Engineering Frameworks for a High School Setting:Guidelines for Technical Literacy for High School Students

摘要

The introduction of engineering concepts into the classroom is a relatively new idea that isbeing adopted and written into several state science frameworks. As part of a National ScienceFoundation grant titled, da Vinci Ambassadors in the Classroom – The Galileo Project,graduate fellows in the Project have developed a set of engineering education frameworks(EEF) that describe what technically literate students should know by the time they graduatefrom high school. These novel engineering frameworks incorporate concepts in the fields ofmathematics, science and engineering with a systematic approach to a prescribed high schoolcurriculum that promotes technical literacy. Currently, the educational structure in thedisciplines of mathematics and science, have content frameworks that describe what studentsshould know by the time they graduate from high school. The organizations that governdiscipline standards, the National Research Council (for science) and the National Council ofTeachers of Mathematics, have defined content standards and how to implement thesestandards into the classroom. These math and science standards outline the pathway that guidestudent’s content knowledge in mathematics and science from kindergarten through 12th grade.However, it has been suggested that engineering concepts be incorporated into the traditionalmath and science frameworks and be implemented into the high school curriculum, resulting ina paradigm shift from rigid, content driven, discipline-specific course work to a more problembased engineering decision making model. The challenge for school districts to incorporate theengineering frameworks into the current science and mathematics curriculum therebypromoting technical literacy for their high school students, will be necessary in order forstudents to fully understand increasingly complex technology they will face in their everydaylives.