STEPing into the classroom: An alternative capstone experience

Abstract

This paper describes the experiences of three Electrical Engineering seniors who chose an alternative to a traditional capstone design project; they applied their undergraduate engineering education in high school math and science classrooms as NSF STEP Fellows. Project STEP: Science and Technology Enhancement Program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills in K-12 education. Two of the primary goals of STEP are (1) to train future scientists, engineers, or STEM educators to bring their technical backgrounds into the classroom to enable secondary education students to relate STEM knowledge to the world they live in, and (2) to design, develop, implement, and assess hands-on activities and inquiry-based projects that promote authentic learning. The STEP Fellows provide the high school students with direct experience of the relevancy of their education to life, society, and the world, in addition to enhancing math and science curriculum with familiar, real-life engineering and technology examples. This paper describes how the project meets ABET's capstone design criterion as well as the objectives of NSF Project STEP. Lessons designed by the seniors and their reflections on their experiences are detailed.