This mixed methods study is one of the first to evaluate the effects of the incorporation of dramatic inquiry, dance, visual arts and physical education into preK-3 science, technology, engineering and mathematics units on student conceptual understanding of technology and engineering. The study used data collected from over 200 student surveys…

Engineering and integrated STEM experiences are being promoted at the K-12 level to increase interest and retention in STEM and to reinforce learning of mathematics and science content. However, research is still emerging regarding best practices for curriculum development, student impacts, and transfer of knowledge across disciplines. The purpose…

The purpose of this study was to identify demographic and contextual factors of women who transfer from a community college to a four-year university to complete their bachelor's degree in engineering or computer science (ECS) and determine if differences among these factors impact success. Using the data obtained from the Texas Education Research…

Men outnumber women in the enrollment of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate majors. Course syllabi are distributed to students during open enrollment and provide key insights into the courses. A critical discourse analysis of introductory engineering syllabi at a 4-year public university revealed limited to no…

In the context of higher education, a competence may be understood as the combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and abilities that underpin effective and/or superior performance in a professional area. The aim of the work reported here was to design a set of procedures to assess a transferable competence, i.e., problem solving, that…

Given the current emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and its key attributes, middle school is an optimal time to implement STEM-based curricula. However, the interdisciplinary and open-ended nature of STEM projects often makes implementation difficult. In this article, we describe a professional development…

This article deals with the problem of student dropout during the first year in a higher education institution. To date, no model on a budget has been developed and tested to prevent dropout among Engineering Students. This case study was conducted among first-year students taking evening classes in two practical engineering colleges in Israel.…

In this paper we examine a case study of a pedagogical strategy that focuses on the teaching of modeling as a habit of mind and practice for novice designers engaged in engineering design challenges. In an engineering design course, pre-service teachers created modeling artifacts in the form of conceptual models, graphical models, mathematical…

This study was intended to establish whether self-esteem and study habits correlate with academic performance among university students. Research conducted was descriptive observational, multivariate or cross-sectional factorial in nature. The study population consisted of 196 students enrolled in a Basic Mathematics 1 class at the School of…

Real-life room-escape games are ludic activities in which participants enter a room in order to get out of it only after solving some riddles. In this paper, we explain a Room Escape teaching experience developed in the Engineering School at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The goal of this activity is to increase student's motivation and to…

One of the fundamental practices identified in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is argumentation, which has been researched in P-12 science education for the previous two decades but has yet to be studied within the context of P-12 engineering education. This research explores how elementary and middle school science teachers incorporated…

The ability to develop and distribute digital teaching resources in higher education has developed rapidly over the last decade but research into how students use such resources has received limited attention. This study uses questionnaire results, Internet analytic data and semi-structured interviews to examine the use of three types of…

In the twenty-first century, meeting our technological challenges demands educational excellence, a skilled populace that is ready for the critical challenges society faces. There is widespread consensus, however, that education systems are failing to adequately prepare all students with the essential twenty-first century knowledge and skills…

Using a students' workshop as a laboratory, this article summarises the observation of three years' implementation of a new study module for a Bachelor Program in Engineering Design (Interior and Furniture Design) at the University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria. The article offers an analysis of group dynamics and the difficulties and issues…

This paper presents a tool, LABEL, oriented to the teaching of parallel robotics. The application, organized as a set of tools developed using Easy Java Simulations, enables the study of the kinematics of parallel robotics. A set of classical parallel structures was implemented such that LABEL can solve the inverse and direct kinematic problem of…