Educator Capacity Building in PreK-12 Engineering Education

该项目解决了美国教育系统的能力，以应对潜在的增长需求PreK-12教育专业知识相关的工程。虽然在PreK-12水平的情况正在逐渐发生变化，但相对于其他STEM科目，在PreK-12水平，工程学仍然处于主流之外。这反映在职前工程教师准备计划的稀缺性，缺乏高质量的学生评估工程，缺乏承认教育工作者在工程教育中的技能的机制，以及缺乏明确的专业途径PreK-12工程教育工作者谁证明熟练。该项目将考虑如何调整现行制度，以更好地支持大学预科工程教育工作者的发展和就业。鉴于最近的一些发展，该项目是及时的，包括2013年出版的《下一代科学标准》，其中呼吁科学教师将科学概念和实践与工程学联系起来;预计2015年秋季将发布有史以来第一次国家技术和工程素养评估结果;大学理事会计划在电子工程课程中开发AP高级安置课程;以及对正式和非正式K-12 STEM教育的更综合形式的兴趣日益增加（例如，制造商运动（Maker Movement）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），显着提高学前班学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）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，这些研究和开发工作为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验依据。这个为期18个月的项目将由美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院任命的多元化专家委员会监督。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PreK-12工程教育工作者现有的学前和在职课程进行景观扫描;以及两个专题研讨会。这些信息将使委员会能够解决该项目的四个目标：-确定从出版的文献中了解到的关于PreK-12教育工作者教授工程学的准备，确定有希望的实践领域以及需要进一步研究的领域;- 编目现有的美国职前和在职计划，支持PreK-12工程教育工作者的准备和专业发展，描述性质（例如，课程）和计划的历史，以及（如果知道）达到的教育者人数和影响的证据（例如，个人教学实践和地方，地区或国家的PreK-12工程教育的增长）;-审查现有的正式（例如，国家认证）和非正式（例如，“徽章”）机制，正在或可能被用来承认专业知识和支持职业途径的选择PreK-12工程教师，注意实际和政策的障碍，以及如何解决这些障碍;探索中学后教育社区的潜力，包括但不限于四年制工程和工程技术课程，在PreK-12工程教师的准备中发挥更积极的作用。在项目结束时，委员会将发表一份报告，总结其调查结果，并就如何调整现行教育制度，以更好地支持大学预科工程教育工作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.