Perceptions of District Curriculum Administrators Regarding K-12 Engineering Education

The state of Nebraska recently adopted and implemented a set of Science standards that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards which include engineering practices such as engineering design and the use of technology. Curriculum administrators throughout the state are responsible for the implementation of these standards including training for engineering teaching and learning. This exploratory study investigated curriculum administrators’ (n = 43) perceptions of Engineering Education in four areas: Importance of Engineering Education, District Familiarity with Engineering Education, Characteristics of Engineering, and Barriers to Integrating Engineering Education. This exploratory study used one instrument to collect data: a modified Design, Engineering, and Technology (DET) Survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings of this study revealed curriculum administrators express that the Science curriculum is an effective means to deliver engineering education and that engineering education content in pre-service teacher education programs and in-service teacher professional development to foster engineering education familiarity and best practices should be improved

Perceptions of School District Curriculum Administrators Regarding K-12 Engineering Education

The state of Nebraska recently adopted and implemented a set of Science standards that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards which include engineering practices such as engineering design and the use of technology. Curriculum administrators throughout the state are responsible for the implementation of these standards including training for engineering teaching and learning. This exploratory study investigated curriculum administrators’ (n = 43) perceptions of Engineering Education in four areas: Importance of Engineering Education, District Familiarity with Engineering Education, Characteristics of Engineering, and Barriers to Integrating Engineering Education. This exploratory study used one instrument to collect data: a modified Design, Engineering, and Technology (DET) Survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings of this study revealed curriculum administrators express that the Science curriculum is an effective means to deliver engineering education and that engineering education content in pre-service teacher education programs and in-service teacher professional development to foster engineering education familiarity and best practices should be improved

Engineering Education in Nebraska Schools

Engineering education in Nebraska schools would benefit state and national goals to educate and equip students with the critical thinking skills necessary to support, and advance, ever-growing technology-based careers. The major industries of any state rely on a knowledgeable and skilled workforce. Engineering education, as engineering itself, is the interdisciplinary use of science, mathematics, and technology. Engineering education can fully and effectively utilize the collaboration of industry and education for the purpose of developing productive citizens through a defined and supported set of standards for all students in Nebraska schools

Exploring Science and Engineering Practices in Children’s Picture Books

This article features an annotated bibliography of children’s books that illustrate engineering concepts tied to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices for K-2 students (National Science Teaching Association -NSTA, n.d., see Appendix A) and NGSS K-2 Engineering Design performance expectations (NSTA, n.d., see Appendix B). The selected children’s books encourage discussion and model the process of inquiry and problem solving that may inspire young children to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) questions of their own

Absolute sets of rigid local systems

The absolute sets of local systems on a smooth complex algebraic variety are the subject of a conjecture of N. Budur and B. Wang based on an analogy with special subvarieties of Shimura varieties. An absolute set should be the higher-dimensional generalization of a local system of geometric origin. We show that the conjecture for absolute sets of simple cohomologically rigid local systems reduces to the zero-dimensional case, that is, to Simpson's conjecture that every such local system with quasi-unipotent monodromy at infinity and determinant is of geometric origin. In particular, the conjecture holds for this type of absolute sets if the variety is a curve or if the rank is two.Comment: 33 pages, v2: references adde

Quantitative research in practice: applying a differential scale questionnaire to literature

Literary scholarship has traditionally relied on interpretative studies. Grounded on the theoretical bases of the Empirical Study of Literature, this paper moves away from such tradition by adopting an empirical perspective. Its purpose is to report on the design of a questionnaire and how semantic differentials were created so as to elicit responses from readers from two different cultures, namely, Ukraine and Brazil. The study described in this paper enables researchers to look into readers‟ reactions to a given poem from a collective viewpoint