Opportunities
Excellent State Frameworks
Massachusetts has had State frameworks in Technology/Engineering since 1996;
High Academic Achievement
Massachusetts is a high achieving state in Reading and Mathematics; see TIMMS http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/timss.html
Many Engineering and Technology Education Resources in Massachusetts
Engineering teaches students:
I-Robot Mission Statement:
Massachusetts has had State frameworks in Technology/Engineering since 1996;
- The new Massachusetts science and technology/engineering frameworks( 2013) integrate NGSS standards, with engineering embedded throughout, while retaining technology skills component.
- New technical-vocational education frameworks(2014) emphasize up-to-date skills in biotechnology, electronics, and robotics.
- New computer science education frameworks are being developed.
High Academic Achievement
Massachusetts is a high achieving state in Reading and Mathematics; see TIMMS http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/timss.html
Many Engineering and Technology Education Resources in Massachusetts
- Many universities have extensive K-12 Outreach programs and collaborate with local K-12 schools.
- Several universities( MIT, Northeastern) help retired engineers mentor K-12 students.
- There are many maker spaces.
- There are extensive after-school/summer/informal learning opportunities in science and engineering.
- A number of local technology/engineering companies- Google, Microsoft, Broad Institute- do K12 outreach and encourage their employees to engage in mentoring.
- Undergrads in a number of engineering undergraduate programs- Tufts, MIT, Olin, etc- work in K12 classrooms.
- There are several design competitions in the area for K-12- FIRST, Lemelson-MIT, FAT Thanksgiving@ MIT Museum, others.
- Within school systems, we need to enable older students to mentor younger students- Kids teaching kids.
- More schools are hiring engineering teachers- critical mass
Engineering teaches students:
- How to frame problems
- How to identity and work with constraints- materials, budgets, skills, time, societal issues
- A process for figuring out what they want to solve
- How to build a path to a solution
- How to overcome failure through iteration, and to build a self-confident mindset
- To understand the human-made environment
- How to learn on their own
- That real-world problems often do not have one right answer-there is a multiplicity of solutions
- Engineering projects solve meaningful, real world problems for real clients; not just 'another school project'
- To work on problems are by their nature interdisciplinary, involving mathematics, science, and social policy
- Creativity is developed within a structure of knowledge and constraints
- Open-ended, project-based learning that is assessed through more than multiple-choice tests
- To listen, share ideas, and work as part of a creative team
- The pleasure of hands-on, kinesthetic learning; humans are by nature makers of things
- To be able to argue and defend their position, not just repeat facts
- That engineering design is fun!
I-Robot Mission Statement:
