Fostering experiential learning experiences that allow students to apply their design thinking skills is important for developing technological and engineering (T&E) literacy. However, K-12 schools must ensure that educators providing these experiential T&E experiences are adequately prepared and supported to maintain a safer teaching and…

Mind mapping is a visualization tool used in instruction that can be applied by learners to generate ideas, take notes, organize thinking, and develop concepts. Instruction using mind mapping is becoming increasingly commonly used in education. However, research has produced inconsistent results regarding the effectiveness of mind mapping-based…

One effort to reducing air pollution and global warming in recent years has centered on the replacement of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles with alternative energy options such as electric-powered transportation. In fact, electric vehicle technology is one of the fastest-growing, and ever-evolving, sectors of the energy industry (TR Fastenings, 2019).…

Clean energy is a topic of increasing political and cultural significance in the age of climate change, and as such can be an interesting topic with which to engage students. One avenue to produce large quantities of power is through harnessing nuclear reactions; however, the social stigma and fear of expanding nuclear power have placed several…

The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis study was to understand the perspectives of Massachusetts biology teachers and discover if the 2016 changes to the Massachusetts Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE) Curriculum Frameworks impacted their instructional practices and pedagogy. Concentrating on the consequences of…

Today's world is shaped by technology and products engineered to serve society's needs and wants. The knowledge and skills required to develop and use these products are changing at an exponential rate (NASE&M, 2017; NRC, 2011). In order to understand and meet future challenges, it is vital that the United States produce technology- and…

The Next Generation Science Standards call for the integration of engineering into mainstream science education, yet challenges arise for teachers unfamiliar with engineering-based pedagogy or concepts. The INSPIRES Hemodialysis educative curriculum may address such challenges by explicitly integrating all areas of STEM in an authentic learning…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent of the relationship between select technology and science preparation experiences of United States (US) technology and engineering (T&E) teachers and their teaching of science content and practices. Utilizing a fully integrated mixed methods design (Teddlie and Tashakkori in "Res…

A modified Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) (Piburn & Sawada, 2000) instrument was used to separately examine eight technology and engineering (T&E) educators' teaching of science, and T&E content and practices, as called for by the "Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology"…

Engineers are faced with solving important problems every day and must follow a step-by-step design process to arrive at solutions. Students who are taught an effective design process to apply to engineering projects begin to see problems as an engineer would, consider all ideas, and arrive at the best solution. Using an effective design process…

When the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") document, (NRC, 2013) was released in April 2013, teachers in the profession had mixed emotions. Many viewed the standards as invasive to their classrooms, while others found them a refreshing take on what technology and engineering educators have been doing for years.…

The term "STEM," used to describe science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, has come to prominence in Canada over the last decade, raising questions about its meaning. Here we examine its history in the United States and the sociopolitical commitments that have, in parallel, guided science education in Canada. The divergent…

Informal science opportunities provide authentic experiences to stimulate students' interests in science and engineering and foster their curiosity through problem-based investigations. STEMulate Engineering Academy was designed to provide children (Grades 3-5) engineering opportunities and offer teachers a unique professional development…

States' efforts to incorporate technology and engineering into K-12 science instruction appear to be bearing fruit: More than five years after states began adopting K-12 science standards that feature technology and engineering, eighth graders have notched higher scores on a national assessment of those subjects. This Policy Brief presents…

Teachers can find opportunities to incorporate design thinking and scientific inquiry within any lesson where a constraint of the design can be connected to a scientific experiment. Within a lesson, this connection establishes context between engineering and science and can positively impact students' learning and interest in these subjects. The…