University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

K-12 Engineering: Preparing Tomorrow’s

Engineers

Presented by: Malinda Zarske

April 3, 2011

Integrated teaching and Learning Program

University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

K-12 ENGINEERING OVERVIEW

Why K-12 Engineering? What are the benefits for K-12 Students? National level K-12 Engineering efforts Resources for K-12 Engineering K-12 Engineering at CU Boulder

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

WHY K-12 ENGINEERING?

Promote and strengthen a multidisciplinary, hands-on, engineering learning environment

Integrate engineering theory with practice Increase and diversify the engineering

pipeline Develop students’ engineering skills,

including leadership, entrepreneurship and communication skills

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR K-12 STUDENTS?

Engineering education advances learning Project-based learning has been shown to

enhance student understanding of math and science concepts by making them relevant and more enjoyable

Engineering education bridges classroom lessons to real-world experiences Concrete and applicable engineering

concepts connect what is learned in school with what goes on in the outside world

The impact on students is real

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

NATIONAL LEVEL EFFORT Engineering in K-12 Education book release,

September 2009 Recommends long term research, teacher preparation,

formal credentialing, focus on best implementations Engineering Education for Innovation Act, U.S.

Congress, February 2010 50 participants to meeting in NC on Beginning the

Dialogue in K-12, May 2010 #1 issue was define core ideas,

find resources, teacher preparation Several states have incorporated

engineering into their science standards

Several hundred K-12 engineering initiatives nationwide

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ASEE K-12 DIVISION

The K-12 Division membership is growing rapidly; currently we have 761 paying members; 12th largest division out of 50 divisions

The K-12 Division has 40% women

131 final papers at June 2011 conference

Almost 20 percent of articles in the JEE were K-12 practice-related over the past four years

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ONLINE RESOURCES

TeachEngineering Digital Library ASEE Engineering Go For It! Engineer Your Life

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

Driven by four NSF GK-12 engineering grants and a US Department of Ed FIPSE grant

An NSF NSDL collection More than a “website”

• Consistent look & feel • Database-driven• Smart search engine for

multiple and flexible searches• Standards based for all 50 states

Promotes hands-on engineering Free use

http://www.teachengineering.org/

TeachEngineering DIGITAL LIBRARY

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

TeachEngineering USAGE AND ACTIVITIES

Usage continues to rise during 2010

Usage continues to rise during 2011 During February, TE received over 161,588

“clean and functional” hits from 59,227 different visitors (unique IP addresses)

Most users from the US, then Great Britain, Canada, and India.

Aerospace: 5 curricular units, 35 lessons,

35 hands-on activities Structures:

15 curricular units, 95 lessons, 125 hands-on activities

Hits are considered “clean” when they do not originate from a robot, spider or crawler, from TeachEngineering developers or testers or from special events such as training and experimentation. “Functional” hits are requests for fully-functional web pages, not including requests for isolated images.

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

eGFI

American Society of Engineering Education Includes interactive website, e-magazine,

e-newsletters, and posters

http://egfi-k12.org/

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ENGINEER YOUR LIFE

Project involving WGBH Educational Foundation, the National Academy of Engineering in partnership with the Extraordinary Women Engineers Coalition, The National Science Foundation, Northrop Grumman Foundation, Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr and the United Engineering Foundation (ASCE, ASME, AIChE, IEEE, AIME)

http://www.engineeryourlife.org/

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ENGINEER YOUR LIFE

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

EFFORTS AT CU BOULDER

ITL K-12 Engineering Program Support from the Integrated Teaching and

Learning Program Engineer Your Life messaging

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ITL PROGRAM K-12 ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Largest K-12 engineering program in nation

Tomorrow's Engineers... creAte. iMagine. Succeed.

(TEAMS)

Eight graduate Fellows teach ~1,800 grades 3-12

students in 66 classrooms weekly

11 u.grad Fellows lead 8 TEAMS Clubs at 5 schools

Denver School of Science and Technology

Teach trimester-long grades 9-11 Creative

Engineering electives

Summer K-12 engineering design camps

Summer teacher professional development

workshops

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

ITL Program & Laboratory

Serves 4,200+ students annually - all majorsSupports 65 courses and 88 facultyInviting places — design studios, team work

areas, active learning spaces, manufacturing & electronics fabrication centers

K-12 courses based on successful ITL courses

http://itll.colorado.edu/

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

University of Colorado at Boulder – Integrated Teaching and Learning Program

Thank you!Industry partners interested in impacting and influencing prospective students always welcome!

Insanity is “doing what you’ve always done and expecting different results.”

— Albert Einstein

Mindy Zarskemzarske@colorado.edu