. L. Daugherty

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No abstract provided.

Engineering Design Thinking And Information Gathering Final Report, Nathan Mentzer

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The objective of this research was to explore the relationship between information access and design solution quality of high school students presented with an engineering design problem. This objective is encompassed in the research question driving this inquiry: How does information access impact the design process? This question has emerged in the context of an exploratory DR-K12 grant project titled, Exploring Engineering Design Knowing and Thinking as an Innovation in STEM Learning. The research work presented here has expanded the data set developed in the DR-K12 and examined the larger data set with a focus on how information access impacts …

Understanding Of Student Task Interpretation, Design Planning, And Cognitive Strategies During Engineering Design Activities In Grades 9-12, Oenardi Lawanto

Publications

The objective of this study was to describe the task interpretation of students engaged in a design activity and determine the extent to which students translate their understanding of their design task to their planning and cognitive strategies. Twenty-nine students at one Colorado high school participated in this study. Students worked individually in the Architectural Design class (n=7), and in teams in the Robotics Design class (n=22). To capture students’ perceptions of their understanding of the task, planning strategies, and cognitive strategies, the Engineering Design Questionnaire (EDQ) was used. The development of the EDQ was guided by Butler and Cartier’s …

Design Problems For Secondary Students, David H. Jonassen

Publications

Are there different kinds of design problems? According to Brown and Chandrasekaran (1989), Class 1 design problems are open-ended, non-routine creative activities where the goals are ill-structured, and there is no effective design plan specifying the sequence of actions to take in producing a design model. Class 2 problems use existing, well-developed design and decomposition plans (e.g. designing a new automobile). Class 3 designs are routine where design and decomposition plans are known as well as customary actions taken to deal with failures (e.g., writing a computer program). Jonassen (2011) argued that problems vary in terms of structuredness, complexity, and …

Integrating Engineering Design Challenges Into Secondary Stem Education, Ronald L. Carr

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Engineering is being currently taught in the full spectrum of the P-12 system, with an emphasis on design-oriented teaching (Brophy, Klein, Portsmore, & Rogers, 2008). Due to only a small amount of research on the learning of engineering design in elementary and middle school settings, the community of practice lacks the necessary knowledge of the trajectory of students' learning progressions towards design mastery and expertise and the appropriateness of otherwise established design pedagogies. The issue is even more pressing since many states are embedding engineering into their standards without a clear notion of how engineering (often conceptualized as design) works …

Building A Framework For Engineering Design Experiences In Stem: A Synthesis, Cameron D. Denson

Publications

Since the inception of the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education in 2004, educators and researchers have struggled to identify the necessary components of a “good” engineering design challenge for high school students. In reading and analyzing the position papers on engineering design many themes emerged that may begin to form a narrative for engineering design in a high school setting. Before educators can provide a framework for engineering design in STEM courses, four questions need to be answered: (a) To what degree should engineering design challenges be open-ended or well-structured? (b) What are the relationships between engineering design …

Design Principles For High School Engineering Design Challenges: Experiences From High School Science Classrooms, Christian Schunn

Publications

At the University of Pittsburgh, we have been exploring a range of approaches to design challenges for implementation in high school science classrooms (Apedoe, Reynolds, Ellefson, & Schunn, 2008; Ellefson, Brinker, Vernacchio, & Schunn, 2008; Schunn, Silk, & Apedoe, in press). In general, our approach has always involved students working during class time over the course of many weeks. So, our understanding of what works must be contextualized to that situation (i.e., without significant home support, by students enrolled in traditional classrooms, involving content that is connected to traditional science classrooms). However, our approach has been implemented with thousands of …

Infusing Engineering Design Into High School Stem Courses, Morgan Hynes, Merredith Portsmore, Emily Dare, Elissa Milto, Chris Rogers, David Hammer, Adam Carberry

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Society is recognizing the need to improve STEM education and introduce engineering design concepts before college. In the recent National Academy of Engineers report, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, the authors suggest that the STEM disciplines not be treated as ―silos‖ and that engineering might serve as a motivating context to integrate the four STEM disciplines (Katehi, Pearson, & Feder, 2009). Recent research has suggested that integrated technology and engineering design curriculum can serve as a positive model for mathematics and science learning and retention (Ortiz, 2010; Wendell, 2011). The Tufts University Center for …

Engineering Design Challenges In A Science Curriculum, Arthur Eisenkraft

Publications

Create a light and sound show to entertain your friends. Design an improved safety device for a car. Develop a 2-3 minute voice-over for a sports clip explaining the physics involved in the sport. Modify the design of a roller coaster to meet the needs of a specific group of riders. Design an appliance package for a family limited by the power and energy of wind generator. Develop a museum exhibit to acquaint visitors with the atom and nucleus and create a product that can be sold at the museum store after visitors leave your exhibit. All of these challenges …

