Do Engineering Curricula Improve Science and Mathematics Learning in Elementary S

描述（由申请人提供）：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）和特定的挑战主题，全国各地的12-OD-101 K-12学校正在实施或考虑实施使用工程的各种课程。从高中的课程，是相当全面（即“带路项目”），以供初中或高中课程使用的教科书（即五大湖出版社出版的《工程调查》），以工程学会的活动和更全面的活动为基础的小学课外俱乐部（即工程是基本的科学博物馆，波士顿），在K-12工程的热情正在增加。这些课程活动有不同的重点，从提高技术素养，以鼓励学生追求工程。尽管我们这些工程师对这一趋势充满热情，但迄今为止，只有粗略的评估数据可以表明这些方法中的任何一种在实现各自目标方面的有效性。因此，如果这些活动仅仅成为一种教育“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。该提案描述了一个项目，旨在全面评估学生的学习与小学课程（工程是小学）和数学，科学，语言艺术，社会研究和技术素养的全面实施。北卡罗来纳州州立大学工程和教育学院提议与威克和新汉诺威县公立学校以及波士顿科学博物馆合作，以支持每个县现有的工程磁铁小学的实施。将针对提高所有学生分组的学生学习水平的目标，广泛研究实施情况，重点是缩小各分组之间的成绩差距。 公共卫生相关性：拟议项目与最广泛意义上的公共卫生相关。该项目的目标是彻底评估在K-12科学教育中有效教学和学习的交付方法的功效。如果这些方法被证明是成功的，这将对全国的科学教学产生深远的影响，这将支持K-12学生进入所有类型的STEM领域，并支持公众对科学的更深入理解。如果这些方法被证明是无效的，这一结果将同样重要。

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.