Page 57 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

42 STANDARDS FOR K–12 ENGINEERING EDUCATION?

Recommendation 3. The following research questions should be part of a wide-ranging
research agenda in K–12 engineering education funded by the National Science Foundation,
other federal agencies, and the private sector:

• How do children come to understand (or misunderstand) core concepts and apply (or
misapply) skills in engineering?
• What are the most effective ways of introducing and sequencing engineering concepts
and skills for learners at the elementary, middle, and high school levels?
• What are the most important synergies in the learning and teaching of engineering and
mathematics, science, technology, and other subjects?
• What are the most important considerations in designing materials, programs,
assessments, and educator professional development that engage all learners, including
those historically underrepresented in engineering?
• What are the best settings and strategies for enabling young people to understand
engineering in schools, informal education institutions, and after-school programs?

Step 4: Measure the Impact of Reforms

The committee is aware how difficult it can be to measure the impact of reform efforts in K–
12 education. Even when quality evaluations are conducted, it can be very hard to determine
which educational interventions are most effective (e.g., DOEd, 2007). Despite these challenges,
however, the committee concludes that in the case of standards infusion and mapping, core ideas,
and guidelines for instructional materials development, it will be very important to assess how
these efforts affect the development of K–12 engineering education in the United States over
time. It will also be important to compare reforms in this country with efforts in other countries
to introduce engineering to precollege students. Such data will provide a basis on which to either
modify or discontinue one or more of these efforts.

Recommendation 4. Federal agencies with an interest in improving STEM education should
support a large-scale survey to establish a comprehensive picture of K–12 engineering education
nationally and at the state level. The survey should encompass formal and informal education,
including after-school initiatives; build on data collected in the recent National Academies report
on K–12 engineering education; and be conducted by an experienced education research
organization. The survey should be periodically repeated to measure changes in the quality,
scale, and impact of K–12 engineering education, and it should specifically take into account
how the recommended practices of infusion and mapping, consensus on core ideas in
engineering, and the development of guidelines for instructional materials have contributed to
change. An effort should be made to compare the survey data with impact data from other
countries’ efforts to introduce engineering to precollege students.

The committee suggests that measurable “indicators,” such as those proposed in Box 4-2, be
developed to guide the research.
The survey data, combined with new findings from research on how K–12 engineering
education is affecting student learning and interest in STEM disciplines, should be used to
reassess the need for content standards for K–12 engineering education, modification of the

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