Engineering Design Challenges In High School Stem Courses A Compilation Of Invited Position Papers, Daniel L. Householder

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Since its initial funding by the National Science Foundation in 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) has worked to understand the infusion of engineering design experiences into the high school setting. Over the years, an increasing number of educators and professional groups have participated in the expanding initiative seeking to acquaint all students with engineering design. While there is strong support for providing students with engineering design experiences in their high school STEM courses, the lack of consensus on purposes and strategies has become increasingly apparent as the work continues. Among the unsettled issues are the …

Challenges To Informed Peer Review Matching Algorithms, Matthew Verleger, Heidi Diefes-Dux, Matthew W. Ohland, Mary Besterfield-Sacre, Sean Brophy

Publications

Background Peer review is a beneficial pedagogical tool. Despite the abundance of data instructors often have about their students, most peer review matching is by simple random assignment. In fall 2008, a study was conducted to investigate the impact of an informed algorithmic assignment method, called Un‐weighted Overall Need (UON), in a course involving Model‐Eliciting Activities (MEAs). The algorithm showed no statistically significant impact on the MEA Final Response scores. A study was then conducted to examine the assumptions underlying the algorithm.

Purpose (Hypothesis) This research addressed the question: To what extent do the assumptions used in making informed peer …

Numerical Simulation Of Marina Storage Fires Using Measured Composite Fire And Thermal Properties, Lulu Sun, Aixi Zhou, Andrew Valente

Publications

Fire test data of boats in rack storage are needed to establish more specific requirements for fire control and protection for this type of vessel in high piled rack storage configurations. Since there is no current large or full scale fire test data available, we have embarked upon testing fire and thermal properties of boat material, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite, by using Differential Scanning Calorimetry, and Cone Calorimeter in order to determine the most effective method to provide sprinkler protection to an indoor boat storage facility. Fire and thermal properties of FRP were obtained from experiments and incorporated into …

Design Assessment: Consumer Reports Style, Todd R. Kelley

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The article analyzes a design assessment-based activity, in which students are asked to evaluate an existing technology through a Consumer Reports-style approach. According to H. Petroski, the exposure of students to several design examples is important to start learning the basic elements needed in the design process. It claims that the activity will enable students to sharpen their knowledge in several areas including identifying design constraints and criteria, training via study of open designs, and practicing engineering design methods for optimization. It suggests that these are important skills for creating the student's capacity to undertake bigger design activities.

Engineering Professional Development Design For Secondary School Teachers: A Multiple Case Study, Jenny L. Daugherty

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The effectiveness of teachers has been regarded as crucial to the success of standards-based reform (Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003). Research, particularly within science and mathematics, has underscored the need for professional development to help teachers understand (a) subject matter, (b) learners and learning, and (c) teaching methods (Loucks-Horsley, 1999). In addition to focusing on teacher professional development, national reform efforts have also emphasized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education (i.e., Rising Above the Gathering Storm, NRC, 2006). While substantial work has been conducted in mathematics and science, the efforts in technology and engineering education are much less …

Optimization, An Important Stage Of Engineering Design, Todd R. Kelley

Publications

The presents information on optimization, an important stage of engineering design. Criteria and design constraints are used in the optimization stage of the engineering design process to allow the designer to locate the optimal solution. Before initiating a prototype work, both analysis and optimization are done in designing a product. Optimization is done to create the best design relative to a set of prioritized criteria or constraints, including maximizing factors such as productivity, strength, reliability, longevity, efficiency and utilization.

Stem Education And Leadership: A Mathematics And Science Partnership Approach, Chris Merrill, Jenny Daugherty

Publications

The issue of attracting more young people to choose careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become critical for the United States. Recent studies by businesses, associations, and education have all agreed that the United States’ performance in the STEM disciplines have placed our nation in grave risk of relinquishing its competitive edge in the marketplace (e.g., Rising above the gathering storm, 2007). A Congressional Research Service (2006) report stated that, a “large majority of secondary students fail to reach proficiency in math and science, and many are taught by teachers lacking adequate subject matter knowledge” (Congressional Research …

Engineering Student Outcomes For Infusion Into Technological Literacy Programs: Grades 9-12, Craig Rhodes, Vincent Childress

Publications

In 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) secured funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to infuse engineering design into the schools through technology education. In order to reach this goal the researchers, in cooperation with NCETE, conducted a two phase study to identify outcomes for high-school students studying engineering. The first study (referred to as a Phase I) focused on students who intended to enter an engineering program after high school, answering the question:

What are the engineering student outcomes that prospective engineering students in grades 9 through 12 should know and be able to …

Simulation Scoring Systems, Raynald Bedard

Publications

Simulation scoring systems including software, methods of use, and related methods that provide for simulating and scoring of aircraft flight and other missions, particularly where such simulating is purely electronic and particularly where such scoring is objective and particularly where such scoring has a plurality of gradations, as to distinguish a plurality of skill levels.

