The objective of the New Jersey Alliance for Engineering Education (NJAEE) is to create a partnership that promotes the integration of problem-solving, innovation and inventiveness within mainstream high school STEM curricula, while fostering the cross-fertilization of innovative teaching methods across K-12 and university level education. The intellectual merit of the effort is the implementation and assessment of a model that combines traditional science and mathematics teaching with engineering and technology education, thus effecting wide-reaching transformative changes in the traditional pedagogical paradigm. A cohort of graduate engineering students (Fellows) will collaborate with engineering professors, education professionals, and high school STEM teachers to design, develop, and implement innovative and motivating educational modules based on the Fellows' research areas. The modules will be aligned with the NJ science curriculum requirements and will incorporate themes of engineering design, innovation and inventiveness within the STEM curriculum. Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) faculty, education professionals and Lawrence Hall of Science staff will collaborate in the creation of a new course "Communicating Engineering", which all Fellows will experience. While completing their engineering studies, Fellows will also complete a 9 credit graduate certificate in education from SIT. NJAEE will enhance STEM learning for approximately 11,700 high school students, will provide considerable professional development opportunities to 130 participating K-12 teachers, and will immerse the next generation of engineering professors in innovative teaching methodologies. Through the project, a sustainable model for a graduate education certificate program "Teaching and Learning in STEM Disciplines" as a supplement to traditional doctoral student technical training in engineering will be developed, assessed, and disseminated nationwide.
