3D Printing Integrated Engineering Design Education for Preservice STEM Teachers

该项目旨在为STEM职前教师开发一门与3D打印紧密结合的工程设计与技术课程，为国家利益服务。3D打印为工程设计过程带来了革命性的变化，这是一个需要虚拟/物理原型的迭代过程；3D打印可以用来快速制作物理原型。然而，仅仅是3D打印的可用性还不足以让教师在课堂上充分利用它的潜力。此外，虽然拥抱3D打印的创客运动越来越受欢迎，但文献中缺乏对高中职前STEM教师使用3D打印的严格和可信的实证研究。该项目旨在有目的地将3D打印的深入讨论融入到工程设计过程的职前STEM教师课程中。方法是剖析3D打印机的硬件，解释每个组件的功能，介绍每个组件的制造方法，描述可能的缺陷，并阐明哪些有效，哪些无效。课程模块的设计将满足德克萨斯州基本知识和技能标准的要求。开发过程将遵循脚手架技术、教学和内容知识课程设计模型。开发的课程模块将在休斯敦大学二级STEM教师准备项目teachHOUSTON项目的职前教师工程设计和技术课程中实施和评估。目标受众是每年约45名具有不同种族背景的STEM专业学生，总共有135名STEM专业学生在项目期间受到影响，他们是职前STEM教师。本项目旨在为中学职前STEM教师的3D打印集成工程设计过程的文献提供可信的实证研究结果。这些模块将通过teachHOUSTON STEM互动夏令营、teachHOUSTON教师专业发展和休斯顿大学教师研究经验网站分享和传播。项目研究团队将在会议报告/论文和期刊论文中报告结果。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。部分资金来自Robert Noyce教师奖学金项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing an Engineering Design and Technology course tightly integrated with 3D Printing for preservice STEM teachers. 3D printing brought transformative change to the Engineering Design Process which is an iterative process that needs virtual/physical prototyping; 3D printing can be used to rapidly make physical prototypes. However, mere availability of 3D printing is not enough for teachers to fully utilize its potential in their classrooms. In addition, while the Maker movement, which embraces 3D printing, has been gaining traction, rigorous and credible empirical research on the utilization of 3D printing for high school preservice STEM teachers is missing from the literature.The project intends to purposefully integrate in-depth discussion of 3D printing in a preservice STEM teachers' course on the Engineering Design Process. The approach is to dissect a 3D printer’s hardware, explain each component’s function, introduce each component’s manufacturing methods, describe possible defects, and elucidate what works and what does not. The course modules will be designed to meet the requirements from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards. The development process will follow the Scaffolded Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge lesson design model. The developed course modules will be implemented and assessed in the Engineering Design and Technology for Preservice Teachers course in the teachHOUSTON program, the University of Houston’s secondary STEM teacher preparation program. The target audience is ~45 STEM majors seeking STEM teacher certification per year with diversified ethnic backgrounds for a total of 135 STEM majors who are preservice STEM teachers impacted during the project. The project intends to contribute credible empirical research results to the literature on the 3D printing-integrated Engineering Design Process for secondary preservice STEM teachers. These modules will be shared and disseminated through the teachHOUSTON STEM Interactive summer camp, teachHOUSTON teacher professional development, and the University of Houston Research Experience for Teachers site. The project research team will report the results in conference presentations/papers and journal papers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. Partial funding is from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program.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.