The elementary education teacher preparation program at North Carolina State University is a STEM-focused program that requires a course in engineering and technology called Children Design, Invent, Create. For the fall 2009 semester, the course was taught by a faculty member of the College of Engineering from an engineering perspective. Although only one set of assessment data is available, presentation of this data is quite timely, because this course is unique among offerings across the country. The pre-service teachers in the class represented a variety of backgrounds, but generally displayed lower self-efficacy than engineering students of their age. The general lack of understanding of such students with regards to engineering, including the differences and similarities among the various STEM disciplines as well as their own feelings of fear and/or inadequacy when faced with problem solving tasks may represent a significant barrier to the potential recruiting success of future engineering students. This paper will describe the results of self-efficacy assessments, the methods used in presentation of the course material and the ways in which the students were challenged and motivated throughout the course. In addition a partnership with a local elementary school class that illustrated actually classroom learning as a means of modeling lessons will be described.
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