Deborah Hecht

WISEngineering: Supporting precollege engineering design and mathematical understanding

Introducing engineering into precollege classroom settings has the potential to facilitate learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts and to increase interest in STEM careers. Successful engineering design projects in secondary schools require extensive support for both teachers and students. Computer-based learning environments can support both teachers and students to implement and learn from engineering design projects. However, there is a dearth of empirical research on how engineering approaches can augment learning in authentic K-12 settings. This paper presents research on the development and pilot testing of WISEngineering, a new web-based engineering design learning environment. Three middle school units were developed using a knowledge integration learning perspective and a scaffolded, informed engineering approach with the goal of improving understanding of standards-based mathematical concepts and engineering ideas. Seventh grade math students from two teachers in a socioeconomically diverse and low-performing district participated in three WISEngineering units over the course of a semester. Students significantly improved their mathematical scores from pretest to posttest for all three projects and on state standardized tests. Student, teacher, and administrator interviews reveal that WISEngineering projects promoted collaboration, tolerance, and development of pro-social skills among at-risk youth. Results demonstrate that informed engineering design projects facilitated through the WISEngineering computer-based environment can help students learn Common Core mathematical concepts and principles. Additionally, results suggest that WISEngineering projects can be particularly beneficial for at-risk and diverse student populations.

Investigating the Construct Validity of Scores from a Measure of Student Perceptions about Mathematics Classroom Activities Using Multidimensional Scaling

Interest in student affective and motivational perceptions about learning mathematics is growing. An instrument, the Mathematics Assessment Questionnaire, has been developed for use by classroom teachers to assess these perceptions. Research suggests that teachers and students characterize classrooms by activity settings, and items in the Mathematics Assessment Questionnaire use one of three activities: teacher whole-class instruction, student problem-solving groups, and homework. The present study explores the construct validity of scores of 1,505 junior high school students using three-way multidimensional scaling analyses. Findings are generally supportive of validity. Implications of findings are discussed.