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…

In STEM education, the engineering design process serves as a pedagogical strategy to connect science and mathematics concepts. While STEM approaches are increasingly favored in science courses, the role of mathematics in integrated STEM activities is often overlooked, despite its foundational importance across STEM disciplines. This manuscript…

This study aims to investigate affordances of models and modelling in design projects in technology education. To learn more about affordances when working with models and modelling, four Swedish technology teachers were interviewed using a narrative approach. Despite a small number of informants data were rich, containing detailed descriptions of…

This study involves the development and implementation of a STEM activity containing 3 D printer technology, which is commonly used in STEM education. Out of school STEM courses were organized with seven middle school students studying in the 7th grade and the activities in the course were carried out with a 3D printer. One of the activities in…

As education works to reconnect student learning to something more than standardized testing, project-based learning (PBL) has become a popular way to increase student engagement while providing more authentic applications of student knowledge. While research regarding PBL is bountiful, little has been done to connect this body of research with…

More than 60% of U.S. school children are being educated in states in which Next Generation Science Standards or other framework-derived standards have been adopted. This vision demands a central role for students to engage in science and engineering practices to build and use science ideas, rather than solely learning about the science others…

The aim of this 2-group study was to investigate the following question: Are there significant differences between scaffolded design-based learning controlled using 7 forms and teacher-directed instruction methods for the toy crane project on grade 7 students' posttest scores on the simple machines achievement test, attitude toward simple…

Decision matrices are valuable engineering tools. They allow engineers to objectively examine solution options. Decision matrices can be incorporated in K-12 classrooms to support authentic engineering instruction. In this article we provide examples of how decision matrices have been incorporated into 6th and 7th grade classrooms as part of an…

This paper reports on some findings from the first year of a three-year longitudinal study, in which seventh- to ninth-graders were introduced to engineering education. Specifically, the paper addresses students' responses to an initial design activity involving bridge construction, which was implemented at the end of seventh grade. This paper…

For successful work in the classroom, it is important to create a positive climate and to involve students actively in the process of learning. The presented research focused on how the students perceived the classroom climate, and on their interest in the contents of the subject Science, Engineering and Technology (STE). 92 primary school sixth-…

The university aims to form professionals through transmission and dissemination of knowledge, therefore, the Extension, as a tool of the universities, has a major role contributing to improvements in the learning and teaching process. The Extension projects are extremely important for The Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), since…

This case study reviewed the collaborative efforts of university engineers, teacher educators, and middle school teachers to advance sixth- and seventh-grade students' learning through a series of project-based engineering activities. This two-year project enriched regular school curricula by introducing real-world applications of science and…

In K-12 classrooms, as well as on the college and university level, the incorporation of digital games has played a vital role in the educational system. While introducing teachers to new fields, these digital games have been designed and implemented for the classroom and have shown positive results at a variety of educational levels. Cases on…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center, and their partners at other NASA centers and in private industry, are designing and beginning to develop the next generation of spacecraft to transport cargo, equipment, and human explorers to space. These vehicles--the Ares I and Ares V launch…

These proceedings contain the papers of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2013), October 22-24, 2013, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), co-organized by The University of North Texas (UNT), sponsored by the…