Using low-cost electronic components and building blocks, we have developed an effective teaching module where students design and test light-scattering, air-quality sensors to introduce them to chemical and environmental engineering research. This module has been successful in engaging the public, developing citizen scientists, and bridging gaps…

To be technologically and engineering literate, people should be able to "make" or produce quality solutions to engineering design challenges while recognizing and understanding how to avoid hazards in a broad array of situations when properly using tools, machines, and materials (Haynie, 2009; Gunter, 2007; ITEA/ITEEA, 2000/2002/2007).…

This article illustrates how mathematics teachers can develop design-focused projects, related to project-based learning, to motivate secondary mathematics students. With first-hand experience as a secondary mathematics teacher, I provide a series of steps related to the engineering design process, which are helpful to teachers in developing…

The Next Generation Science Standards call for the integration of science and engineering. Often, the introduction of engineering activities occurs after instruction in the science content. That is, engineering is used as a way for students to elaborate on science ideas that have already been explored. However, using only this sequence of…

Context based learning (CBL) is a powerful tool that utilises areas of student interest framed in meaningful contexts to foster development of new skills and understanding. For middle school students, engineering activities that relate to real-world problems provide suitable CBL contexts for acquiring conceptual scientific and mathematical…

A multipart laboratory activity introducing microbeads was created to meet engineering and engineering design practices consistent with new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Microbeads are a current topic of concern as they have been found to cause adverse impacts in both marine and freshwater systems resulting in multiple states proposing…

The Family and Consumer Science (FCS) Department at Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, planted a garden to provide students with an organic horticulture experience. Although the garden provided the FCS Department space to grow plants, Patton Middle School FCS teachers Betsy Ballard and Kim Hislert believed it wasn't…

Studies show that overall seafood consumption in the United States is rising (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2012). Other research estimates that as much as 40% of the seafood caught worldwide is discarded, while countless sharks, whales, dolphins, birds, sea turtles, and other animals are unintentionally killed or injured by fishing gear…

This paper considers an approach to studying issues in technology and science, which integrates design and inquiry activities towards creating and exploring technological models of scientific phenomena. We implemented this approach in a context where the learner inquires into a biological phenomenon and develops its representation in the form of a…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators are facing the challenge of attracting more students. The disparity between the need for engineers and the enrollment of engineering students is growing (Genalo, Bruning, & Adams, 2000), and career aspirations of high school students are inconsistent with the employment…

Are there different kinds of design problems? Jonassen (2011) argued that problems vary in terms of structuredness, complexity, and context. On the structuredness and complexity continua, design problems tend to be the most ill-structured and complex. Brown and Chandrasekaran suggest that design problems may vary along a continuum from…

Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University, in collaboration with the marine industry and local school systems, is improving STEM preparation using innovative experiences for students and teachers in the nation's major shipbuilding and repair areas through MarineTech and SBRCD (Shipbuilding Repair and Maritime Career Day) projects. The…

Since its initial funding by the National Science Foundation in 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) has worked to understand the infusion of engineering design experiences into the high school setting. Over the years, an increasing number of educators and professional groups have participated in the expanding…

Technology Engineering is an innovative component of a much larger arena of teaching that effectively uses interactive technology as a method of enhancing learning and the learning environment. Using this method to teach science and math content empowers the teacher and enhances the curriculum as the classroom becomes more efficient and effective.…