Do Engineering Curricula Improve Science and Mathematics Learning in Elementary S

描述(由申请者提供)：本申请涉及广泛的挑战领域(12)科学、技术、工程和数学教育(STEM)和具体的挑战主题，全国12-OD-101 K-12学校正在实施或考虑实施各种使用工程的课程。从相当全面的高中课程(即项目带头)到初中或高中课程的教科书(如五大湖出版社的《工程学概论》)，再到以工程学会的活动和更全面的活动集(如波士顿科学博物馆的《工程学基础》)为基础的小学课外俱乐部，K-12学生对工程学的热情正在上升。这些课程活动有不同的重点，从提高技术素养到鼓励学生攻读工程学。尽管我们这些工程师对这一趋势充满热情，但到目前为止，只有粗略的评估数据可以表明这些方法中的任何一种达到各自目标的有效性。因此，如果这些活动只不过是一种教育“时尚”，就不能保证对工程领域的总体影响不会是负面的。需要对工程课程支持学生扎实学习的能力进行扎实的研究。该提案描述了一个旨在全面评估学生学习情况的项目，其中包括小学课程(工程学是初级课程)，以及在数学、科学、语言艺术、社会研究和技术素养方面的全面实施。北卡罗来纳州立大学工程和教育学院建议与维克和新汉诺威县公立学校以及波士顿科学博物馆合作，支持每个县现有的工程磁铁小学的实施。将针对所有学生分组增加学生学习的目标对执行情况进行广泛研究，重点是缩小分组之间的成绩差距。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的项目在最广泛的意义上与公共卫生相关。该项目的目标是彻底评估一种有效教与学的教学方法在K-12科学教育中的效果。如果这些方法被证明是成功的，这将对全国的科学教育产生深远的影响，这将支持K-12学生进入所有类型的STEM领域的预科，并有助于加深公众对科学的理解。如果这些方法被证明是无效的，这一结果也将同样重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses broad Challenge Area (12) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education (STEM) and specific Challenge Topic, 12-OD-101 K-12 schools across the nation are implementing or considering implementing various curricula that use engineering. From high school curricula that are fairly comprehensive (i.e. Project Lead the Way) to textbooks intended for middle or high school courses (i.e. Survey of Engineering from Great Lakes Press) to elementary school after school clubs based on activities from engineering societies and more comprehensive sets of activities (i.e. Engineering is Elementary from the Museum of Science, Boston), enthusiasm for engineering in K-12 is increasing. These curricular activities have different foci from increasing technological literacy to encouraging students to pursue engineering. Although those of us who are engineers are enthusiastic about this trend, to date, there is only cursory assessment data available to indicate the efficacy of any of these approaches to meeting their respective goals. Consequently, there is no guarantee that the overall affect on the fields of engineering won't be negative, if these activities become nothing more than an educational "fad." Solid research on the ability of engineering curricula to support solid student learning is needed. This proposal describes a project designed to comprehensively assess student learning with an elementary school curriculum (Engineering is Elementary) and a comprehensive implementation in math, science, language arts, social studies and technological literacy. North Carolina State University Colleges of Engineering and Education propose to partner with Wake and New Hanover County Public Schools, and the Museum of Science, Boston to support existing implementations of engineering magnet elementary schools in each county. The implementation will be extensively studied with regards to the goals of increasing student learning for all subgroups of students, with a focus on decreasing achievement gaps between subgroups. Public Health Relevance: The proposed project is relevant to public health in the broadest sense. The goal of the project is to thoroughly assess the efficacy of a delivery method for effective teaching and learning in K-12 science education. If the methods are proven successful, this will have far-reaching implications for science instruction nation-wide that will support the matriculation of K-12 students into STEM fields of all types and support deeper public understanding of science. If the methods are proven ineffective, this result will be similarly important.