Educator Capacity Building in PreK-12 Engineering Education

该项目致力于解决美国教育系统对与工程相关的学前教育专业知识需求的潜在增长做出反应的能力。尽管预科-12级的情况正在逐渐改变，但相对于其他STEM科目，在预科-12级，工程学仍然非常不是主流。这反映在缺乏职前工程学教师培训计划，缺乏高质量的工程学学生评估，缺乏认可工程学教育中教育者技能的机制，以及缺乏证明熟练的K-12年级工程教育者明确的职业道路。该项目将考虑如何调整当前的系统，以更好地支持大学预科工程教育者的发展和就业。考虑到最近的一些进展，该项目是及时的，包括2013年出版的下一代科学标准，呼吁科学教师将科学概念和实践与工程领域的科学概念和实践联系起来；预计2015年秋季发布有史以来第一次全国技术和工程素养评估的结果；大学理事会计划在电子工程课程中开发AP高级预修课程；以及在正式和非正式环境(例如，制造者运动)中对更综合形式的K-12 STEM教育的兴趣日益浓厚。探索研究K-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具(RMT)，显著提高K-12学龄前学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。这个为期18个月的项目将由美国国家科学院、工程和医学研究院任命的一个不同的专家委员会监督。该委员会将开展各种数据收集活动，包括对相关文献的深入审查；对现有的面向12岁以下工程教育人员的预科课程和在职课程的全景扫描；以及两个专题讲习班。这些信息将使委员会能够处理该项目的四个目标：-确定从出版的文献中了解到的关于准备12岁以下学前教育工作者教授工程学的情况，确定有希望的实践领域以及需要进一步研究的领域；--编制美国现有的职前和在职项目目录，支持学前至12年级工程教育者的准备和专业发展，描述课程的性质(如课程)和历史，以及(如已知)教育工作者的人数和影响的证据(如对个人教学实践和地方、地区或全国的学前至12年级工程教育发展的影响)；-审查现有的正式(例如，国家认证)和非正式(例如，“徽章”)机制，这些机制正在或可能被用来承认专业知识和支持K-12年级工程专业教师的职业道路选择，并指出实际和政策障碍以及如何解决这些障碍；以及-探索中学后教育界，包括但不限于四年制工程和工程技术课程，在培养K-12年级工程学教师方面发挥更积极作用的潜力。在项目结束时，委员会将发表一份报告，总结其调查结果，并就如何调整现有教育体系，以更好地支持大学预科工程教育者的发展和就业提出建议。

This project addresses the US education system's capacity to respond to the potential growth in demand for PreK-12 educator expertise related to engineering. Although the situation is gradually changing at the PreK-12 level, relative to the other STEM subjects, at the PreK-12 level, engineering is still very much outside the mainstream. This is reflected in the scant availability of pre-service engineering teacher preparation programs, the dearth of high-quality student assessments in engineering, the lack of mechanisms for recognizing educator skill in engineering education, and the absence of clear professional pathways for PreK-12 engineering educators who demonstrate proficiency. The project will consider how the current system might be adapted to better support the development and employment of precollege engineering educators. The project is timely given a number of recent developments, including the 2013 publication of the Next Generation Science Standards, which call on science teachers to connect science concepts and practices to those in engineering; the expected fall 2015 release of results of the first-ever national assessment of Technology and Engineering Literacy; the College Board's plan to develop an AP Advanced Placement course in Eengineering course; and increasing interest in more integrated forms of K-12 STEM education in both formal and informal (e.g., the Maker Movement) environments. The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.The 18-month project will be overseen by a diverse committee of experts appointed by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The committee will conduct a variety of data-gathering activities, including an in-depth review of the relevant literature; a landscape scan of existing pre- and in-service programs for PreK-12 engineering educators; and two topical workshops. This information will allow the committee to address the project's four objectives: - Determine what is known from the published literature about the preparation of PreK-12 educators to teach about engineering, identifying areas of promising practice as well as areas in need of further research; - Catalog existing US pre-service and in-service programs that support the preparation and professional development of PreK-12 engineering educators, describing the nature (e.g., curriculum) and history of the programs and, if known, the number of educators reached and the evidence for impact (e.g., on individual teaching practice and the growth of PreK-12 engineering education locally, regionally, or nationally);- Review existing formal (e.g., state certification) and informal (e.g., "badging") mechanisms that are being or might be used to recognize expertise and support career pathway options for PreK-12 teachers of engineering, noting practical and policy impediments and how they might be addressed; and - Explore the potential for the post-secondary education community, including but not limited to four-year engineering and engineering technology programs, to take a more active role in the preparation of teachers of PreK-12 engineering. At the conclusion of the project, the committee will publish a report summarizing its findings and making recommendations for how the current education system might be adapted to better support the development and employment of precollege engineering educators.