Board 159: Development and Initial Findings of a Summative Assessment for High School Engineering Course (Evaluation, Work in Progress)

Jeanette Chipps; Stacy S Klein-Gardner; Cathy P. Lachapelle; Sabina Anne Schill

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46720

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Paper Authors

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Jeanette Chipps The Johns Hopkins University orcid.org/0000-0002-9029-2304

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Jeannie Chipps is a research assistant at the IDEALS institute at Johns Hopkins. Her interests are in supporting teachers in their efforts to create learning environments that support diverse learners in STEM.

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Stacy S Klein-Gardner Vanderbilt University orcid.org/0000-0002-3541-9173

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Dr. Stacy Klein-Gardner serves as an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. She is the co-PI and co-Director of the NSF-funded Engineering for US All (e4usa) project and Executive Director of e4usa, the non-profit. Dr. Klein-Gardner is a Fellow of ASEE.

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Cathy P. Lachapelle STEM Education Insights orcid.org/0000-0002-8487-6071

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Cathy is particularly interested in how collaborative interaction and scaffolded experiences with disciplinary practices help children learn science, math, and engineering. Her work on STEM education research projects includes design, evaluation, and effi

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Sabina Anne Schill Colorado School of Mines

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Sabina is a Research Associate at Colorado School of Mines working with Get the Facts Out and Teach@Mines. She got her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and her BS in Physics from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Sabina is interested in teaching, engineering education research, and K-12 STEM education.

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Abstract

The [PROGRAM NAME] is a high school engineering course aimed at broadening participation in engineering offered at over XXX schools across the country. This curriculum emphasizes the role of teams in engineering as well as enabling students to engage in authentic engineering design. In the 2021-2022 school year, our team began to develop and offer an end-of-course assessment to explore and communicate student learning in a summative manner. The assessment structure includes a portfolio and a scenario based exam. The portfolio is a team-produced document that describes the design process the team embark in over a period of time. A scenario- based exam is used to assess individual understanding of the engineering design. The scenario-based exam has been piloted several times and we present the initial findings as well as steps for future consideration of summative course assessment in high school engineering courses. This scenario included an authentic engineering problem related to urban design and planning in the suburbs of Nashville, TN. The exam included engineering artifacts designed by members of the team that worked on the actual project, as well as data related to the problem from relevant government agencies and media. Students were given the exam online, in their own classrooms. Teachers were given the opportunity to determine whether to administer the exam in a single long session or multiple shorter sessions. After administering the exam, teachers and students were able to provide feedback. We present the initial findings from the 2022-2023 academic school year. Additionally, we will describe the findings of the design team and feedback provided by teachers. Performance in earlier portions of the test was higher, aligning with teacher reports of students not finishing the exam. Students specifically scored high when asked to identify the problem within the scenario, describe how the engineering design process could be used to address the scenario, identify stakeholders and experts in the scenario, consider the value to society in solving the problem identified, and in choosing appropriate design solutions given a set of design requirements. The initial findings indicated that the exam needed to be shorter, and more aligned in scope to the type of design projects that students engage in during the curriculum. Next steps will be to create a new scenario and implement this with additional instructional scaffolds to tie into the classroom experience.

Citation
Format

Chipps, J., & Klein-Gardner, S. S., & Lachapelle, C. P., & Schill, S. A. (2024, June), Board 159: Development and Initial Findings of a Summative Assessment for High School Engineering Course (Evaluation, Work in Progress) Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46720

TY - CPAPER
AB - The [PROGRAM NAME] is a high school engineering course aimed at broadening participation in engineering offered at over XXX schools across the country. This curriculum emphasizes the role of teams in engineering as well as enabling students to engage in authentic engineering design. In the 2021-2022 school year, our team began to develop and offer an end-of-course assessment to explore and communicate student learning in a summative manner. The assessment structure includes a portfolio and a scenario based exam. The portfolio is a team-produced document that describes the design process the team embark in over a period of time. A scenario- based exam is used to assess individual understanding of the engineering design. The scenario-based exam has been piloted several times and we present the initial findings as well as steps for future consideration of summative course assessment in high school engineering courses. This scenario included an authentic engineering problem related to urban design and planning in the suburbs of Nashville, TN. The exam included engineering artifacts designed by members of the team that worked on the actual project, as well as data related to the problem from relevant government agencies and media. Students were given the exam online, in their own classrooms. Teachers were given the opportunity to determine whether to administer the exam in a single long session or multiple shorter sessions. After administering the exam, teachers and students were able to provide feedback. We present the initial findings from the 2022-2023 academic school year. Additionally, we will describe the findings of the design team and feedback provided by teachers. Performance in earlier portions of the test was higher, aligning with teacher reports of students not finishing the exam. Students specifically scored high when asked to identify the problem within the scenario, describe how the engineering design process could be used to address the scenario, identify stakeholders and experts in the scenario, consider the value to society in solving the problem identified, and in choosing appropriate design solutions given a set of design requirements. The initial findings indicated that the exam needed to be shorter, and more aligned in scope to the type of design projects that students engage in during the curriculum. Next steps will be to create a new scenario and implement this with additional instructional scaffolds to tie into the classroom experience.
AU - Jeanette Chipps
AU - Stacy S Klein-Gardner
AU - Cathy P. Lachapelle
AU - Sabina Anne Schill
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 159: Development and Initial Findings of a Summative Assessment for High School Engineering Course (Evaluation, Work in Progress)
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46720
ER -