Selected NSF projects of interest to K-12 engineering and technology education

The National Science Foundation (NSF) portfolio addressing K-12 engineering and technology education includes initiatives supported by a number of programs. This list includes projects identified by searching lists of awards in the respective NSF programs as well as projects suggested for inclusion by researchers, practitioners, and program officers. The list includes projects concerned with standards in technology education, teacher professional development, centers for learning and teaching, preparation of instructional materials, digital libraries, and technological activities in informal settings, as well as small numbers of projects in several other areas. This compilation provides current information on projects of interest to educators, instructional designers, consultants, and researchers who are concerned with the development, delivery, and evaluation of instruction to develop technological literacy, particularly in K-12 engineering and technology education. Projects are grouped under headings for each program providing primary funding. Within each program, the award numbers determine the order of listing, with the most recent awards at the beginning of the list. Each award entry includes the project title, NSF award number, funding program, amount of the award to date, starting and ending dates, the principal investigator (PI), the grantee institution, PI contact information, the url of the project Web site, a description of the project’s activities and accomplishments, relevant previous awards to the PI, products developed by the project, and information on the availability of those products

ACER Research Conference Proceedings (2016)

The focus of ACER’s Research Conference 2016 will be on what we are learning from research about ways of improving levels of STEM learning. Australia faces significant challenges in promoting improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in our schools. Research Conference 2016 will showcase research into what it will take to address these challenges, which include: the decline in Australian students’ mathematical and scientific ‘literacy’; the decline in STEM study in senior school; a shortage of highly qualified STEM subject teachers, and curriculum challenges. You will hear from researchers who work with teachers to engage students in studying STEM-related subjects, such as engineering in primary school, and science and maths at all levels. You will learn how to engage both girls and boys in STEM learning, through targeted teaching, activities like gaming, and applying learning from neuroscience

Producción científica sobre educación STEM en Latinoamérica: un estudio bibliométrico

This study aimed to identify the progress of scientific production on education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in Latin America. For this, a bibliometric analysis applied to the metadata of Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) publications was carried out. The results obtained allow to establish the temporal evolution of the publications identified from 2009 to October 2020.The type of documents, journals and their classification according to SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) and Journal Citation Report were also identified. (JCR), countries of publication, academic events, main authors and citations made. The bibliometric indicators identified have made it possible to demonstrate efforts to strengthen science and technology education in Latin America; However, the need to promote the production of specialized documents in these areas is also evoked, since when compared with other countries, it is still limited.Este estudio tuvo por objetivo identificar el progreso de la producción científica sobre educación en ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas de Latinoamérica. Para ello, se realizó un análisis bibliométrico aplicado a los metadatos de publicaciones de Scopus y Web of Science. Los resultados obtenidos permiten establecer la evolución temporal de las publicaciones identificadas desde el año 2009 hasta el mes de octubre del 2020. También se identificaron el tipo de documentos, revistas y su clasificación según el SCImago Journal & Country Rank y el Journal Citation Report, países de publicación, eventos académicos, principales autores y citaciones realizadas. Los indicadores bibliométricos registrados han permitido evidenciar los esfuerzos para fortalecer la educación científica y tecnológica en Latinoamérica; sin embargo, así mismo se evoca la necesidad de fomentar la producción de documentos especializados en estas áreas puesto que, al compararla con otros países, aún es reducida

High School Science Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effects of One-To-One Computing Devices on Student Engagement

The identified problem of practice for the present action research study centers on ways in which teacher-participants in a working class poor, rural, southern high school can use the iPads in daily science classroom activities to more effectively to engage these students in their classrooms and make the curriculum meaningful. Data in the form of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and teacher in-service seminars was collected over a six week period. The results of the present action research study indicate a need for more professional development for incorporating iPads into science coursework for these teacher-participants at RHS despite their claim that they are well prepared to use the iPads in their science curriculum and pedagogy. The Action Plan that resulted from the present study is in the form of professional development for teachers that focuses on how iPads can be used in a constructivist pedagogy to enable better equity of historically marginalized groups of students such as young women, people of color, rural people, and working class poor people to access higher level science courses and post-secondary careers. The Action Plan details tools for iPad use with project-based learning that lends itself to student discovery, the creation of products, and personal meaning-making

An Exploratory Quantitative Study of the Impact of STEM-Focused Middle Schools on Student Persistence and Performance in STEM

