Abrupt Shift or Caught Off Guard: A Systematic Review of K-12 Engineering and STEM Education’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the past hundred years, there have been a number of pandemics that have affected the entire world, including the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the 1957 H2N2 influenza pandemic, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. While responses to the most recent H1N1 influenza pandemic remained local, the COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand, resulted in long-term school closures all around the world, prompting a sudden shift to distant education by compelling K-12 educators and students to do so. The purpose of this study is to find out how K-12 education studies reacted to the sudden shift in supporting engineering and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education during the COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this goal, we conducted two separate searches in different databases and reviewed 25 articles. These articles were classified into four categories: (1) adaptation to online learning and the effects of a sudden shift, (2) implementing new strategies and tools, (3) STEM education in informal learning environments, and (4) teacher professional development. Our analysis indicated that engineering and STEM education research primarily focused on higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The limited number of studies examining K-12 engineering and STEM first investigated the adaptation to online learning by utilizing various resources that elementary and secondary teachers could easily access. Blended learning, flipped learning, and maker pedagogy were encouraged in K-12 engineering and STEM studies. Movies were the most commonly used tool in K-12 engineering and STEM studies. It is encouraging that studies also examined informal learning contexts (outreach initiatives, museums) and inequities in STEM and engineering education. However, the small number of studies in each category reminds us that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of the future of K-12 engineering education, especially considering that distant education may become a permanent part of K-12 education

The multidisciplinary International Virtual Design Studio (MIVDS)

The International Virtual Design Studio (MIVDS) that was originated between the Departments of Mechanical Engineering of Union College (UC) and the Middle East Technical University (METU) is now extended to include the Mechanical Engineering Department at Queen's University in Canada, the Computer Systems Engineering/Electrical Engineering Department at UC, and the Electrical/Electronics Engineering Department of METU, The design teams that participate in this project are composed of various combinations of mechanical, electrical, and computer systems engineering students, Design project topics are selected to cover mechatronic concepts that force students toward mechatronic design solutions, After gears of experience, it is now possible to draw some conclusions and report on the concept and implementation of the multidisciplinary IVDS (MIVDS) project. One important conclusion is that a strong combination of institutional support and multidisciplinary faculty commitment is required for project initiation. Success in MIVDS is highly dependent on well-defined project specifications, a single source of project information, incentives for students to participate, travel to participating countries, a balanced team structure, common design and productivity tools, 24-hour access to MIVDS facilities, and participation by all students in the manufacturing phase of the project