| Outcome/accomplishment:
During the 2009-2010 academic year at the Center for Structured Organic
Particulate Systems (CSOPS), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center
(ERC) based at Rutgers University, groups of Rutgers engineering students
designed new, hands-on experiments to teach engineering concepts at a local
K-12 school and submitted proposals for their projects to the ERC.
The topics covered range from chemistry to principles of flight.
A group of chemical engineers and educators judged the proposals and selected
three for funding awards of $1000 each. These three projects were
then carried out, and they received very positive feedback from the K-12
school. Now, researchers are waiting for additional funding so they
can roll out the project to the whole center.
Impact/benefits:
Introducing K-12 students to engineering concepts through fun, interactive
projects helps young people discover that this critical field is accessible
and exciting. As these students become undergraduates themselves,
they will be more likely to study engineering and eventually undertake
research and careers in engineering.
Explanation/ background:
Finding new ways to encourage K-12 students to enter the pipeline for STEM
fields is both an ongoing challenge and a national priority. That’s
why the engineering demonstrations carried out by Rutgers students aim
to make core engineering concepts more approachable and understandable
– sparking interest in the field and giving young people the confidence
to pursue it. At the same time, competing with other engineering
student groups to design a winning proposal will help the students themselves
develop valuable teaching skills.
Teachers reported to CSOPS
that they were impressed with the proposals and procedures, which were
tailored to different education levels. For instance, one proposal
was aimed at middle school students, teaching them about types of energy
using dry-ice boats. A more technically demanding proposal,
by contrast, was designed for high school students and showed how to synthesize
chemical compounds, such as Tylenol’s active ingredient, acetaminophen.
One project, sponsored by
the Minority Engineering Education Taskforce (MEET) / National Society
of Black Engineers (NSBE), taught middle school and high school students
about the principles of flight by teaching them to design balsa wood gliders.
An American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) project had high school
students synthesize chemical compounds, and another had middle school students
learn fundamental chemistry lessons by making ice cream. The National
Social Sorority for Women in Engineering and Engineering Technology also
had two projects: one that taught middle school students about types of
energy using dry ice boats, and the other in which high school students
tested the communications skills between engineers and marketers.
Each of the three winning
student groups completed a report of their project, including instructions
on how to construct the demonstration/ experiment, the curricular goals
and outcomes, and the success of the first implementation of the project.
The three reports will be included on the ERC’s web page for public access
and dissemination to a broader audience. |
