About
Drafting a Blueprint for Educating Tomorrow’s Engineers Today: NSF# 0831698
Lead Institution: |
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) |
Core Partners: |
Springfield Public Schools (SPS) |
Supporting Partners: |
Donahue Institute,
University of Massachusetts Amherst |
Drafting a Blueprint for Teaching Tomorrow’s Engineers Today is a two-year NSF MSP Start-Partnership that brings together students, educators, and industry to begin open, continued conversations in which partners will discuss, define, discover, and design a clear path that leads to three goals:
1) Increase awareness about engineering for the 5,692 middle school (grades 6–8) students in the Springfield Public Schools (SPS); |
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2) Improve the knowledge base of approximately 240 future and in-service middle school teachers so that they will have the skills, materials, and enthusiasm to excite their students about engineering; |
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3) Create a fluid and dynamic engineering education pipeline where each level (industry, four year college programs, two year college programs, K-12 schools) informs the preceding level about the skill base needed to ensure success |
The Partnership will leverage the expertise of all its participants, connections, and experience to accelerate the development of methodologies and techniques in STEM teaching, growing the pool of subject matter and expertise available to all STEM teachers, thereby increasing the diversity of thought and practice. Increased understanding of STEM concepts will remove the “fear factor” and allow students to achieve a comfort level characterized by curiosity and creativity in these areas, inspiring them to continue to pursue STEM projects and classes and make relevant connections between STEM concepts and the analysis and solution of real world problems. Teachers will become an integral part of a dynamic, supportive network of college faculty and business and industry partners that will provide sustained support and be responsive to the changing needs of both teachers and students, thus allowing new opportunities to delve into areas either unknown, previously unsuccessful, or in which confidence is lacking.
SPS students will show improved academic achievement in STEM fields as a result of more innovative approaches to STEM teaching resulting from relevant and meaningful professional development courses for STEM teachers. A comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis will be carried out for this study. The Donahue Institute, a research branch of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will conduct the external evaluation of the program. STEM-specific success strategies for K-12 educators and students will be gathered over the first year of the project through the direct interaction and participation of the Partnership in response to the needs and desires of SPS STEM teachers. Teacher feedback and follow-up will provide a critical component in evaluation. Pre- and post- tests will provide evaluative substance in the improvement of subject mastery. Along that line, qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to analyze data on student success, retention, grade improvement, enrollment in future STEM courses, and perceptions and attitudes regarding STEM.
The Partnership will build organizational capacity and expand regional and demographic representation, broaden subject matter expertise and the delivery thereof, ensuring a sustainable program, and maximize dissemination of collaboratively developed materials and expertise. These activities will, in turn, strengthen the Partnership and attract future supporting involvement by motivated faculty, institutions, and business and ind ustry professionals. The Partnership will continue outreach to academic, professional, and business and industry groups. Findings and materials, including teacher feedback on courses and follow-up implementation, will be nationally disseminated through the ICT at STCC. Local business and industries will be highlighted, providing possible employment or internship opportunities for students, as well as local institutions of higher education, which will provide underrepresented groups with contacts and links to local minority-serving institutions.
The Pioneer Valley has a wealth of resources that, when partnered together, will ensure a well prepared science teacher workforce and improved student achievement in the sciences; however, much work is needed to thread together teacher preparation, innovative curriculum design and delivery, student engagement, and industry needs into the greater tapestry of a well-prepared engineering workforce of tomorrow.
