Advancing the "E" in K-12 STEM Education
Advancing the "E" in K-12 STEM Education
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推进 K-12 STEM 教育中的“E”
DOI：
10.21061/jots.v36i1.a.7
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发表时间：
2010
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
H. Kimmel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Rockland;Diane S. Bloom;J. Carpinelli;Levelle E. Burr;L. Hirsch;H. Kimmel
像工程这样的技术领域迫切需要更多合格的工人，但没有足够多的学生攻读科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)的课程，为他们的技术职业生涯做准备。不幸的是，许多学生对STEM职业不感兴趣，特别是工程，因为他们在K-12学习期间没有接触到这些领域的主题。大多数K-12教师没有接受过将有关STEM主题纳入课堂教学和课程材料的培训。本文通过描述一个利用代表医学、机器人和信息技术融合的概念的项目，探索将工程学引入中学课堂科学和数学课程的最佳实践。文中提供了具体的例子，说明了如何将其融入物理、生物和化学的教学中。还审议了课堂教师的专业发展、改进STEM未来教师的准备以及编写涉及国家和国家内容标准的课程材料的关键问题。在美国目前缺乏STEM领域的合格工人之际，没有足够多的学生有兴趣从事科学、数学、技术，特别是工程领域的职业生涯(NSB，2008)。大多数学生对从事这些领域的职业不感兴趣的一个更关键的原因是，他们在学习K12期间没有接触到STEM的相关主题，特别是工程学。这些领域的优质课程材料稀缺，教师也没有接受过将这些主题纳入课程和教学的培训(Kimmel，Carpinelli，Burr-Alexander，&Rockland，2006年)。因此，学生没有为进入大学STEM项目或从事STEM领域的职业做好充分的准备(NSB，2008)。因此，人们对高等教育将工程原理和应用引入中学数学和科学课堂的兴趣与日俱增(Kimmel&Rockland，2002；Kimmel，Carpinelli，Burr-Alexander，&Rockland，2006)。将工程概念和应用程序整合到课程的不同内容领域是一种方法。工程设计过程可以提供一个支持教师进行科学探究教学的环境，因为这些过程本质上是平行的，具有相似的解决问题的特点。机器人学涵盖了技术、计算机科学、工程和科学的各个领域。由于其跨学科的性质，在课堂上使用机器人可以成为增加学生动机和学习的宝贵工具。在各种工程主题中实际应用数学和科学概念将有助于学生将科学概念与技术、问题解决和设计联系起来，并将课堂课程应用于现实生活中的问题。教师需要一定的技能和知识才能开始将技术和工程概念整合到他们的课堂实践中(Boettcher，Carlson，Cyr，&Shambang，2005；Zarske，Sullivan，Carlson，&Yowell，2004)。对于新教师来说，这可能是他们职前培训的一部分，但对于现有教师来说，需要全面的专业发展计划。成功的专业发展计划应包括的一些因素包括：长期的努力、技术援助和支持网络、教师分享观点和经验的大学氛围、反思自己实践的机会、注重通过个人学习经验进行理解的教学以及以课堂实践为基础的专业发展。本文简要介绍了解决上述问题的努力，并总结了新泽西理工学院为将工程原理融入课堂教学而为中学科学和数学教师编制K-12 STEM课程材料和培训计划所做的工作。推进K-12 STEM教育中的“E”罗纳德·罗克兰、黛安·S·布鲁姆、约翰·卡皮内利、勒维勒·伯尔-亚历山大、琳达·S·赫希和霍华德·基梅尔
Technological fields, like engineering, are in desperate need of more qualified workers, yet not enough students are pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) that would prepare them for technical careers. Unfortunately, many students have no interest in STEM careers, particularly engineering, because they are not exposed to topics in these fields during their K-12 studies. Most K-12 teachers have not been trained to integrate relevant STEM topics into their classroom teaching and curriculum materials. This article explores best practices for bringing engineering into the science and mathematics curriculum of secondary school classrooms by describing a project that utilizes concepts representing the merger of medicine, robotics, and information technology. Specific examples demonstrating the integration into the teaching of physics, biology, and chemistry are provided. Also considered are the critical issues of professional development for classroom teachers, improved preparation of future teachers of STEM, and the development of curriculum materials that address state and national content standards. Introduction Not enough students are interested in pursuing careers in science, mathematics, technology and especially engineering, at a time when the United States currently has a shortage of qualified workers in STEM fields (NSB, 2008). One of the more critical reasons most students are not interested in pursuing careers in these fields is that they are not exposed to relevant topics in STEM, particularly engineering, during their K12 studies. Quality curricular materials in these areas are scarce and teachers have not been trained to incorporate these topics into their curriculum and instruction (Kimmel, Carpinelli, Burr-Alexander, & Rockland, 2006). Therefore, students are not adequately prepared to enter STEM programs in college or pursue careers in STEM fields (NSB, 2008). As a result, there has been a growing interest in higher education to bring engineering principles and applications to secondary school mathematics and science classrooms (Kimmel & Rockland, 2002; Kimmel, Carpinelli, Burr-Alexander, & Rockland, 2006). The integration of engineering concepts and applications into the different content areas in the curriculum is one approach. The engineering design process can provide a context that would support teachers in teaching about scientific inquiry since these processes are parallel in nature and have similar problemsolving characteristics. Robotics encompasses the diverse areas of technology, computer science, engineering, and the sciences. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, using robotics in the classroom can be a valuable tool to increase student motivation and learning. The use of practical, hands-on applications of mathematical and scientific concepts across various engineering topics will help students to link scientific concepts with technology, problem solving, and design, and to apply their classroom lessons to real-life problems. Teachers require a certain set of skills and knowledge to begin integrating technology and engineering concepts into their classroom practices (Boettcher, Carlson, Cyr, & Shambhang, 2005; Zarske, Sullivan, Carlson, & Yowell, 2004). For new teachers this can be part of their pre-service training, but for current teachers comprehensive professional development programs are needed. Some identified factors that should be included in successful professional development programs include: long-term effort, technical assistance, and support networks, collegial atmosphere in which teachers share views and experiences, opportunities for reflection on one’s own practice, focus on teaching for understanding through personal learning experiences, and professional development grounded in classroom practice. This article provides a brief account of efforts to address the aforementioned issues and summarizes work that has been conducted at the New Jersey Institute of Technology to develop K-12 STEM curricular materials and training programs for secondary science and mathematics teachers in order to integrate engineering principles into classroom instruction. Advancing the “E” in K-12 STEM Education Ronald Rockland, Diane S. Bloom, John Carpinelli, Levelle Burr-Alexander, Linda S. Hirsch and Howard Kimmel