Planting the Seeds of Change: K-12 Engineering Education

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Planting the Seeds of ChangeK-12 Engineering
Education

• Dr. Yvonne M. Spicer, Vice President
• Advocacy and Educational Partnerships
• National Center for Technological Literacy
• Museum of Science, Boston, MA (USA)

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The Museum of Sciencesoaring to new heights!!
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National Center for Technological Literacy

• Mission of the Museum of Science, Boston
  Leverage the Museums unique position as a
  science and technology center, its expertise in
  working with students, educators and the public,
  and its spirit of fun education to promote
  technological literacy globally among people of
  all ages.
• Create Educational Products
• Conduct Research
• Assist Others through Advocacy and Outreach

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Vision 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 nations next generation of innovators,
inventors, and engineers.
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Is There A Crisis in the U.S. and Around the
Globe?
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A National Governors Agenda

• Call to Action for STEM educationan imperative
• Governors making a commitment to improving the
  quality of STEM education nationwide
• Competitive grant funding for states to
  implement innovative STEM programs

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Countries with Modern K-12 Engineering Education
Programs
Finland
Russia
Scotland
Ireland
United Kingdom
Singapore
China
Spain
Israel
Botswana
Australia
Chile
South Africa
New Zealand
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2003 U.S. Ranked 24th out of 29 OECD Countries
in Mathematics
Source Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data
available at http//www.oecd.org/
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NCTLs Formal Education Initiatives
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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

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Curriculum Professional Development
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The NCTL Approach
Standards
Research
Curriculum
Assessment
Instruction
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Elementary School Curriculum Planting
the Seed Early

• Engineering is Elementary curricular program
• Integrates engineering into science, mathematics,
  and other subjects
• Series of childrens 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

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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/build
  ingmath

Photo courtesy of Andrew Brilliant
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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

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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

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Opening the GatewayEngaging the Entire Village

• Three-year grant funded project that from IMLS
  supports work of leadership teams from 53 school
  districts in Massachusetts
• Purpose is to share ideas for how to implement
  the Technology/Engineering standards in
  Massachusetts for ALL STUDENTS
• Model for other states to implement

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Caring for All the SeedsDiversity in K-12
Engineering Education

• Bridging the Gap

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Defining Diversity

• Females 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.

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STEM Degrees Awarded, 1970-2003
Source Congressional Research Service The
Library of Congress, June 2006
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Our National Impact
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But we are moving across the globe
United Kingdom
Thailand
Singapore
Greece
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Thank You!!Please contact me atyspicer_at_mos.org
617-589-3101

• Visit our website at www.nctl.org