Page 72 - Standards for K-12 Engineering Education

Standards for K-12 Engineering Education?

APPENDIX B 57

they should develop abilities in engineering design and habits of mind. Content standards are
different from other standards, such as performance standards, professional development
standards, and teaching standards (see Table 1).

Table 1 Some Terms Used in Standards-Based Reform

CONTENT STANDARDS. A description of the knowledge and skills students are expected
to learn by the end of their schooling in a certain subject. Content standards describe learning
outcomes, but they are not instructional materials (i.e., lessons, classes, courses of study, or
school programs).

CURRICULUM. The way content is delivered. Curriculum includes the structure,
organization, balance, and presentation of content in the classroom.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. A description of the form and function of achievement
that serves as evidence that students have learned, usually described in relation to content
standards. Performance standards sometimes identify levels of achievement (e.g., basic,
proficient, advanced) for content standards.

TEACHING STANDARDS. Descriptions of the educational experiences provided by
teachers, textbooks, and technology. Teaching standards should indicate the quality of instruction
for students and may emphasize unique features, such as design experiences in engineering and
the use of integrated instructional sequences.

The History of the Idea of Education Standards
More than a century ago, the Committee of Ten, a working group of educators assembled
to standardize the American high school curriculum, recommended college admissions
requirements, including that students had some experience in a science laboratory. The
committee’s report influenced numerous programs and practices in the nation’s schools (DeBoer,
1991; Sizer, 1964). One example is especially relevant to national standards. The report was the
impetus for the development of the Harvard Descriptive List, a description of experiments in
physics to be used as part of the admission requirements for the college. Students applying to
Harvard would be required to complete 40 experiments and a written test about the experiments
and principles of physics. The point is that the Harvard Descriptive List meets the definition of
an educational standard, a combination of content and teaching standards.
Since the late 1800s, numerous policies, generally in the form of committee reports, have
described what are now referred to as educational standards, including standards for science.
Technology and engineering were almost never mentioned. However, in recent decades,
technology has often been (incorrectly) referred to as applied science.
In the late 1980s, in the latter years of the “Sputnik era,” a new stage of education
emerged, which can be characterized as the “standards era.” The likely origin of this era is the
1983 report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk. Two
recommendations from that report set the stage for the development of educational standards:
(1) strengthening the content of the core curriculum; and (2) raising expectations by using
measurable standards. The report described course requirements in five core subjects—English,

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