eric.ed.gov har udgivet:
The National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program (NSF, 2012) supports partnerships between K-12 school districts and institutions of higher education (IHEs) and has been funding projects to improve STEM education in K-12 since 2002. As of 2011, a total of 178 MSP projects have received support as part of a STEM education investment of over $900 million. One important movement over the past decade has been increasing interest in incorporating engineering and design content in K-12 teaching and learning, a strategy validated in the National Research Council report, “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas” (NRC, 2011). The goals of K-12 engineering and design content traditionally have been to prepare students to think critically, creatively, and independently by solving problems with real-world applications. Additional benefits more recently identified are the potential for recruitment and better preparation of future engineering students. In an effort to explore how engineering and design are being implemented in MSP projects, the authors synthesize strategies and findings from the NSF MSP portfolio, including publicly available award information from nsf.gov and MSPnet.org. This descriptive analysis is supplemented by data from annual project surveys conducted by a contractor (Westat) on behalf of NSF. The authors report on the ways that engineering and design content are being implemented by MSP projects, along with associated challenges and opportunities. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)