In 1997, the Industrial Technology Education Association of Taiwan (ITEA-Taiwan) hosted the 1997 International Conference on Technology Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICTE) in Taipei. The ICTE constitution was signed and the Association to Association mode was formed at that conference. This mode has provided the technology educators in the…

The goal of our ongoing research is to identify strengths and weaknesses of high school level science fair and improvements that can help science educators make science fair a more effective, inclusive and equitable learning experience. In this paper, we confirm and extend our previous findings in several important ways. We added new questions to…

This holistic single-case study design grounded by Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence explores the perspectives of renowned emeriti engineering faculty on the future of the engineering professoriate and the factors that can lead to a successful professional trajectory for early-career, tenure-track engineering faculty. The emeriti…

How does STEM knowledge learned in school change students' brains? Using fMRI, we presented photographs of real-world structures to engineering students with classroom-based knowledge and hands-on lab experience, examining how their brain activity differentiated them from their "novice" peers not pursuing engineering degrees. A…

The challenge study is a project based learning curriculum at Technical High School aimed at the construction of a wireless communication system. The first period was engineering issues in the construction of an artificial satellite and the second period was a positional locating system based on the general purpose wire-less device--ZigBee device.…

In view of potential demand for skilled engineers and competent researchers in the biofuels field, we have identified a significant gap between advanced biofuels research and undergraduate biofuels education in chemical engineering. To help bridge this gap, we created educational materials that systematically integrate biofuels technologies into…

We report on the findings from an exploratory pilot study using the experience-sampling method (ESM) and interviews to examine learning in two undergraduate engineering technology courses designed to promote creativity. Results of the ESM analysis showed that students' positive experience decreased slightly in the first course and increased…

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 [explores] the learning of girls who were in a co-ed after school engineering club related to the project: Designing Vital Engineering and Literacy Practices for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math for Elementary Teachers and Children (DeVELOP STEM ETC). While few girls grow up to become engineers in the US, recently more…

Understanding the functioning of natural systems is not easy, although there is general agreement that understanding complex systems is an important goal for science education. Defining what makes a natural system complex will assist in identifying gaps in research on student reasoning about systems. The goal of this commentary is to propose a…

Background: The field of engineering education research is adopting an increasingly diverse range of qualitative methods. These developments necessitate a coherent language and conceptual framework to critically engage with questions of qualitative research quality. Purpose/Hypothesis: This article advances discussions of qualitative research…

Background: A key feature of engineering design is collaborative, deliberate decision making that takes into account information about design options. K-12 students need opportunities for this kind of decision making if they are to meet the learning standards for engineering set out in the Next Generation Science Standards. Purpose: This…

The concept of intrinsic complexity explains why different problems of the same type, tackled by the same problem solver, can require different times to solve and yield solutions of different quality. This paper proposes a general four-step approach that can be used to establish a model for the intrinsic complexity of a problem class in terms of…

In his target article, Sternberg (2017) quite rightly criticizes the approach to identifying giftedness that was initiated by Terman's (1925-1959) classic prospective study of high-IQ children. Sternberg then recommends a number of novel approaches to both identification and education. Nonetheless, this commentator recommends that future…

The modality principle states that narration rather than on-screen text supports best learners in their understanding of information. Many of the modality studies involve content that is irrelevant to the participants. A few studies in the engineering domain have shown that development of self-efficacy affects students' belief in their ability to…