Report: K-12 Engineering Teachers Lack Support
Posted on February 6th, 2020 by Mary Lord
A new consensus report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds PreK-12 teachers of engineering lack preparation, support, and professional development. (Links to PD options and other resources included at end of this post.)
Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Report: K-12 Engineering Teachers Lack Support
Tags: American Society for Engineering Education, and Medicine, Building Capacity for Teaching Engineering in K-12 Education, Education Policy, Engineering, National Academies of Sciences, Professional Development, Research on Learning, STEM education, teacher preparation, Teacher Training
Introduce a girl to engineering. Make slime and other cool stuff. National Engineers Week takes place Feb. 16 to 22 and this year’s theme – Pioneers of Progress – marks 30 years of celebrating the diversity of engineers and their work on the frontiers of discovery. Check out local events, downloadable activities, and other ideas for bringing EWeek 2020 to your classroom.
The Trustey Family STEM Teaching Fellows program at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education provides top-tier professional development and continual feedback to teachers in grades 5 to 8 over the course of two years. The program, which covers travel, meals, and lodging for a two-week summer institutes on campus and January summit, includes a $6,000 stipend. Apply by Feb. 21, 2020.
Dazzle Box, a sturdy, reusable airdrop container for use in disaster relief designed by North Dakota State University mechanical engineering students, took top prize at the inaugural 3M Disruptive Design Challenge in 2018.
A classic engineering challenge involves designing and building devices that can deliver necessary goods to “Toxic Island,” an island that has been quarantined by the World Health Organization due to a nasty outbreak of disease. Working within specific constraints, including limited materials, middle school students follow the engineering design process to design, test, and improve a device that can deliver “medicine” and other vital supplies accurately and quickly without touching either the water or island.
Nominate an outstanding K-6 mathematics, science, or computer science teacher for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Nominations are due March 1, 2020, with applications due May 1.
In this lesson from Newton’s Apple, students learn about the engineering behind air bags, including the concepts of momentum and force. They then conduct a related experiment, cushioning the “crash” of a raw egg.
