This exploratory project will develop and investigate a scalable model of engineering education through K12-Engineering partnerships composed of engineering schools, K12 institutions and teacher trainers. The materials and context for building these partnerships will use new LEGO-based digital portfolio software called RoboBooks. Members of the Tufts Center for Engineering Educational Outreach [CEEO] will develop two interactive RoboBooks to teach middle school science through the engineering of assistive devices. Partners at the City College of New York [CCNY] will develop a Workshop Partnership Manual. The project?s Student RoboBook will support grade 4-8 students in learning about force and motion and simple machines by having them build and program robots, and giving feedback on their prototypes? performance to help them improve their designs. The project?s Teacher RoboBook will help grades 4-8 teachers learn to use RoboBooks with their students, understand the relevant science and engineering concepts, and begin building pedagogical content knowledge related to engineering design. The project will be evaluated in two ways: by assessing the impact RoboBooks have on student and teacher learning, and by pilot testing the use of project materials to support an analogous partnership between CCNY?s Schools of Engineering, CCNY teacher trainers and NYC teachers.
The project?s approach to achieving scalability involves providing potential partnership groups with copies of the two RoboBooks, which they then adapt for use by local teachers and students. Engineering faculty and teacher trainers will use the manual to customize RoboBooks for use in local school districts and design summer teacher workshops on using RoboBooks, all the while sharing their mutual expertise, which will enhance the chances of building a sustainable K12- Engineering Partnership and improving the awareness of engineering education?s value in the classroom.
