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A major goal in Engineering training in the U.S. is to continue to both grow and diversify the field. Project- and service-based forms of experiential, problem-based learning are often implemented with this as a goal, and Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) High is one of the more well-regarded and widely implemented. Yet, the evidence based on if and how participation in such programs shapes student intentions and commitment to STEM pathways is currently limited, most especially for pre-college programming. This study asks: How do high school students' engineering mindsets and their views of engineering/engineers change as they participate in project-service learning (as implemented through an EPICS High curriculum)? This study employed a mixed method design, combining pre- and post-test survey data that were collected from 259 matched students (63% minority, 43% women) enrolling in EPICS High (total of 536 completed pre-tests, 375 completed post-tests) alongside systematic ethnographic analysis of participant observation data conducted in the same 13 socioeconomically diverse schools over a two-year period. Statistical analyses showed that participants score highly on engineering-related concepts and attitudes at both pre- and post-test. These did not change significantly as a result of participation. However, we detected nuanced but potentially important changes in student perspectives and meaning, such as shifting perceptions of engineering and gaining key transversal skills. The value of participation to participants was connected to changes in the meaning of commitments to pursue engineering/STEM.

The Internet makes scholarly electronic journals an opportune global mode of communication for scholarly exchange, where national and international borders are erased. The American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group, Communications among Researchers (AERA SIG CR) lists over one hundred electronic journals in the field of education that are scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text and accessible without cost on the world wide web (see http://aera-cr.ed.asu.edullinks.html). Are these ejournals merely poor electronic imitations of print journals? Granted, the use of the Internet to publish peer-reviewed scholarship has the potential of democratizing access. But are such scholarly exchanges making effective use of the electronic medium? What innovative things can be done with new technology? How can electronic journals be preserved, used, and managed over time? (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

The behavior of animals is an intrinsically fascinating topic for students from a wide array of backgrounds. We describe a learning experience using animal behavior that we created for middle school students as part of a graduate-student outreach program, Graduate Partners in Science Education, at Arizona State University in collaboration with a K-8 public school. This activity capitalizes on the interest that animal behavior can generate to introduce and reinforce student understanding of the scientific method. Specifically, our activity highlights the general utility of the scientific method and uses this method to examine ant social behavior, with emphasis on generating and testing hypotheses. Furthermore, this activity introduces the idea of animal societies and encourages students to apply the concepts they learn to other species, including humans. By collecting ants locally, from schoolyards or nearby habitats, this experience situates learning in the context of students' own communities. We also provide optional assessment materials that teachers can use to assess learning objectives and standard mastery.

Background: Via the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), stronger accountability proponents are now knocking on the doors of the colleges of education that prepare teachers and, many argue, prepare teachers ineffectively. This is raising questions about how effective and necessary teacher education programs indeed are. While research continues to evidence that teachers have a large impact on student achievement, the examination of teacher education programs is a rational backward mapping of understanding how teachers impact students. Nonetheless, whether and how evaluations of teacher education programs should be conducted is yet another hotly debated issue in the profession. Purpose: The purpose of this project is to describe how one of the largest teacher education programs in the nation has taken a lead position toward evaluating itself, and has begun to take responsibility for its impact on the public school system. This research also presents the process of establishing a self-evaluation initiative across the state of Arizona and provides a roadmap for how other colleges and universities might begin a similar process. Setting and Participants: This work focuses on the Teacher Preparation Research and Evaluation Project (T-PREP) that spawned via the collaborative efforts among the deans and representative faculty from Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU), and the University of Arizona (UofA). The colleges of education located within each respective university are the colleges that train the vast majority of educators in the state of Arizona. Participants also included other key stakeholders in the state of Arizona, including the deans and representative faculty from the aforementioned colleges of education, leaders representing the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), and other key leaders and constituents involved in the state's education system (e.g., the state's union and school board leaders and representatives). Research Design: This serves as a case study example of how others might conduct such self-examinations at the collaborative and the institutional level, as well as more local levels. Conclusions: This work resulted in a set of seven "beyond excuses" imperatives that participants involved in the T-PREP consortium developed and participants at the local level carried forward. The seven key imperatives are important for other colleges of education to consider as they too embark on pathways toward examining their teacher education programs and using evaluation results in both formative and summative ways.

This research effort reports the findings of an empirical study focusing on the ways in which technological tools are implemented specifically in mathematics education in a Title I school. The purpose was to identify the perspectives and actions of the school's mathematics specialist and the multi-graded (grades 2-3) classroom teacher as they attempted to deliver instruction with technology for both English Language Learners (ELL) and non-ELL students. Findings showed that a critical factor in access to mathematics education and technology for ELL students in a multi-graded 2-3 classroom in a Title I (K-5) school setting was "language." Although potentially powerful technologies--analog (concrete objects) and digital (software) were used, many ELL students could not access the content solely because of language difficulties. Teachers used the concrete objects as modeling tools, to reveal students' thinking, and for communication of foundational mathematics. Conversely, the software used served none of these functions because the available software did not do the kinds of things the manipulatives did, teachers' knowledge of exemplary software was insufficient, the school used an impoverished model of technology integration, and teachers were constrained by the school district's policies of English immersion for ELL students.

The article presents a lesson plan for eighth-grade students on neuromuscular control and biomedical engineering based on the engineering and design of prosthetic hands.

The Internet makes scholarly electronic journals an opportune global mode of communication for scholarly exchange, where national and international borders are erased. The American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group, Communications among Researchers (AERA SIG CR) lists over one hundred electronic journals in the field of education that are scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text and accessible without cost on the world wide web (see http://aera-cr.ed.asu.edu/links.html). Are these ejournals merely poor electronic imitations of print journals? Granted, the use of the Internet to publish peer-reviewed scholarship has the potential of democratizing access. But are such scholarly exchanges making effective use of the electronic medium? What innovative things can be done with new technology? How can electronic journals be preserved, used, and managed over time? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major goal in Engineering training in the U.S. is to continue to both grow and diversify the field. Project- and service-based forms of experiential, problem-based learning are often implemented with this as a goal, and Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) High is one of the more well-regarded and widely implemented. Yet, the evidence based on if and how participation in such programs shapes student intentions and commitment to STEM pathways is currently limited, most especially for pre-college programming. This study asks: How do high school students' engineering mindsets and their views of engineering/engineers change as they participate in project–service learning (as implemented through an EPICS High curriculum)? This study employed a mixed method design, combining pre- and post-test survey data that were collected from 259 matched students (63% minority, 43% women) enrolling in EPICS High (total of 536 completed pre-tests, 375 completed post-tests) alongside systematic ethnographic analysis of participant observation data conducted in the same 13 socioeconomically diverse schools over a two-year period. Statistical analyses showed that participants score highly on engineering-related concepts and attitudes at both pre- and post-test. These did not change significantly as a result of participation. However, we detected nuanced but potentially important changes in student perspectives and meaning, such as shifting perceptions of engineering and gaining key transversal skills. The value of participation to participants was connected to changes in the meaning of commitments to pursue engineering/STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]