planting the seeds of change: k-12 engineering education dr. yvonne m. spicer, vice president...
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Planting the Seeds of Change:K-12 Engineering Education
Dr. Yvonne M. Spicer, Vice PresidentAdvocacy and Educational Partnerships
National Center for Technological Literacy®Museum of Science, Boston, MA (USA)
The Museum of ScienceThe Museum of Science™™soaring to new heights!!soaring to new heights!!
National Center for Technological Literacy®
Mission of the Museum of Science, Boston:Mission of the Museum of Science, Boston: Leverage the Museum’s unique position as a Leverage the Museum’s unique position as a science and technology center, its expertise in science and technology center, its expertise in working with students, educators and the public, working with students, educators and the public, and its spirit of fun education to promote and its spirit of fun education to promote technological literacy globally among people of all technological literacy globally among people of all ages.ages.
1.1.Create Educational ProductsCreate Educational Products
2.2.Conduct ResearchConduct Research
3.3.Assist Others through Advocacy and OutreachAssist Others through Advocacy and Outreach
Vision for the NCTLVision for the NCTL
“Our goal is to foster appreciation and understanding of the human-made world by infusing technology and engineering into K-12 schools and museums nationwide. By applying science and mathematics as well as engineering processes, children and adults will solve real world problems and learn about the creation and implications of technologies. We aim to inspire our nation’s next generation of innovators, inventors, and engineers.”
Is There A Crisis in the U.S. and Around the Globe?
A National Governors Agenda
• Call to Action for STEM education—an imperative
• Governors making a commitment to improving the quality of STEM education nationwide
• Competitive grant funding for states to implement innovative STEM programs
Countries with Modern K-12 Engineering Education Programs
United Kingdom
Israel
New Zealand
South Africa
Botswana
Australia
Russia
Singapore
Chile
Spain
Finland
Scotland Ireland
China
2003: U.S. Ranked 24th out of 29 OECD Countries in Mathematics
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Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data available at http://www.oecd.org/
NCTL’s Formal Education Initiatives
Technology and Engineering Curriculum (TEC) Review
• Collected over 450 curricular resources from around the world
• Created and applied an assessment methodology for K-12 peer review
• Progress: Updated with 150 curricula reviewed including 20 new items this year.
• www.mos.org/tec
Curriculum & Professional Development
The NCTL Approach
Standards
Assessment
Instruction
CurriculumResearch
Elementary School Curriculum Planting the Seed Early
• Engineering is Elementary curricular program– Integrates engineering into science, mathematics, and other
subjects– Series of children’s illustrated storybooks
• Each story features a child in a different country• Solves a practical problem using engineering • Has an adult mentor providing support• 14 books have been completed, with 20 planned• On line resources at: www.mos.org/eie
Middle School Nurturing the Seeds
Building Math• The goals of the middle school
project are for all students to: – enhance algebraic reasoning
and learn how technologies are developed and the impact that technology has on their lives; and
– improve their abilities to use the engineering design process
– Available at Walch Publishing: www.walch.com/buildingmath
Photo courtesy of Andrew Brilliant
High School Curriculum Sowing the Seeds
• NCTL created a full-year course: Engineering the Future:
Science, Technology and the Design Process
• Introductory course designed for first year high school students
• Standards based, teacher tested curriculum
• On-line Professional Development and direct workshops
• Available at: www.keypress.com/etf
Professional Development
• The NCTL approach is to “train the trainer” model
• Currently we are working with teacher educators at:– Universities, collaboratives and
teacher preparation programs– Museums and Science
Centers– State science/technology
education networks
• We are developing support documents including professional development handbooks and other resources
Opening the GatewayEngaging the Entire Village
Three-year grant funded Three-year grant funded project that from IMLS project that from IMLS supports work of leadership supports work of leadership teams from 53 school teams from 53 school districts in Massachusettsdistricts in Massachusetts
Purpose is to share ideas Purpose is to share ideas for how to implement the for how to implement the Technology/Engineering Technology/Engineering standards in Massachusetts standards in Massachusetts for ALL STUDENTSfor ALL STUDENTS
Model for other states to Model for other states to implementimplement
Caring for All the Seeds:Diversity in K-12
Engineering EducationBridging the Gap
Defining DiversityFemales and underrepresented groups • Children of color represent 39 percent of all public school students in the
U.S. in K-12 ;44 percent were Hispanic which is 17 percent of total enrollment in 2000 (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003).
• Additionally, between 1972 and 2000, the percentage of Hispanic students in public schools increased 11 percentage points and the overall percentage of minority students increased 17 percentage points.
Socioeconomic Status• On the 2005 NAEP assessments of student achievement based on U.S.
school curricula in mathematics and science, achievement gaps between groups of students based on race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status continued in both subjects and at most grade levels.
• Black and Hispanic students were significantly more likely than white students to score below basic on math and science at all levels.
Source: Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress, June 2006
STEM Degrees Awarded, 1970-2003
Our National Impact
But we are moving across the globe…
United Kingdom
Thailand
Singapore
Greece
Canada
Thank You!!Please contact me at:
Visit our website at: www.nctl.org