Peer-reviewed practitioner journals in P-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, especially P-12 technology and engineering education, reach a broad array of educators and play a unique role in advancing P-12 STEM teaching and learning. However, with rising expectations in research productivity and greater emphasis on journal and publication metrics to achieve promotion and tenure (P&T) at higher education institutions, practitioner journals have become increasingly undervalued. In this article, the author presents a case for why higher education institutions and P&T committees should place greater value on publishing in peer-reviewed P-12 STEM education practitioner journals. These journals are critical for sharing research-informed recommendations in a practical manner so that they can be implemented in a broad range of P-12 STEM education contexts.
The powder metallurgy parts manufacturing (PM2) industry is a significant part of the history of the economy and technology of Pennsylvania. Powder metallurgy parts manufacturing is a process for forming a metal part by compacting metal powder in a die and then heating the compacted powder just below its melting point (called ‘sintering’). Powder metallurgy parts manufacturing producers purchase specialized metal powders, lubricants, binders, additives, tooling, process equipment, and industrial gases. Powder metallurgy parts manufacturing producers in north-central Pennsylvania sell most of their PM2 parts to the automotive industry for use in internal combustion engines. However, the PM2 industry is adapting its processes for part production in electric vehicles and non-automotive sectors. The small number of specialized suppliers combined with a customer base centered on the automotive industry creates a highly competitive environment among PM2 firms clustered in the small, rural three-county region of north-central Pennsylvania. Powder metallurgy parts manufacturing in the United States is highly concentrated in this region.
Purdue University Northwest is home to the Integrated Drive Machine (IDM), donated by Rockwell Automation. During Rockwell Automation’s 50th anniversary, this conveyer system was the main attraction for their exhibition. Upon arrival at the university’s Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center (CMEC), the IDM arrived in various states of disrepair. For three months, all components except for the forklift were fully repaired and operational. The IDM is programmed by using Device Net, which is a network protocol used in the automation industry to interconnect control devices to allow both data exchange and allow the PLC to communicate with multiple devices. This type of communication allows for more sophisticated programming including alarms, photo sensors, and Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) functionality. Additional communication to PCs and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) was accomplished by using Ethernet/IP. The IDM also incorporates multiple HMI which allow the user to operate the machine from any point. The system was assembled and set up by a group of students. All wiring, troubleshooting, and programming was also conducted by undergraduate and graduate students from multiple programs. This machine has been used in many classes and senior capstone design projects to provide a real-world application experience to students and close the gap between education and the workforce.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) course curriculum for healthcare administration and management majors. It identifies the relevant opportunities and challenges for the application of LSS within the healthcare industry. The paper also discusses the cultural changes necessary to provide an appropriate climate for its long-term success. This work contains a comprehensive description of the body of knowledge in LSS, which were successful in applied engineering. Additionally, the paper describes how LSS may be applied in the hospital setting to improve processes in patient-care services. Upon successful completion of the course, the healthcare administration managers would not only acquire comprehensive understanding by learning theory and but also completion of term projects by applying it to case studies. While obstacles to LSS implementation exist, the process improvements and resulting cultural changes are worthwhile and noteworthy. The paper serves as a guide for how LSS methodology can be utilized in the healthcare-education setting. It may not touch all the aspects of LSS. Other researchers and practitioners may use the paper as a practical orientation to LSS in the university setting.
Scott R. Bartholomew, Greg J. Strimel, Anne M Lucietto, and Mesut, "Reinventing High School: Understanding the Challenges and Successes of Transforming Education to Meet Student, Society, and Industry Needs"
No single event in modern history has affected education like COVID-19. This study examines the effects of COVID-19 related modifications within technology and engineering education. Using social media, a survey was distributed among groups whose focus was technology and engineering education. This survey asked how teachers addressed COVID-19 related modifications to instruction and how they felt about instructional quality and support. The results showed that teachers are working longer hours, yet instruction is suffering due to virtual/ hybrid teaching, social distancing, and sanitation concerns. Hands-on and group work has been largely limited or eliminated entirely, and many lessons have had to be heavily adapted if they are possible at all. Most concerning is an apparent deficit in morale, with a substantial number of teachers contemplating leaving the classroom if the current conditions continue. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in nearly every facet of life in 2020, but the challenges faced in education are largely undocumented within the academic literature. It is imperative that the real-time effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning be understood so that adjustments can be made while the nation is still affected by the pandemic and future changes to instruction to address currently developing deficits are made with a full understanding of what occurred during the crisis rather than retrospectively.
