Integration of Engineering Working Group

Goal 1: Increase engineering integration in STEM teacher preparation

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Washington State teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education that prepare teachers of STEM (referred to as "programs" hereafter) will provide standards (e.g., NGSS, CCSS, ASEE)-aligned, research-based engineering training experiences, such that all candidates seeking secondary science, mathematics, and computer science endorsements graduate with the knowledge and skills to integrate core engineering design ideas and real-life engineering career options into domain-specific secondary learning experiences in order to solve culturally relevant, real-world problems.

Programs will also provide training experiences such that elementary and middle-level endorsements graduate with the knowledge and skills to integrate core engineering design ideas into elementary learning experiences in order to investigate interdisciplinary, culturally relevant, real-world problems.

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• The Working Group plans to create a "EI Toolkit" of resources to support the integration of vision-aligned engineering experiences into P-12 STEM teacher preparation programs.
• The Working Group plans to work with at least one implementation team to pilot the EI Toolkit

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• EI Toolkit documents and resources will be made available on the NextGen website, including: an EI programmatic benchmarks rubric, a summary handout of engineering integration key principals, a general resource list, a curricular resource list, and other resources. These resources would be turned into a webinar or other tool to more widely disseminate the EI toolkit.
• At least one implementation team has piloted the EI Toolkit resources within at least one STEM teacher education program.

Goal 2: Develop K-12 partnerships

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Programs will have developed partnerships with local K-12 schools to ensure that candidate training experiences in engineering are aligned to K-12 partner needs, including local district student demographics, adopted curricula, instructional environment, locally-relevant problems, and assessment methods. These partnerships should also ensure ongoing best-practice professional development, collaboration, and mentorship opportunities for practicing teachers.

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• The Working Group plans to guide collaborating implementation teams in recruiting members that represent a diversity of backgrounds from their local K-12 community.

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• Implementation team(s) piloting our EI Toolkit will move up at least one level on our EI programmatics benchmarks rubric for "Level of K-12 partnerships in engineering."

Goal 3: Develop partnerships with engineering professionals

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Programs have developed relationships with local practicing engineers/STEM organizations to help identify culturally relevant place-based engineering problems and expose students to engineering career.

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• The Working Group hopes to create a list of engineering and STEM organization professionals with representation across WA State who are willing to work with implementation teams.

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• Implementation team(s) piloting our EI Toolkit will move up at least one level on our EI programmatics benchmarks rubric for "Level and diversity of professional engineering community engagement."

Working Group Members

• Jennifer Dechaine, CWU
• Ann McMahon, UW Bothell
• Isaac Rapelje, Sequim High School
• Ian Quitadamo, CWU
• Lindsey Genut, WWU
• Esteban Rodriguez-Marek, EWU
• Jen Eklund, Institute for Systems Biology
• Tana Peterson, Washington STEM
• Arthur Morken, CWU
• Jabulani Nyathi, EWU
• Fred Liebrand, Walla Walla University
• Sharen Keattch, EWU
• Kelli Fisher, Sultan School District

The Engineering Integration (EI) Working Group came together in winter 2017. Participants are united by an interest in improving the engineering education landscape in Washington State and bring a diversity of professional experience, including professional engineers, engineering, science, and STEM education higher education faculty, K-12 teachers, and nonprofit leaders in STEM and engineering education.

In Year 1 of the NextGen project, the EI working group met virtually approximately once per month and focused on creating our draft vision and goals, reviewing the key literature in engineering education, and developing a familiarity with engineering design as it is defined by the Next Generation Science Standards. We also researched and talked with national leaders in integrated STEM and engineering education at the K-12 and higher education levels. Near the end of year 1, we met in person in the summer to synthesize these resources into a EI programmatic rubric that defines benchmarks for integrating engineering into STEM teacher preparation programs.

In Year 2, members of the working group participated in the NextGen project Capacity-Building Workshops for Institutional Change and Diversity, which led to improvements to how our working group incorporated diversity and inclusion into our rubric and other working documents. We met with the Computer Science Integration Working Group near the end of Year 2 and there outlined a set of potential resources and deliverables that we hope will become an "Engineering Integration Toolkit" that will support the integration of engineering experiences into STEM teacher preparation programs. Currently, we are working on this "EI Toolkit" in collaboration with Implementation Teams who may pilot the toolkit in their STEM teacher preparation programs.