Page 60 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 45

ANNEX

General Principles for K–12 Engineering Education

Principle 1. K–12 engineering education should emphasize engineering design.

The design process, the engineering approach to identifying and solving problems, is
(1) highly iterative; (2) open to the idea that a problem may have many possible solutions; (3) a
meaningful context for learning scientific, mathematical, and technological concepts; and (4) a
stimulus to systems thinking, modeling, and analysis. In all of these ways, engineering design is
a potentially useful pedagogical strategy.

Principle 2. K–12 engineering education should incorporate important and developmen-
tally appropriate mathematics, science, and technology knowledge and skills.
Certain science concepts as well as the use of scientific inquiry methods can support
engineering design activities. Similarly, certain mathematical concepts and computational
methods can support engineering design, especially in service of analysis and modeling.
Technology and technology concepts can illustrate the outcomes of engineering design, provide
opportunities for “reverse engineering” activities, and encourage the consideration of social,
environmental, and other impacts of engineering design decisions. Testing and measurement
technologies, such as thermometers and oscilloscopes; software for data acquisition and manage-
ment; computational and visualization tools, such as graphing calculators and CAD/CAM (i.e.,
computer design) programs; and the Internet should be used, as appropriate, to support engineer-
ing design, particularly at the high school level.

Principle 3. K–12 engineering education should promote engineering habits of mind.

Engineering “habits of mind” align with what many believe are essential skills for citizens in
the 21st century. These include (1) systems thinking, (2) creativity, (3) optimism, (4) collab-
oration, (5) communication, and (6) attention to ethical considerations. Systems thinking equips
students to recognize essential interconnections in the technological world and to appreciate that
systems may have unexpected effects that cannot be predicted from the behavior of individual
subsystems.
Creativity is inherent in the engineering design process. Optimism reflects a world view in
which possibilities and opportunities can be found in every challenge and an understanding that
every technology can be improved. Engineering is a “team sport”; collaboration leverages the
perspectives, knowledge, and capabilities of team members to address a design challenge.
Communication is essential to effective collaboration, to understanding the particular wants and
needs of a “customer,” and to explaining and justifying the final design solution. Ethical consid-
erations draw attention to the impacts of engineering on people and the environment; ethical
considerations include possible unintended consequences of a technology, the potential dispro-
portionate advantages or disadvantages of a technology for certain groups or individuals, and
other issues.

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