This work in progress paper reports on the process of the modification and reliability and validity testing of the Engineering Concept Assessment (ECA; Daugherty, Custer, Brockway, & Spake, 2012) for eighth grade (ECA-M8). The purpose is for the research team to obtain feedback on the modification process prior to implementing the measure to approximately 1800 students across 11 middle schools in during the third and final year of the larger study. The process of the development of the ECA-M8 is outlined and the preliminary item analysis results are reported for the multiple-choice portion of the assessment.
Dr. Kristin Koskey is an Associate Professor in the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education at The University of Akron. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Measurement and M.E. in Educational Psychology. Dr. Koskey teaches courses in evaluation, assessment, research design, and statistics. She also works as a psychometric consultant and serves on the Editorial Board for the journal of Psychological Assessment. Her work is published in leading journals such as Studies in Educational Evaluation, Journal of Applied Measurement, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Journal of Experimental Education, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, and Educational and Psychological Measurement. Further, she has authored book chapters on Norming and Scaling for Automated Essay Scoring and Data-driven STEM Assessment. Dr. Koskey has secured grant funding from the Ohio Department of Education and National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as contributed to the evaluations on grants funded by the ODE, U.S. Department of State, and NSF.
Dr. Nicholas G. Garafolo is a researcher in the broad area of thermo-fluids and aerospace, with an emphasis in advanced aerospace seals, near-hermetic fluid flows, and turbomachinery modal analysis. Dr. Garafolo currently holds a position as Assistant Professor at The University of Akron. Supporting the dissemination of his research activities, Dr. Garafolo has six journal manuscripts, over 30 conference papers and presentations, and $868,647 of total project funding. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Garafolo worked as a federal contractor, under the umbrella of a multi-million dollar contract, in space flight hardware research and development to NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Garafolo was instrumental in developing a synergistic approach in the research and component modeling of elastomeric space seals for manned spaceflight; an asset to NASA and the development of advanced aerospace seals for the next generation of manned spacecraft. The unique problem necessitated a grasp of both fluid dynamics and material science, as well as experimental and computational analysis. As a DAGSI/Air Force Research Laboratory Ohio Student-Faculty Fellow, Dr. Garafolo gained experimental knowledge in structural dynamics of turbomachinery. In particular, his research on engine order excitation yielded insight into generating high cycle fatigue of turbomachinery using acoustic excitation.
Dr. Nidaa Makki is an Associate Professor in the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education at The University of Akron, in the department in Curricular and Instructional Studies. Her work focuses on STEM curriculum integration and science inquiry practices in middle and high school. She is a co-PI on an NSF funded project to investigate the impact of integrating engineering on middle school students’ interest and engagement in STEM. She has also received funding to conduct teacher professional development in the areas of engineering education, problem based learning and inquiry instruction.
Dr. Wondimu Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education at the University of Akron. He received his Ph.D. from University of Groningen, The Netherlands. His research focuses on motivation and emotions in education, particularly in STEM subjects.
Donald P. Visco, Jr. is the interim Dean in the College of Engineering at The University of Akron and Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.
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