Janet L. Yowell

Standards-based engineering curricula as a vehicle for K-12 science and math integration

After 20 years of efforts to improve K-12 science and math education, concerns loom that todays students show limited inclination to choose engineering and technology futures. With little opportunity to learn how science and math skills translate into professionally useful knowledge, students do not make informed choices about their education options and close off future career pathways. To develop concrete connections for K-12 students between science/math and daily life, the University of Colorado at Boulders Integrated Teaching and Learning Programs K-12 outreach initiative developed a collection of standards-based, hands-on K-12 engineering curricula. These classroom-tested and affordable curricular units provide K-12 educators and engineering colleges with an effective and sustainable engineering resource, contributing to an improvement in technological literacy as well as expanding the pool of youngsters who imagine themselves pursuing a future in engineering and technology. This paper examines the development of K-12 engineering curricula as an effective vehicle for science and math integration and provides assessment results.

INCORPORATING BIOMECHANICAL RESEARCH TOPICS INTO K-12 CLASSROOM DESIGN PROJECTS TO BROADEN PARTICIPATION AND INCREASE ENGINEERING INTEREST

This paper describes a successful new biomechanical engineering curriculum created and implemented in two highly diverse local high schools by two graduate TEAMS (Tomorrow’s Engineers[[ellipsis]] creAte. iMagine. Succeed.) Fellows. In the semester-long curriculum, students create robotic surgical devices to diagnose and biopsy endometriosis, a pathology that afflicts roughly 5% of the adult female population. Curriculum focusing on anatomy, physiology, and tissue mechanics was also included to enhance the students’ understanding of the human body and its response to engineering materials. Focusing this course on cutting-edge, biomechanical research that explicitly and authentically illustrates how engineering benefits society resulted in increased enrollment in engineering by underrepresented populations. This paper also discusses personal reflections by the two graduate Fellows of the benefits gained and lessons learned during the design and implementation of this innovative high school curriculum.Copyright