Page 63 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

48 STANDARDS FOR K–12 ENGINEERING EDUCATION?

Christine Cunningham, vice president at the Museum of Science, Boston, and founder and
director of the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) project, oversees the development of curricular
materials, teacher professional development, and research and evaluation related to learning and
teaching K-16 engineering and science. Her focus is on making engineering and science
relevant, understandable, and accessible to everyone, especially marginalized populations, such
as women, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities. The EiE project (EiE,
www.mos.org/eie), founded in 2003, is creating a research-based, standards-based, classroom-
tested curriculum that integrates engineering and technology concepts and skills with elementary
science topics. As EiE director, Dr. Cunningham is responsible for setting the vision and
strategy and securing funding (to date more than $22 million in grants) to support her projects
and research. She earned a joint B.A. and M.A. in biology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in
science education from Cornell University.

Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, an associate professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue
University, received her B.S. and M.S. in food science from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in
agricultural and biological engineering from Purdue University. As director of teacher profes-
sional development for the Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE), she
has developed week-long summer academies and shorter programs for elementary school
teachers interested in integrating engineering concepts into their instructional materials. Since
2006, more than 350 teachers in 17 states have attended the academies. Dr. Diefes-Dux is also
principal investigator of “R&D: Quality Cyber-Enabled, Engineering Education Professional
Development to Support Teacher Change and Student Achievement,” a Discovery Research K–
12 Project funded by the National Science Foundation. The purpose of the project is to develop
a learning progression for elementary school teachers to improve their capability of adopting and
refining engineering learning materials in the classroom. Dr. Diefes-Dix also conducts research
on developing, implementing, and assessing authentic mathematical modeling problems for K–
16 settings. She is a coauthor of Models and Modeling in Engineering Education: Designing
Experiences for All Students (Sense Publishers, 2008).

Mario Godoy-Gonzales is the English as a Second Language/bilingual teacher of science, biol-
ogy/biotechnology, mathematics, reading, writing, and world history at Royal High School in
Royal City, Washington. After emigrating from Chile in 1994, he began his career teaching the
children of migrant workers. In 1996, he participated in a summer professional development
workshop at the Science Education Partnership at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center,
where he was introduced to the emerging field of biotechnology, which became the jumping-off
point for his science classes. Later, a summer research fellowship from the M.J. Murdock Trust
enabled him to conduct his own research at Central Washington University. Mario has received
numerous awards, such as the Golden Apple for Excellence in Education in Washington State,
Washington State Migrant Education Teacher of the Year, NEA/NFIE Donna Rhodes Award for
Innovation in Education through the Use of Technology in the Classroom, National Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) Gustav Ohaus Award for Innovation in Science Teaching, MIT
Network of Educators in Science and Technology Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and Amgen
Award for Science Teaching Excellence. He has given numerous presentations (e.g., to the Soci-
ety for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science [SACNAS] and NSTA) de-
scribing his experiences and has received many grants (e.g., the NSTA Toyota TAPESTRY grant
and the NEA Innovation grant). Mario is also deeply involved with his community (coaching

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