The article offers information on making technology education students interested in science and mathematics through the use of a T-shirt launcher design project. This project was designed for junior and senior level high school students who have completed or are currently taking physics and precalculus. The project involves designing an…

The number of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is declining due in part to a lack of student interest (Fairweather 2008; NRC 2012; PCAST 2010). One reason may be the difference between how science is done in school and how it is done in the field (Osborne, Simon, and Collins 2003). An interdisciplinary…

This paper presents low-cost experiments for a control systems laboratory module that is worth one and a third credits. The experiments are organized around the microcontroller-based control of a permanent magnet dc motor. The experimental setups were built in-house. Except for the operating system, the software used is primarily freeware or free…

The Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) strives to improve STEM education through engineering and believes every student should have the chance to engineer. Situated in Massachusetts, the first state to adopt engineering education at all levels in public schools (Massachusetts DOE, 2001), the CEEO supports the…

In this article, the author suggests a classroom challenge that will engage students in designing a house on the hill. He suggests teachers ask a local builder to come to the school to discuss the kinds of concerns that must be dealt with when building homes in cold environments. The use of dioramas and cardboard scale models would be very useful…

This article describes an approach to developing student reading materials that support middle school learners in a project-based, inquiry curriculum for grades 6 through 8. Reading materials are designed to encourage sense making beyond the classroom, as students read and write about science as it takes place in a classroom and as it occurs in…