Supporting Instructors to Embed Design Thinking in Digital Fabrication Courses

制造业和工程业面临着技术工人缺口的隐约可见，预计到2025年将有240万个职位空缺。该项目旨在通过改进对所需技术劳动力的准备来帮助填补这一空白。为此，它将为中学和中学后教育工作者建立一个设计思维教育学专业学习计划。该课程将侧重于涉及数字制造技术的设计思维项目，包括3D打印、激光雕刻和计算机数控铣削。专业学习方案预计将改进教育工作者的教学实践，使他们能够更新现有的课程和教案，以更好地与行业相关的技能和技术保持一致。该项目还打算围绕数字制造中的设计思维创建一个实践社区，将在中学教师、社区大学教师、MakerSpace教育工作者和地区雇主之间建立一个有益的网络。预计该项目将支持36名中学和中学后教育工作者，他们将在弗吉尼亚州北部地区教授3000多名K-12和本科生。这些学生将对制造和工程方面的技术职业产生更大的兴趣，并为之做好更好的准备。该项目的总体目标是利用专业学习将数字制造教学转移到简单对象的复制之外。相反，该项目将培训教育工作者使用教育学和认知策略，将设计思维嵌入到他们的数字制造课程和课程中。因此，学生们将学会使用设计思维来建造复杂、有用的物品。该项目的具体目标包括：(1)创建一个专业学习机构；(2)在Nova和大华盛顿的男孩和女孩俱乐部举办数字制造夏令营；(3)主办半年一次的设计和数字制造挑战；以及(4)建立一个由实践社区的教育工作者创建和完善的项目和教案的在线资源库。预计该项目将在以下方面取得进展：对有助于培养学生对制造和工程的兴趣的教学方法的了解；专业学习促进将设计思维融入教室和制造空间的能力；以及顶峰设计挑战可在多大程度上促进教学实践的可持续变化。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Manufacturing and engineering industries face a looming gap in skilled workers, with an estimated 2.4M positions projected to go unfilled by 2025. This project aims to help fill this gap by improving the preparation of the needed technical workforce. To do so, it will establish a Professional Learning program in design thinking pedagogy for secondary and postsecondary educators. The curriculum will focus on design thinking projects that involve digital fabrication techniques, including 3D printing, laser engraving, and Computer Numerical Control milling. The Professional Learning program is expected to improve the educator' teaching practices and enable them to update existing curricula and lesson plans to better align with industry relevant skills and techniques. The project also intends to create a community of practice around design thinking in digital fabrication that will build a beneficial network among secondary teachers, community college faculty, makerspace educators, and regional employers. It is expected that the project will support 36 secondary and postsecondary educators who will teach more than 3,000 K-12 and undergraduate students in the northern Virginia region. These students will have greater interest in and be better prepared for technical careers in manufacturing and engineering.The overarching goal of the project is to use Professional Learning to move digital fabrication instruction beyond the reproduction of simple objects. Instead, the project will train educators to use pedagogy and cognitive strategies to embed design thinking into their digital fabrication lessons and courses. As a result, students will learn to use design thinking to build complex, useful objects. The project’s specific aims include to: (1) create a professional learning institute; (2) host digital fabrication summer camps at NOVA and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington; (3) host a semiannual design and digital fabrication challenge; and (4) establish an online resource library of projects and lesson plans created and refined by educators in the community of practice. The project is expected to advance: understanding of the pedagogies that help to develop student interest in manufacturing and engineering; the capacity for Professional Learning to facilitate integration of design thinking into classrooms and makerspaces; and the extent to which a capstone design challenge may foster sustainable change in instructional practices. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.