Delivering Core Engineering Concepts To Secondary Level Students, Chris Merrill, Rodney L. Custer, Jenny Daugherty, Martin Westrick, Yong Zeng

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Within primary and secondary school technology education, engineering has been proposed as an avenue to bring about technological literacy (Lewis, 2005; Dearing & Daugherty, 2004). Different initiatives such as curriculum development projects (i.e., Project ProBase and Project Lead The Way) and National Science Foundation funded projects such as the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) have been developed to infuse engineering into primary and secondary education. For example, one key goal of the technology teacher education component of NCETE is to impact the focus and content of the technology education field at the secondary level (National Center for …

Resources - Thinking Small: Nano Small, David Stricker

Publications

The article provides information on the "Nanooze" magazine publication. It notes the significance of nanotechnology to the development of latest innovations that come from materials at smallest dimensions or at the nanoscale levels. It presents resources published within the publication that explore the emerging issues in nanotechnology.

Essential Concepts Of Engineering Design Curriculum In Secondary Technology Education, Robert G. Wicklein, Phillip C. Smith Jr., Soo Jung Kim

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Technology education is a field of study that seeks to promote technological literacy for all students. According to a recent study, in the United States, technology education is part of the state framework for 38 states, there are approximately 35,909 middle or high school technology teachers, and technology education is most frequently an elective course (Meade & Dugger, 2004). Indeed, students have an opportunity to learn about the processes and knowledge related to technology that are needed to solve problems and extend human capabilities through technology education. Wright and Lauda (1993) defined technology education as a program designed to help …

Examination Of Assessment Practices For Engineering Design Projects In Secondary Education (Part 2), Todd R. Kelley, Robert C. Wicklein

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There is a growing interest in the topic of engineering design for technology education. At the 2007 and 2008 International Technology Education Association (ITEA) conference held in San Antonio, over 80 presentations were related to engineering topics. Further evidence of the influence and impact of engineering design content comes from the large number of well documented curriculum projects designed to infuse engineering content into technology education such as Engineering by Design; Project ProBase; Project Lead the Way, and Introduction to Engineering (Dearing & Daugherty, 2004). Likewise, state curriculum standards exist for the teaching of engineering design in technology education (Massachusetts …

A Theoretical Framework To Guide The Re-Engineering Of Technology Education, Todd R. Kelley, Nadia Kellam

Publications

Before leaders in technology education are able to identify a theoretical framework upon which a curriculum is to stand, they must first grapple with two opposing views of the purpose of technology education – education for all learners or career/technical education. Dakers (2006) identifies two opposing philosophies that can serve as a framework for technology education, both inspired by ancient Greece, with the works of Descartes and the birth of positivism. Later reappearing in Pascal’s writings of the mathematical mind, and finally with Rousseau in the mid 1700s, the theoretical arguments of academic verses vocational were established in education, and …

Integrating Engineering Design Into Technology Education: Georgia's Perspective, Cameron Denson, Todd Kelley, Robert C. Wicklein

Publications

This descriptive research study reported on Georgia’s secondary level (grades 6-12) technology education programs capability to incorporate engineering concepts and/or engineering design into their curriculum. Participants were middle school and high school teachers in the state of Georgia who currently teach technology education. Participants completed a Likert-type online-survey which reported on technology education teacher’s (a) current instructional practices to teach engineering-based instruction, (b) curricular value placed on engineering-based instruction, and (c) instructional needs to teach engineering-based topics. General demographic information was collected from all participants. The results from the study aided in informing the educational community on the perspective of …

Teacher Challenges To Implement Engineering Design In Secondary Technology Education (Part 3), Todd R. Kelley, Robert C. Wicklein

Publications

This descriptive study examined the current status of technology education teacher practices with respect to engineering design. This article is the third article in a three-part series presenting the results of this study. The first article in the series titled Examination of Engineering Design Curriculum Content highlighted the research findings regarding engineering design curriculum content delivered by technology education teachers. The second article in the series titled Examination of Assessment Practices for Engineering Design Projects in Secondary Technology Education reported technology education teachers’ assessment practices when implementing engineering design projects in the classroom. The sample for this study was drawn …

Examination Of Assessment Practices For Engineering Design Projects In Secondary Education (Part 1), Todd R. Kelley, Robert C. Wicklein

Publications

The following descriptive study was designed to determine the national status of secondary technology education curriculum content and assessment practices as they relate to engineering design. The results of this study were divided into a three-part article series. Although this study focused on the larger construct of the national status of the infusion of engineering design into technology education, three separate sub-constructs emerged. The three sub-constructs were: a) status of engineering design curriculum content; b) the status of assessment practices of engineering design projects, and c) what selected challenges are identified by secondary technology educators in teaching engineering design.