Presenter: Cheryl Farmer
UTeachEngineering has developed a high school engineering design and problem-solving course. Engineer Your World introduces students to what engineering is, what engineers do, and the impact that engineers have on our world. During this session, the presenter provides an overview of the curriculum and teacher support programs, describes how these are evolving in response to student and teacher needs, and describes implementation grants that are available for high schools seeking to establish this innovative course.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Cheryl Farmer, Program Manager and Project Director, University of Texas at Austin
Cheryl Farmer is the founding program manager and project director of UTeachEngineering. Headquartered at The University of Texas at Austin, UTeachEngineering was the first engineering education program funded by the NSF’s Mathematics and Science Partnership program. Under Farmer’s direction, UTeachEngineering has created an innovative, research-based high school engineering design and problem-solving course, Engineer Your World; designed a professional development and instructional coaching model to support Engineer Your World teachers; and developed partnerships with national organizations to support the expansion of Engineer Your World opportunities for students across the nation. In addition, UTeachEngineering has designed and implemented a variety of professional programs for preservice and inservice teachers seeking to add engineering to their teaching portfolios. Prior to her role in launching UTeachEngineering, Farmer’s work in higher education included the development of multidisciplinary collaborations to create support programs for university freshmen and the creation of K–12/higher education partnerships to support the integration of science and mathematics instruction through engineering-inspired applications. Before entering higher education, she worked as a project manager in the environmental field. Farmer is a recipient of the Dodd Teaching Excellence Award from the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin. Her education includes graduate work in mathematics and business administration, and a BA in Mathematics and Liberal Arts, with highest honors, from The University of Texas at Austin.