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) continue to be a major challenge for the United States (U.S.), as the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries in this area due to ongoing lack of individuals who are entering STEM fields and many who are entering STEM fields but lack the skills necessary to perform adequately in these roles. The problem related to this study involved the ongoing need to identify how well STEM education programs are addressing this need and increasing the number of students, especially underrepresented minorities, in following STEM career pathways and developing the knowledge and skills needed to persist in the field. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the persistence and performance of students who attended a STEM-focused middle school in North Carolina. The Social Cognitive Career Theory is the theoretical framework for this study and provides a foundation for how career decisions developed over time. This study was a quantitative, nonexperimental investigation of student data on high school student STEM persistence and academic performance in STEM-related courses throughout high school, after attending a STEM-focused middle school for their sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade years. The study results found that male students have twice the amount of STEM persistence on average than female students and that African-American students had the least amount of STEM persistence as all other subgroups of students, while the White subgroup had the greatest STEM persistence than all other subgroups. In addition, study results also found that female students STEM academic performance was comparable to that of male students, with females having slightly better performance in mathematics courses. Also, the White subgroup outperformed all other subgroups, while the African-American and Hispanic subgroups’ academic performance was the lowest. The standard multiple regression resulted in very low significance, however, between the gender and race/ethnicity of students and their STEM persistence and STEM academic performance. Implications of the study for school districts include ensuring STEM-focused middle schools have effective practices that significantly impact students’ interest, especially underrepresented subgroups of students, in STEM, explicitly identifying and acknowledging and identifying solutions for barriers that impact STEM persistence and academic performance, and ensuring the instructional practices employed by STEM teachers are equitable through the use of culturally and gender-responsive pedagogy. Overall, the study has the potential to assist districts with STEM-focused middle schools to improve data trends on students’ academic performance and persistence in STEM

A Case Study on the Efficacy of STEM Pedagogy in Central New York State: Examining STEM Engagement Gaps Affecting Outcomes for High School Seniors and Post-2007 Educational Leadership Interventions to Reinforce STEM Persistence with Implications of STEM Theoretic Frameworks on Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) has gained significant notoriety and momentum in recent years. STEM literacy highlights the vital connection between an educated STEM workforce and U.S. national prosperity and leadership. STEM educational and job placement goals have been a national priority for over the past 20 years. However, the STEM gap is widening—contributing to increasing STEM pipeline leakage and the social injustice milieu of a noncompetitive workforce— undermining efforts to create prosperity and sustain global leadership. The pace of STEM jobs filled lags the rate of technological advancement and the surges in skilled STEM labor demand. The aggregate disparity over time has troubling implications. The purpose of the study was to examine the STEM gap touchpoints for a Central New York high school during the transition period upon entering college or the workforce. A qualitative case study used Lesh’s translation model as a research framework. A semi-structured, focus group protocol was employed to gain a fresh perspective on the STEM gap problem and identify purposeful interventions. A major finding was the slow pace of adopting institutional reforms that replaces standardscompetency-based learning with progressive application- and outcome-based pedagogy. The study has implications for school districts, secondary schools, and higher education teacher preparedness programs in STEM pedagogy and curriculum development. A knowledge-based, progressive STEM theoretic framework with pedagogical scaffolding is conceptualized rooted in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The study presents recommendations for school districts, secondary education teachers, state education and legislative leaders, higher education institutions, and future research

Associations between Differentiation in Secondary Science Teaching Activities and Student Motivation to Pursue a Career in a Science Related Field

Numbers of secondary students, studying science to tertiary level in New Zealand, continues to decrease resulting in a lack of trained scientists to meet demands. This study has researched that a layered curriculum approach to differentiated learning is associated with student motivation to learn science at secondary school and self-selection of science careers. A multi- method approach was taken using a variety of instruments including surveys and interviews for the qualitative data

Bridgewater Magazine, Volume 25, Number 1, Spring 2015

Contents include articles about BSU’s history as the institution celebrates 175 years of academic excellence. Other features include articles about the Leading for Change Higher Education Diversity Consortium, Criminal Justice professor Wendy Wright, and National Science Foundation grants encouraging STEM students to pursue teaching careers. Also Bridgewater and Alumni News.https://vc.bridgew.edu/br_mag/1067/thumbnail.jp