The Effect Of A Teacher Professional Development Integrated Curriculum Workshop On Perceptions Of Design, Engineering, And Technology Experiences
- Conference
- Location
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Austin, Texas
- Publication Date
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June 14, 2009
- Start Date
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June 14, 2009
- End Date
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June 17, 2009
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
- Page Count
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12
- Page Numbers
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14.1204.1 - 14.1204.12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--5520
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/5520
- Download Count
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436
Paper Authors
Karen High Oklahoma State University
Pasha Antonenko Oklahoma State University
PAVLO (PASHA) ANTONENKO holds B.S. and M.A. degrees in English and German philology from Nizhyn State University, Ukraine, and a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology and Human-Computer Interaction from Iowa State University (2007). Dr. Antonenko is an Assistant Professor in the School of Educational Studies at Oklahoma State University where he teaches educational technology courses, advises graduate students, and conducts research on psychophysiological measurements of cognitive load, open source applications, digital gaming, and design of effective learning environments. Dr. Antonenko is a consultant for Hewlett Packard Philanthropy, International Society for Technology in Education, and NASA's Digital Learning Network.
Rebecca Damron Oklahoma State University
REBECCA DAMRON earned her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987 in South Asian Studies, her M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language in 1992 from Oklahoma State University, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1997 from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Damron worked in the writing program in the department of English at the University of Tulsa from 1996-2001, and is currently an Assistant Professor of English and Director of the OSU Writing Center at Oklahoma State University. Her main research interests are in writing in the disciplines, discourse analysis of talk about writing and corpus-based analysis of written texts.
Susan Stansberry Oklahoma State University
SUSAN STANSBERRY is Associate Professor and Chair of Educational Technology at Oklahoma State University, where she is the founder and director of the Oklahoma State Student Media Festival, works closely with NCATE accreditation, and has received numerous state and federal grants focused on improving teaching and learning in K12 schools. Her research interests include implementation of media and technology in teaching and learning, organizational culture of educational institutions, mentoring teachers, and information literacy issues.
Gayla Hudson Oklahoma State University
GAYLA HUDSON earned her B.S. from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1987, she earned her M.A. in 1989 and Ed.D. in 2000 from the University of Oklahoma in Education Administration and Curriculum Development. Dr. Hudson serves as a Research Administrator for Oklahoma State University. She has 15 years of experience in grant management and evaluation. She has managed federal and state grants, as well as written, implemented, and evaluated multiple grants. Her expertise includes developing collaborative partnerships for successful grant implementation.
Jean Dockers Oklahoma State University
Alonzo Peterson Langston University
ALONZO PETERSON earned his B.S in 1993 and his M.S. in 1996 from Southern University-Baton Rouge. He earned his Ph.D. in 2004 from Louisiana State University in Mathematics Education. Dr. Peterson serves as the Chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Langston University, OK. He also serves as the Director of the Intensive Summer Academy in Mathematics, science and Technology for high school students and a number of other STEM related programs. Dr. Peterson interests include Process-Object Reification in Mathematics and curriculum and instruction development for high school and collegiate mathematics programs.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
The Effect of a Teacher Professional Development Integrated Curriculum Workshop on Perceptions of Design, Engineering, and Technology Experiences Abstract
The goal of a professional development workshop on the use of DET activities in the classroom was to provide middle- and high-school level teachers (n=80) with the content knowledge and pedagogical skills to engage students in solving authentic, multi-disciplinary problems in a relevant context of sustainability engineering. Multi-disciplinary teams of teachers representing mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, and technology participated in a two-week summer workshop, follow-up sessions and an online professional learning community. Teacher teams experienced and developed cross-disciplinary, problem-based learning modules that correlated with state standards (e.g., design of a windmill). The teachers produced interdisciplinary engineering units that contained language art, social studies, technology, science and math content (this is a novel approach to professional development). Through various assessments, participants were encouraged to reflect on their own practice and use of DET activities to make effective choices regarding students’ learning. The purpose of this study was to understand teachers’ perceptions of the value and use of design, engineering, and technology (DET) activities in integrating science, mathematics, language arts, social studies, and technology in K-12 education.
Background
The integrative and inquiry-oriented nature of design and engineering creates the perfect vehicle for application of math and science at the middle- and high-school level. Inquiry learning in science and mathematics requires students to do more than sit and watch the teacher. It requires them to combine both scientific processes with content knowledge—they must use scientific reasoning and critical thinking to develop their understanding.1 Students must apply multiple content areas such as mathematics, reading, writing, and speaking as they work through the many layers of an engineering activity. Students must be able to ask questions, make observations, design and conduct investigations, use appropriate technologies in order to gather and analyze data, utilize critical thinking skills, use evidence to develop explanations and predictions, and communicate this information to others.2
Engineering inquiries are designed to allow students to manipulate their environment in search of answers to questions they have. Students involved in real-life problem solving, inquiry-based activities develop strong and lasting conceptual understandings of fundamental scientific concepts.3,4 Using inquiry-oriented activities in the science classroom improves students’ attitudes toward science and scientists.5 To this end, teachers must be able to structure the kinds of powerful problems that will engage students in productive inquiry. They must, themselves, understand the content necessary and reasoning goals appropriate to the inquiry, and to be successful, they must be able to mediate student’s thinking and reasoning.
Many teachers, and consequently their students, lack such a comprehensive level of scientific and technological literacy. Nationally, recent calls to action6 strongly urge policymakers to
High, K., & Antonenko, P., & Damron, R., & Stansberry, S., & Hudson, G., & Dockers, J., & Peterson, A. (2009, June), The Effect Of A Teacher Professional Development Integrated Curriculum Workshop On Perceptions Of Design, Engineering, And Technology Experiences Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5520
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