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Session Description

Ticketed event: $30.00
Do you have a practitioner curriculum based on your engineering research that addresses the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for primary and secondary educator use? Through this workshop, discover how to publish your research-based content in the free, online TeachEngineering digital library to inspire teachers to teach and students to explore real-world applications of STEM topics through hands-on, minds-on engineering design.

With the adoption of the engineering-rich NGSS standards, educator access to relevant, research-based material that addresses the standards is growing rapidly. TeachEngineering is a free resource for practitioners and an easily accessible publishing venue for engineering professionals who have developed curricular content—possibly as part of funded research grants. The collection houses more than 1,400 classroom-tested K-12 engineering lessons and activities that explore science and math in an age-appropriate, design-focused fashion. All TeachEngineering lessons and hands-on activities are aligned to current STEM standards, including the Common Core Math and NGSS standards, making it readily available for classroom use.

Based on the premises that understanding the built world around us is a component of basic literacy, and that engineering design is well suited for integrating STEM subjects in K-12 settings, the TeachEngineering curricular resources incorporate current research in engineering and technology to enhance the learning of science and mathematics fundamentals. The TeachEngineering curricula have been developed by NSF-RET and GK-12 grantees at engineering colleges across the country, offering research-based curricula that promote STEM education through engineering exploration and design.

In this workshop, learn how to navigate the TeachEngineering collection, participate in an engineering design activity that demonstrates how you can effectively teach engineering design in your own engineering education/outreach events, and learn how to publish your own original work in this dynamic and ever-growing curricular collection. Also, the presenters will discuss opportunities available to participate in research on improvements to the digital library. You will leave the workshop as a new member of the expanding community of TeachEngineering authors and practitioners committed to giving back to K-12 schools through engaging engineering design to help build engineering habits of mind and 21st century skills in girls and boys.

Target ASEE Audience:
Authors of research-based engineering curricula and others who are already engaging (or wondering how to begin engaging) K-12 teachers and youth in engineering education through NGSS-aligned, hands-on, design-focused curricula.

Description and Importance of Proposed Workshop:
The TeachEngineering Digital Library employs engineering habits of mind and design to integrate science and math with the built world, connecting real-life engineering with subjects and concepts taught in elementary through high school. The online, hands-on TeachEngineering curricula are inexpensive to implement and are designed to make science and math come alive.

TeachEngineering is a long-term collaborative dissemination and sustainability project between faculty, students, and teachers from dozens of NSF-funded GK-12 and RET engineering education projects, each associated in practice with local school district partners. The TeachEngineering collection simultaneously functions as a dissemination venue for research-based engineering curricula and is used by hundreds of thousands of teachers annually.

More importantly, in today’s changing educational climate, TeachEngineering is a resource for P-12 educators challenged to demonstrate student learning associated with new science and math standards. TeachEngineering supports teachers in their need for standards-based curricula through its timely 2014 alignment of curriculum to the Common Core Math (CCMS) and Next Generation Science (NGSS) Standards.

Beyond exploring the possibilities presented through the TeachEngineering digital library, workshop participants will actively engage in a hands-on engineering activity to personally experience the format and delivery of engineering in the K-12 classroom to better understand how engineering design is a relevant approach to the integrated learning of science, math, and the built world.

To keep the growing collection relevant, the TeachEngineering team researches the effectiveness and usability of the infrastructure through analysis of usage data and patterns. TeachEngineering is NGSS- and CCMS-focused and has developed a new type of distilled curriculum devoted to informal learning. This workshop will provide participants an avenue to explore the site, try out a popular engineering activity, and learn how to publish and disseminate their own lessons and activities in the collection. The curricular publishing process will be exposed to workshop participants, with plenty of time for questions.

Relevant Workshop Facilitation Team Expertise:
The TeachEngineering development team assembled for this workshop provides expertise in the areas of engineering education; curriculum development; K-12 STEM learning and partnerships; and website development, maintenance, and sustainability. Presenter Sullivan leads the project. Presenters Zarske and Yowell have created, reviewed, and observed hundreds of the activities being taught in K-12 classrooms, while Presenter Reitsma developed the architectural infrastructure and continues to research, monitor, and improve its performance.

Speakers

1. Dr. Malinda S Zarske

   University of Colorado Boulder

   Dr. Malinda S. Zarske is the director of K-12 Engineering Education at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. A former high school and middle school science and math teacher, she has advanced degrees in teaching secondary science from the Johns Hopkins University and in civil engineering from CU-Boulder. She is also a first-year Engineering Projects instructor, faculty advisor for SWE, and on the development team for the TeachEngineering digital library. Her primary research interests are on student identity, recruitment, and retention in K-12 and undergraduate engineering.

2. Jacquelyn Sullivan

   University of Colorado, Boulder

   Jacquelyn F. Sullivan is founding co-director of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, and associate dean for inclusive excellence at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. She received her Ph.D. in environmental health physics and toxicology from Purdue University and held leadership positions in the energy and software industries for thirteen years. She founded and leads CU’s extensive K-12 engineering initiative and the BOLD Center, and spearheaded the Engineering GoldShirt Program. She led the founding of the ASEE K-12 Division in 2004, was awarded ASEE’s 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award, and was conferred as an ASEE fellow member in 2011. She was awarded NAE’s 2008 Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education.

3. Ms. Janet Yowell

   University of Colorado Boulder

   Janet serves as the Associate Director of K-12 Engineering Education for the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Involved since 2000, she collaborates on the College’s ambitious K-12 engineering initiatives, including their capacity-building and school partnership programs. She coordinates the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program’s NSF-funded TEAMS Program (Tomorrow’s Engineers… creAte. iMagine. Succeed.) which engages more than 2,200 K-12 students in engineering throughout the academic year and summer months. She is also a contributing curriculum writer and editor for the TeachEngineering digital library, also an NSF-funded project.
   Janet holds a B.A. in Communication from CU-Boulder and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Information and Learning Technology at CU-Denver.

4. Dr. Rene F Reitsma

   Oregon State University

   TBA