Document Type
Article
Publisher
National Center for Engineering and Technology Education
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
Since its initial funding by the National Science Foundation in 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) has worked to understand the infusion of engineering design experiences into the high school setting. Over the years, an increasing number of educators and professional groups have participated in the expanding initiative seeking to acquaint all students with engineering design. While there is strong support for providing students with engineering design experiences in their high school STEM courses, the lack of consensus on purposes and strategies has become increasingly apparent as the work continues. Among the unsettled issues are the degree to which engineering design challenges should be open-ended or well-structured, the extent to which engineering habits of thought and action are employed in resolving the challenges; the relationships between engineering design experiences and standards-based instruction in STEM courses; and effective sequencing of age- appropriate engineering design challenges. In February, 2011, NCETE sought position statements from a small number of engineering educators, cognitive scientists, instructional designers, and professional development providers who have been engaged in long-term efforts to provide students with engineering design experiences in their high school STEM courses. Each of these experienced professionals was asked to provide brief descriptions of principles or guidelines that they consider to be most important in promoting effective infusion of authentic engineering design challenges into STEM courses for all high school students. This compilation includes responses prepared by David Jonassen, University of Missouri- Columbia; Morgan Hynes and colleagues, Tufts University; Ronald Carr and Johannes Strobel, Purdue University; Christian Schunn, University of Pittsburgh; Arthur Eisenkraft, UMass Boston, and by Cary Sneider, Portland State University. The authors of the individual papers have not yet had an opportunity to review the work of the others. We anticipate that additional responses may arrive from other invitees and plan to include those papers as they become available. Those of us at NCETE are deeply appreciative of the careful analysis, clear exposition, and sound logic displayed by the authors in their respective papers.
Recommended Citation
Householder, D. L. (Ed.).(2011). Engineering challenges in high school STEM courses: A compilation of invited position papers. Retrieved from the NCETE website: http://ncete.org/flash/pdfs/Engr%20Design%20Challenges%20Compilation.pdf