Too often organizational change is seen as a negative force. This perception of the specific change as bad causes tremendous disruption and misunderstanding among faculty and academic leaders. This study contends that the more relevant issue is whether academic leaders communicate the vision and strategy for change effectively. Furthermore, the crux of the matter is not whether high-quality, rich communication exists but depends more heavily on the perception of faculty undergoing change. In this article, the authors will compare nine faculty members’ responses to a perceptual survey dealing with organizational change, interviews with questions created using the survey as a basis, and archival data showing the availability and opportunity for involvement in the change process. This comparison will allow similarities and discrepancies to be examined between faculty perceptions of leaders, while also taking the institutional context into account.
Strengths have been hypothesized to play a role in how a person approaches leadership and problem-solving. The Clifton StrengthsFinder (CSF) is a common way to identify and measure an individual’s strengths. This research examined the role of CSF strengths in the academic success of engineering and technology students within a large, midwestern, research-intensive, land-grant university. The purpose of this research was to identify how students use their CSF strengths and to identify if students perceive a connection between strengths and their success. This research utilized semi-structured interviews with students to gather detailed qualitative information on student perceptions of success and CSF strengths. The survey collected information on student perceptions of how useful strengths are in various scenarios and if there is a connection between student success and CSF strengths. Students perceived that there were a set of strengths that make some students more successful than others, but they were not able to identify what those strengths were. Primarily, students perceived CSF strengths were useful in group academic tasks but were not useful in individual academic tasks. Based on the responses from these interviews, students are not aware of all the scenarios in which they can use their strengths.
The news, popular culture, and legislatures are concerned with the recent reemergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Some of the fear is fueled by the terminology including artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and superintelligence that have specific meaning within the technology community, but can be misunderstood by the general public or by other fields of inquiry. Because of this, the fears are not well linked to what the technology actually does. The type of AI technology such as neural networks or decision trees does little to clarify the conversation. However, considering where an AI system exhibits autonomy better highlights what the systems capabilities are and what may be rationally feared from such capabilities. This paper develops a typology of autonomous functions within AI systems and why they matter.
Over the past two decades the Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) (ITEEA, 2000) have challenged educators to search for strategies to implement and address improvements in technological literacy rates among P-12 students. Capobianco, Yu, and French (2014) acknowledged “the integration of engineering practices in the science classroom as early as grade one shows potential in fostering and sustaining student interest, participation, and self-concept in engineering and science” (p. 275). The updated Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy (STEL) (ITEEA, 2020) are organized into three STEL structural branches that combine to create a pedagogical and domain knowledge configuration for technology and engineering teachers (ITEEA, 2020). Although the three STEL organizational branches are at the forefront, this study attempts to focus on and identify the relationship between the practices surrounding the eight core STEL standards: systems thinking, creativity, making and doing, critical thinking, optimism, collaboration, communication, and attention to ethics. These specific practices are designed for the integration of STEM in the classroom and may be advantageous toward promoting technological and engineering literacy through tinkering and take-apart teaching methodologies. Acknowledging that the teacher may be the STEM integration decision maker in the classroom, this study attempts to discern the link between STEL, tinkering and take-apart teaching methodologies, and pre-service elementary teacher candidates’ self-efficacy in the STEM disciplines of technology and engineering education as well as providing implications for future practice in the elementary classroom.
Scott R. Bartholomew, Greg J. Strimel, Anne M Lucietto, and Mesut, "Reinventing High School: Understanding the Challenges and Successes of Transforming Education to Meet Student, Society, and Industry Needs"
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted technology, engineering, and design education as well as workforce development programs worldwide. The emergency transition to fully online course delivery ushered experiences from which course restructuring could utilize. Through an illustrated case study approach using student course evaluations coupled with instructor interviews, this article reports on the experiences resulting from the abrupt interruption of the Spring 2020 semester and how the restructure of an introductory engineering graphics course accommodated changing expectations. The restructured course was built upon a hybrid flipped model utilizing an online learning management system including active learning modules which provided a foundation of preparedness for transitioning to fully online course delivery. As positive as the preparedness was, there were still changes that had to occur to not only meet the needs of the emergency situation but to also establish multiple models of the course for future situations. These changes included incorporating web conferencing software to meet online when a face-to-face meeting was not possible, developing video lectures for students to watch when most accommodating for their schedule, as well as the increased use of the online learning management system. Another change from the restructuring process was the new technology expectations of students and instructors. Feedback from both students and instructors reported how flexibility, empathy, and effective communication were driving traits of positive experiences in such an unprecedented situation. Reported experiences along with elements of the course restructuring can serve as an example of how future courses are delivered for a variety of situations.
