For many academic programs, achieving authentic learning environments is difficult because existing learning activities are often structured around artificial contexts and presented in ways that fail to connect with the students in ways that they perceive have value in their lives (Luo, Murray, & Crompton, 2017). As a result, these inauthentic…

Kites have a long and varied history that stretches back millennia. One of the most popular kite models of all time is the one made famous in the late nineteenth century by William Abner Eddy named the "Eddy Kite." It is the prototypical kite shape (Eden, 2002)--a quadrilateral that is symmetric about a vertical axis and asymmetric about…

Computational Thinking (CT) is being promoted as "a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world by the middle of the 21st Century" (Wing, 2006). CT has been effectively integrated into history, ELA, mathematics, art, and science courses (Settle, et al., 2012). However, there has been no analogous effort to integrate CT into…

One of the goals of a teacher, regardless of subject area, is to help students become digitally and technologically literate. Technological literacy is much more than just knowledge about computers and their applications. It involves every person having a degree of knowledge about the nature, behavior, power, and consequences of utilizing…

Design and technology (D&T) is taught in most primary (5-11 year old children) and secondary schools (11-16 year olds) in England. Seen by some as a relatively new subject (White, 2011), some of its origins lie in craft tradition and domestic skills. This is partly reflected in classroom activities where children design and make, usually in…

For many years, the trend in technology and engineering education has moved toward computer-oriented technologies such as robotics, programming, and computer-aided design (CAD). The concepts of automation and artificial intelligence were introduced more than six decades ago and became pervasive in daily life through actively using them in various…

Computational thinking is a problem-solving technique traditionally employed by computer scientists to develop computer applications. However, computational thinking practices are now believed to be applicable to other fields (Google for Education, 2018), specifically those related to engineering and technology. Accordingly, the Advancing…

In light of linguistic diversity within many U.S. classrooms, it has become paramount that technology and engineering teachers provide accessible yet rigorous instruction that supports students' language development. One of the best ways to support emergent bilingual students is to provide rich and robust vocabulary instruction in English, while…

While many students may struggle to make sense of a mathematical formula and its practical implications, they can benefit greatly from an intuitive visualization and the engineering application of the topic. Effective STEM programs create clear connections at least with two subject areas, which translates into an enhanced student learning…

"Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy" ("STEL") promotes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, where technology and engineering play a critical role as subject integrators. Integration of STEM in project-based learning is an ideal approach, with benefits of enhancing student…

A handful of technological episodes: fire, wheel and axle, Industrial Revolution, Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction, the transistor, and the digital age, have historically altered humanity. We are now witnessing/participating in the next transformational technology: 3D printing. Although dating back nearly 30 years, the technology…

New technologies are being developed every day. Many of these may not make it into the curriculum for technology and engineering students. For those that do, there may be quite a delay between the time the technology is introduced at an industrial scale and when the technology is developed at a relatively low cost and small scale needed to…

Computational thinking is an important and necessary way of thinking for computer programmers and other professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Research on emerging practices around computational thinking that is developed through coding initiatives in schools reports that elementary children typically learn how…

Pokémon GO ranks as one of the most downloaded apps of all time. The app works by utilizing the GPS embedded in a user's phone to locate real-world locations. The phone screen shows the user's real-world location, and when moving about, he or she will encounter Pokémon that can be caught with a Pokéball (Pokémon, 2016). What does STEM Education…

The time has come for drones. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles played an integral and indispensable part in the United States' military operations during the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, drones have taken new forms, found their way into hobbyists' hands, and recently have played a role in postmodern transportation. Current…