There is a considerable lack of women in the engineering disciplines at tertiary level in New Zealand. This is an economic issue because innovation and creativity in engineering are supported by diversity which directly and indirectly supports the New Zealand economy. Improving diversity in engineering will also improve equity. Literature suggests…

Mathematics plays a crucial role in engineering education. Students who are good at math are often advised to consider engineering as a career. In this study, engineers, mathematics teachers, and engineering professors were asked about the type of mathematics representative of engineering, whether the engineering problems created by math…

Demand for engineering-interested and proficient high school graduates continues to grow across the nation. However, there remains a severe gap in college participation and employment in engineering fields for students with learning disabilities (SWLDs). One potential way to encourage SWLDs to consider engineering as a profession and promote the…

K-12 science teachers in the United States are encouraged to teach their students engineering. When incorporating engineering into their science curricula, teachers commonly either focus on: (1) engineering and lace science throughout; or (2) science and lace engineering throughout. This study explores middle school students' nature of engineering…

The need for engineers in the workforce continues to grow. Filling this need requires recruiting future engineers to colleges and universities and retaining them through to degree completion. However, this is easier said than done. Universities are tasked with attempting to keep up with the demand for new engineers and companies are searching for…

The aims of this research were to examine the changes in the students' perceptions of engineers, engineering as a profession, learning of engineering design processes (EDP), awareness of engineering branches, and their future career choices through Engineering Design Process activities with the 5E learning model. Sixty disadvantaged students…

Engineering design that requires mathematical analysis, scientific understanding, and technology is critical for preparing students for solving engineering problems. In simulated design environments, students are expected to learn about science and engineering through their design. However, there is a lack of understanding concerning linking…

The following study was conducted as a qualitative narrative study of four Mexican American secondary engineering teachers, including my own auto-ethnography as a Mexican American engineer and educator, working in school districts populated by primarily Mexican American students. The study stemmed from a general lack of attention in the literature…

Engineering for US All (e4usa) is a National Science Foundation-funded first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at making engineering more inclusive and accessible to underrepresented populations. The "for us all" mission of e4usa encompasses both students and teachers. Paramount to the success of e4usa was the construction of professional…

Recently, integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has gained sustained attention in K-12 settings, and engineering design-based pedagogy has become a key issue. Compared with rich research in higher education, relatively few studies are performed on engineering education in K-12 schools. In this study, we…

This exploratory study compares how young people (ages 15-16) learn circuitry concepts and layout design principles important to electrical engineering using one of two educational circuitry toolkits: paper circuits and traditional solderless breadboards. Paper-based prototyping kits are representative of a trend that incorporates new materials…

Globally, young people are asking questions about social responsibility. California addresses this in the second draft of its updated mathematics framework, still unreleased as this article goes to press. It defines these questions as authentic, suggesting that classrooms "include, at times . . . contexts students can engage with as a way to…

In this article, it is argued that processes of co-production can support teachers and students in organizing resources for justice through science learning. Drawing upon a critical justice conceptual framework, critical ethnographic data from one urban middle school classroom during a unit focused on engineering for sustainable communities were…

Despite an increasing focus on integrating engineering design in K-12 settings, relatively few studies have investigated how to support students to engage in systematic processes to optimize the designs of their solutions. Emerging learning technologies such as computational models and simulations enable rapid feedback to learners about their…

This three-manuscript dissertation in practice used improvement science as the methodological approach of disciplined inquiry into a problem of practice--the discrepancy of male and female participation in engineering design-based (EDB) courses and clubs in Starr School District. Manuscript 1 centered around diagnosing the problem and delved into…