Infusing engineering into public schools

Abstract

In 1998, the Tufts University Center for Engineering Educational Outreach (CEEO) was the recipient of a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide fellowships placing graduate engineering and computer science students with teachers in Massachusetts' primary and secondary public schools. The primary intent of Tufts' outreach program centered on introducing graduate-level engineering students as resources to assist classroom teachers in implementing activity and constructivist based engineering curricula. Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to require engineering education at all levels in public schools, through the adoption of Science and Technology/Engineering frameworks; as a result, the need to develop specific curricula in support of these new frameworks is particularly important. This NSF grant facilitated direct graduate student support of teachers recently charged with implementing novel educational frameworks involving engineering, as well as indirect undergraduate student support.