TeachEngineering.org is a digital library of more than 1,500 K-12 engineering curricular items such as lessons, hands-on activities and maker challenges.Bigelow, Mary. “Engineering Activities, NSTA Blog." Posted May 28, 2017. NSTA.“TeachEngineering Digital Library Collection.” CU Public Outreach and Community Engagement, Regents of the University of Colorado. Retrieved 27 June 2017. The items feature problem-solving, project-based learning, design and systems thinking, and developing engineering habits of mind.Sullivan, Jacquelyn F., Cyr, Martha N., Mooney, Michael A., Reitsma, René F., Shaw, Nancy C., Zarske, Malinda S. and Klenk, Paul A. (2005) “The TeachEngineering Digital Library: Engineering Comes Alive for K-12 Youth,” Proceedings, ASEE Annual Conference, Portland, OR, June.
TeachEngineering's curricular items are aligned to K-12 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic standards such as the Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core Math standards and the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association standards.Samson, Carleigh C., Sullivan, Jacquelyn F., Reitsma René F. and Soltys, Michael A. (2015) “The Relevance of K-12 Engineering Curricula to NGSS: An Analysis of TeachEngineering-NGSS Alignments,” Proceedings, ASEE Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, June. Curricular items have learning objectives, engineering connections, background information, key terms and definitions, learning assessment suggestions, troubleshooting tips, estimated time/cost, and printable worksheets and handouts. Most curriculum uses common, inexpensive supplies found at grocery and hardware stores.
Most of the items in the TeachEngineering collection were developed at engineering colleges across the U.S.,“Additional Contributors.” TeachEngineering Digital Library. Retrieved 27 June 2017.National Academy of Engineering. 2005. "Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century." Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. . (see p 39 of online book) and all were tested in K-12 classrooms and vetted through a peer and quality review process.Zarske, Malinda S., Sullivan, Jacquelyn F., Klenk, Paul A., Forbes, Marissa H., Carlson, Denise W., and Reitsma, René F. (2012) “The TeachEngineering Digital Library: Improving Access to the P-12 Engineering Conversation," Second P-12 Engineering and Design Education Research Summit, Washington DC, April 2012.“Submit Curriculum.” TeachEngineering Digital Library. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
History The National Science Foundation (NSF) initially funded the creation of the TeachEngineering library through its National Science Digital Library (NSDL) program.“History.” TeachEngineering Digital Library. Retrieved 27 June 2017. University engineering faculty, graduate students and K-12 teachers from the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Duke University and Tufts University who had independently developed K-12 engineering curriculum, bundled their curricular products into a single, standardized and searchable digital library. By 2017, more than 50 institutions had contributed curriculum.“TeachEngineering” Organization page, LinkEngineering, National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved June 27, 2017 Faculty and students at Oregon State University designed and developed the supporting information system. In 2015, the system was re-designed and rebuilt at the University of Colorado Boulder. About 3 million unique users visit the library annually.Forbes, Marissa H., Sullivan, Jacquelyn F. and Carlson, Denise W. (2017) “Ascertaining the Impact of P-12 Engineering Education Initiatives: Student Impact through Teacher Impact,” Proceedings, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, OH, June.
Use Patterns
TeachEngineering usage closely tracks the US K-12 school seasons. As one can see from the figure above, daily demand follows a strict weekly cycle with usage consistently lowest on Saturdays. Usage starts to increase on Sundays when teachers prepare for classes for the coming week and further increases through Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Fridays demand decreases back toward the Saturday low. On a larger cycle, usage typically increases from the start of the school year (in August) to a peak in late March (around spring break), after which it starts trending down toward the summer vacation. Holidays such as the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving also clearly stand out in this one-year long trajectory of daily use.
Motivation The initial motivation to create the library was the desire to preserve and widely share the outcomes from NSF's investment in K-12 engineering curriculum development through the creation of a single standardized, searchable and standards-aligned platform. Ongoing motivations include: To create and maintain a collection of freely available, standards-based engineering curriculum, for the purpose of improving STEM literacy. To provide curriculum that uses engineering as the vehicle for early development of engineering habits of mind for all youth. To attract more, and more diverse students to the field of engineering.NSF Grant no. EEC 1544495: TeachEngineering: Expanding and Sustaining Curriculum Access for K-12 Teachers; 2015. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1544495 To support educators in meeting academic learning standards by aligning curricular materials with K-12 national, international and/or state standards. To provide K-12 science and math teachers with science-rich hands-on engineering curriculum at little to no cost.
Technology During 2003–15, TeachEngineering ran on a LAMP stack hosted at Oregon State University's Open Source Lab (OSL). In 2015, the system was reimplemented on a Windows/IIS/RavenDB/C# stack and is currently hosted on Microsoft Azure and maintained by the University of Colorado, Boulder.
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