A REPORT ON A GK-12 PROGRAM: ENGINEERING AS A CONTEXTUAL VEHICLE FOR MATH AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

摘要

This work reports on the cumulative results of a four year NSF GK-12 program that partnered Drexel University with the School District of Philadelphia. The premise of the program was to place GK-12 fellows in school classrooms to benefit the fellows, teachers, and students. The specific goals of the program were to improve the teaching, communication, and team skills of the GK-12 fellows, provide mentoring experiences for the GK-12 fellows, provide content enhancement for the GK-12 teachers, enrich and excite the science and math learning experiences of middle grade students, and to further strengthen the relationship between our university and the school district. The strategy for accomplishing this was the development of a unique presentation model that uses engineering in context and examples of engineering in the world around us as a vehicle through which to integrate and enrich the teaching of science and mathematics while embedding feedback and interactive processes by which the fellows, teachers, and students communicate shared experiences. The school students and GK-12 teachers gain an appreciation for the science and mathematics concepts in an applied, real world context while the GK-12 fellows become knowledgeable in pedagogy through direct application of their technical/scientific expertise in the context of the classroom setting, interaction with the teacher, mentoring students, and building their personal teaching and confidence. Thus the GK-12 fellows, teacher, and middle grade students all "learn-by-doing". Throughout its four year existence, our GK-12 program has impacted a large number of fellows, teachers and students. In total twenty one fellows partnered with twenty teachers from ten different public schools to impact over 1500 students. The student population was composed of primarily minority and low-income students. The fellows have developed more than 250 engineering based modules that are available for public access. To assess the effectiveness of the program, the fellows, teachers, and students were monitored throughout the school year. The fellows completed multiple surveys and wrote weekly reflection journals. The students were surveyed at the beginning and end of the year, while the teachers completed mid and end of year surveys. Evaluations of all three populations showed positive outcomes. The fellows developed their communication skills in the classroom and gained experience communicating their research to a non-specialized audience; the teachers reported their partner fellow as being a valuable asset to the classroom in a number of ways; and the students showed an increase in their knowledge of engineering, as well as their math and science skills. In essence, our GK-12 program has been a true asset to the participating schools, classrooms, teachers, and fellows. It enriched education, utilized higher order thinking processes, incorporated technology and investigation, and created an environment where students work together to explore complex science concepts in a fun and exciting way. The teachers benefited by having a true expert in the classroom that implemented engineering modules and exposed the students to experiences they would not otherwise receive. Finally, the fellows developed as teachers, mentors, communicators and built partnerships with public school teachers and students.