文章对The Journal of Technology Studies （ JOTS）期刊中2003～2012年关于技术教育的载文信息进行整理统计，分析了技术教育研究论文的数量、作者分布、研究主题等内容。结果显示，近十年来，该期刊有关技术教育研究的文献数量呈波浪式发展，总体呈上升趋势；技术教育研究的作者队伍庞大，合作能力较好，但人均发文量较少；技术教育研究的主题与内容覆盖面广。
Adaptive Comparative Judgment (ACJ) is an assessment method that facilitates holistic, flexible judgments of student work in place of more quantitative or rubric-based methods. This method “requires little training, and has proved very popular with assessors and teachers in several subjects, and in several countries” (Pollitt 2012, p. 281). This research explores ACJ as a holistic, flexible, interdisciplinary assessment and research tool in the context of an integrated program that combines Design, English Composition, and Communications courses. All technology students at Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University are required to take each of these three core courses. Considering the interdisciplinary nature of the program’s curriculum, this research first explored whether three judges from differing backgrounds could reach an acceptable level of reliability in assessment using only ACJ, without the prerequisites of similar disciplinary backgrounds or significant assessment experience, and without extensive negotiation or other calibration efforts. After establishing acceptable reliability among interdisciplinary judges, analysis was also conducted to investigate differences in student learning between integrated (i.e., interdisciplinary) and non-integrated learning environments. These results suggest evaluators from various backgrounds can establish acceptable levels of reliability using ACJ as an alternative assessment tool to more traditional measures of student learning. This research also suggests technology students in the integrated/interdisciplinary environment may have demonstrated higher learning gains than their peers and that further research should control for student differences to add confidence to these findings.
Efforts to revamp existing educational systems and approaches result in various new models in STEM education. Accordingly, a new urban public charter school, located in a Midwest state in the United States, was established in partnership with the state’s land-grant university to create a transformed integrated STEM educational environment characterized by industry-focused and design-based learning to help prepare students for the future of work and learning. This article presents findings from an exploratory study that examined the experiences of teachers and administrative staff of this innovative high school (IHS) during the first year of school operation. A purposive sample of 16 teachers and administrators from the IHS completed a semi-structured interview and a focus group. Several themes—related to the experiences during the first year of the school—from the interviews with the participants emerged including: (1) developing novel approaches for planning and implementing design-based learning cycles, (2) facing challenges with personalized learning, (3) establishing methods for creating authentic and industry-driven learning experiences, (4) addressing challenges with open-ended learning, (5) confronting concerns about competencies that are not measured through standardized assessments, (6) struggling with teacher burnout, and (7) challenging traditional school systems and facilities with integrated learning environments. Based on these findings, potential implications, considerations, and future directions for the implementation of innovative industry- driven, design-based educational approaches are provided. Note. To preserve anonymity the name of the high school has been generalized and the acronym IHS will be used throughout
Engineering graphics education has long been a required component of technology and engineering education at the university level. In middle and high schools, the number of computer-aided design (CAD) programs continue to proliferate and grow. Lacking in the research related to these programs is the effect on non-cognitive factors such as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a predictor of success and perseverance and is an important consideration in technology and engineering education. This research investigates the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to measure the three-dimensional modeling self-efficacy among middle and high school students. This study found the Three-Dimensional Modeling Self-Efficacy Scale to be a reliable measure within this population with strong evidence of validity. Based on these findings, the scale was revised, and recommendations for future study were made. This research begins to fill a gap not only in research related to engineering graphics self-efficacy but also within a pre-college population, especially those who are historically underrepresented in engineering disciplines, in this case, female students.
Spatial ability is a skill set that has shown to be vital to success in a variety of academic disciplines and professional careers, particularly in engineering- and technology-related fields. Various instructional mediums such as animation, video, and static graphics are utilized by educators as a means to help develop and promote spatial ability. The effort to produce some of these instructional tools can be considerable. The impact of each form of media used can also impact retention and application in learners of varying levels of spatial ability. This study investigated the immediate impact of static graphics, animation, and video on mental rotation abilities of non-engineering university students with varying levels of spatial ability at a midwestern university. Statistical significance was not found between each of the groups, but multiple interactions were observed that posit that a single form media may not be the solution for all learners. Educators should weigh the cognitive task and the abilities of learners prior to selecting the media. Where possible multiple forms of instructional tools should be made available to cater to the classroom.
