Educator Capacity Building in PreK-12 Engineering Education

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project addresses the US education system's capacity to respond to the potential growth in demand for PreK-12 educator expertise related to engineering. Although the situation is gradually changing at the PreK-12 level, relative to the other STEM subjects, at the PreK-12 level, engineering is still very much outside the mainstream. This is reflected in the scant availability of pre-service engineering teacher preparation programs, the dearth of high-quality student assessments in engineering, the lack of mechanisms for recognizing educator skill in engineering education, and the absence of clear professional pathways for PreK-12 engineering educators who demonstrate proficiency. The project will consider how the current system might be adapted to better support the development and employment of precollege engineering educators. The project is timely given a number of recent developments, including the 2013 publication of the Next Generation Science Standards, which call on science teachers to connect science concepts and practices to those in engineering; the expected fall 2015 release of results of the first-ever national assessment of Technology and Engineering Literacy; the College Board's plan to develop an AP Advanced Placement course in Eengineering course; and increasing interest in more integrated forms of K-12 STEM education in both formal and informal (e.g., the Maker Movement) environments. The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. The 18-month project will be overseen by a diverse committee of experts appointed by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The committee will conduct a variety of data-gathering activities, including an in-depth review of the relevant literature; a landscape scan of existing pre- and in-service programs for PreK-12 engineering educators; and two topical workshops. This information will allow the committee to address the project's four objectives: - Determine what is known from the published literature about the preparation of PreK-12 educators to teach about engineering, identifying areas of promising practice as well as areas in need of further research; - Catalog existing US pre-service and in-service programs that support the preparation and professional development of PreK-12 engineering educators, describing the nature (e.g., curriculum) and history of the programs and, if known, the number of educators reached and the evidence for impact (e.g., on individual teaching practice and the growth of PreK-12 engineering education locally, regionally, or nationally); - Review existing formal (e.g., state certification) and informal (e.g., "badging") mechanisms that are being or might be used to recognize expertise and support career pathway options for PreK-12 teachers of engineering, noting practical and policy impediments and how they might be addressed; and - Explore the potential for the post-secondary education community, including but not limited to four-year engineering and engineering technology programs, to take a more active role in the preparation of teachers of PreK-12 engineering. At the conclusion of the project, the committee will publish a report summarizing its findings and making recommendations for how the current education system might be adapted to better support the development and employment of precollege engineering educators.