Preparing Engineers to Educate Now

Tufts University, Medford MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Tufts University Noyce capacity building project aims to bolster Tufts' newly instituted Master of Arts in Teaching Engineering program that prepares engineers as grades 5-12 engineering teachers. The project team composed of faculty from Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Education recognizes the need for a multi-faceted approach: 1. Attract and recruit engineering undergraduates and practicing professionals to become engineering teachers, 2. Build partnerships with local schools and engineering teachers to serve as M.A.T. in Engineering candidates cooperating teachers, and 3. Effectively prepare M.A.T. in Engineering candidates through innovative coursework, engineering faculty advisors, and other programmatic supports. The approach includes new course development where engineering faculty work with education faculty to incorporate education themes and ideas in graduate level engineering content courses and year-round programming with all stakeholders (undergraduate engineering students, M.A.T. candidates and graduates, cooperating in-service teachers, and engineering and education faculty). The intellectual merit of the project rests upon the pioneering endeavor of preparing engineers and K-12 engineering teachers. Integrating engineering into the K-12 classroom has become a popular notion and the Prepare Engineers to Educate Now project looks to address one of the major hurdles in making this happen more broadly creating highly qualified engineering teachers. The broader impacts rest on the communities served by Tufts and its graduates, but the goal is to inform other institutions through the evaluation of the project includes measuring the effectiveness of recruiting strategies, partnership strategies, and courses in developing teachers' knowledge and practices.