Page 52 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

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Conclusions and Recommendations

The committee believes that the evolving status of K–12 engineering education severely
limits the potential value of developing traditional content standards. For this reason, we con-
clude that an initiative to develop such standards should not be undertaken at this time. Instead,
several steps should be taken to increase the presence and improve quality and consistency of
engineering education for K–12 students in the United States.

Step 1: Reach Consensus on Core Ideas in Engineering

To take full advantage of the infusion and mapping approaches discussed in Chapter 3 and to
support curriculum development, teacher professional development, and assessment in K–12
engineering education, the committee concludes that it is necessary to first identify the most
important concepts, skills, and habits of mind in engineering. As has been done in other fields,
such as ocean science, we should articulate essential core ideas, rather than developing standards.
These core ideas, or big ideas, might be thought of as a first step toward the development of
content standards, essential elements on which educational standards would need to be based.
Core ideas, which are distillations of the essential nature of a field or practice, will necessarily be
few in number. Content standards typically elaborate these core ideas as grade- or age-specific
benchmarks or learning progressions based, when possible, on research in the cognitive sciences.
However, even if the core ideas do not lead to full-fledged standards, they will still be useful.
They may, for example, prompt research that clarifies learning progressions for basic concepts,
say, the idea of constraints. And their lack of specificity can provide flexibility for the various
groups, from guidance counselors and teachers to test and textbook developers, interested in K–
12 engineering education. Table 4-1 summarizes the key differences between content standards
for K–12 engineering education and core ideas in engineering.

RECOMMENDATION 1. Federal agencies, foundations, and professional engineering
societies with an interest in improving precollege engineering education should fund a consensus
process to develop a document describing the core ideas—concepts, skills, and dispositions—of
engineering that are appropriate for K–12 students. The process should incorporate feedback
from a wide range of stakeholders. Work should begin as soon as possible, and the findings
should be shared with key audiences, including developers of new or revised standards in
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology at the national and state levels.

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