This article examines the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program and investigates its impact on underrepresented student populations. MESA was started in California during the 1970s to provide pathways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers for underrepresented students and represents an exemplar model…

The issue of attracting more young people to choose careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become critical for the United States. Recent studies by businesses, associations, and education have all agreed that the United States' performance in the STEM disciplines have placed the nation in grave risk of…

In 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) secured funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to infuse engineering design into the schools through technology education. In order to reach this goal the researchers, in cooperation with NCETE, conducted a two phase study to identify outcomes for high-school…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using renewable energy data, obtained from a comprehensive data acquisition system, on improving students' learning and developing their higher-order learning skills. This study used renewable energy data available through a data acquisition system installed and tested by the Green Research…

The complexity of engineering and its integration into K-12 education have resulted in a variety of issues requiring sustained empirical research (Johnson, Burghardt, & Daugherty, 2008). One particular area of need, given the emphasis on teacher effects on student learning, is to research engineering-oriented teacher professional development. A…

It is no coincidence that many of the "Grand Challenges for Engineering" (National Academy of Engineering, 2007-2010)--such as carbon sequestration--address environmental problems that were precipitated by human inventiveness and engineering achievements. Although people recognize their dependence upon environmental processes to provide…

Through the efforts of National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE), three core engineering concepts within the realm of engineering design have emerged as crucial areas of need within secondary level technology education. These concepts are constraints, optimization, and predictive analysis (COPA). COPA appears to be at the…

Since the publication of the Standards for Technological Literacy in 2000 (ITEA), there have been a number of new programs developed that are designed to teach pre-engineering. Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is one such program. Project Lead the Way boasts serving over 1250 schools in 44 states and teaching over 160,000 students. Another program is…