Presenters: Tamara Moore, Aran Glancy, Forster Ntow, and Kristina Tank
In this session, the Framework for a Quality K–12 Engineering Education is discussed as a means to evaluate standards and curricula. Curricula based on this framework are also presented. This session provides a more complete picture of the current status of K–12 engineering education and a better understanding of the ways in which teachers and schools implement engineering and engineering design in their classrooms.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Tamara Moore, Executive Co-Director of the STEM Education Center and Associate Professor of Mathematics/Engineering Education, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Tamara Moore’s research focuses on the creation and implementation of engaging and interactive learning experiences for students through curriculum innovation. She is currently working on three NSF-supported projects. The goal of the CAREER: Implementing K–12 Engineering Standards through STEM Integration project is to implement K–12 engineering standards through STEM integration by understanding and identifying the ways in which teachers and schools implement engineering and engineering design in their classrooms. The goals of the Modeling: Elicitation, Development, and Integration & Assessment (MEDIA) project are to research the development and perception of model-eliciting activities (MEAs); research the implementation of MEAs within the electrical and computer engineering domain and within all domains that heavily use thermodynamic theories; and rewrite MEAs for application in K–12 settings. The Engineering to Transform the Education of Analysis, Measurement, and Science (EngrTEAMS) project will provide summer professional development and curriculum writing workshops to allow teachers to design curriculum units focused on science concepts, meaningful data analysis, and measurement. Moore is the co-chair of Focus on Engineering, Writing Team for the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Position Paper for the Next Generation Science Standards. She was the 2006 Sloan New Faculty Fellow for the Frontiers in Education Conference in San Diego, Calif. She was also a former high school mathematics teacher. Moore received her PhD and MEd in Engineering Education and Mathematics Education, respectively, from Purdue University. She also holds a BS in Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Engineering from Purdue University.
Aran Glancy, Graduate Research Assistant, STEM Education Center, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Aran Glancy is currently the lead graduate researcher on the EngrTEAMS project. This project aims to work with practicing teachers to develop high-quality integrated STEM curricula through engineering design. The project will also investigate the effects of these curriculum units on student learning, teacher pedagogy, and teacher beliefs. In addition, Glancy is currently investigating the ways in which STEM schools interpret STEM education and integration and, as a 3M-STEM Fellow, is working with three middle school mathematics teachers to implement STEM-related activities within their mathematics classrooms. Previously, Glancy helped develop a Framework for Quality K–12 Engineering Education and investigated the ways in which state academic standards addressed the indicators within the Framework. Glancy is currently pursuing a PhD in STEM Education with an emphasis in Mathematics at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He has an MEd with a focus in secondary science teacher from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn. He has bachelors’ degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University.
Forster Ntow, Graduate Research Assistant, STEM Education Center, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Forster Ntow is a graduate research assistant (GRA) at the STEM Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. As a GRA, he has been involved in writing a curriculum aimed at integrating science, literacy, and mathematics using the engineering design process at the elementary level. He has also been a mathematics teacher at the K–12 level for nearly eight years. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Mathematics Education at the University of Minnesota.
Kristina Tank, Graduate Research Assistant, STEM Education Center, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Kristina Tank’s research interests are in teaching and learning of STEM content through the integration of these disciplines in K–12 classrooms. Additionally, she is researching how literacy can be used to support STEM integration in elementary classrooms. Tank is currently working as a graduate research assistant on the NSF-funded CAREER award: Implementing K–12 Engineering Standards through STEM Integration, which examines the implementation of engineering into K–12 classrooms through STEM integration. This work has led to the development of the Framework for Quality K–12 Engineering Education, which has been used as a tool for evaluating the degree to which academic standards, curricula, and teaching practices address the important components of a quality K–12 engineering education. Through a university-industry-school partnership, Tank has had the opportunity to work on the development and piloting of the PictureSTEM project, which provides a model of STEM integration in which literacy and engineering design facilitate meaningful learning of science and mathematics content. Tank is completing her PhD in Science Education at the University of Minnesota, with a focus in STEM integration. She has an MEd in Elementary Education from the University of Minnesota and a BS in Biopsychology and Cognitive Sciences from the University of Michigan. Tank is also a former elementary teacher.
