Christine Guy Schnittka

Auburn University | AU · Department of Curriculum and Teaching

Many scientists agree that the Earth is warming, and that human activities have exacerbated the problem (NRC 2001; 2002). Engineers, scientists, and environ-mental groups around the globe are hard at work find-ing solutions to mitigate or halt global warming. One major goal of the curriculum described here, Save the Penguins, is to help students re...

After-school settings provide youth with homework support, social outlets and fun activities, and help build self-confidence. They are safe places for forming relationships with caring adults. More after-school settings are starting to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics. What science skills and concepts might...

This paper presents a mixed methods case study of a middle school mixed-gender team participating in an after-school environmental engineering workshop. The curriculum was part of a STEM program in which youth were engaged in a studio approach to design-based engineering. Data includes video of a girl-boy team working together (both 6th graders) ta...

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, people of all ages began sewing fabric face masks. Organized through separate grassroots movements, oftentimes using social media platforms, people pooled their resources to make masks for front line workers and others in desperate need. While some people sold these face masks, many participated in...

Electricity is a fascinating phenomenon and a fundamental force of nature. Our understanding of it all began with a fossilized lump of tree resin and a mystical rock from ancient Turkey. For the many years that I taught my middle school physics students about electricity, instead of teaching it the standard way suggested in the textbook-with batter...

Research has shown the highest level of understanding in the geosciences to be the ability to think about the Earth as a dynamic system. The Earth system contains four spheres: the geosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, and the atmosphere. These spheres are linked through the biogeochemical cycles that move matter and energy through the various...

Stories of scientists in the 20th century, written for all audiences from age 10 and up.

This paper documents the year-long process of developing one curriculum module out of several used in formal and informal settings in a rural southern US state. The goal was to develop engineering design-infused STEM activities that used everyday materials, related to students' lives, had a pro-social focus, met state science standards, and helped...

331 This paper addresses a special subset of U.S. school students for whom innovation is innate and intuitive; they are the young innovators-in-the-making (YIITM). In considering these students, we need to ask several key questions. Are elementary and middle school teachers capable of keeping the innate, innovative desire burning in these young min...

The effectiveness of an authentic product development environment to enhance teamwork skills of rising 9 th-12 th grade students was studied as part of a 3-week summer program. Teams of students were provided scenarios of 'customer' requirements. The teams translated customer requirements into technical requirements, researched content and develope...

The 21st century has brought an increasing demand for expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Although strides have been made towards increasing gender diversity in several of these disciplines, engineering remains primarily male dominated. In response, the U.S. educational system has attempted to make engineering curriculum...

Developing and implementing integrative curricula that enhances STEM literacy by providing meaningful connections to the lives of youth is challenging. Equally demanding is to invoke the desired cognitive, social, and affective changes that could positively influence motivation in STEM learning (Katehi, L., Pearson, G., & Feder, M. (Eds.). Engineer...

Both employer expectations (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2011) and education standards, including the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards, are shifting the focus of learning from knowledge and discrete skills to the ability to think critically and creatively. STEM educators, both in and out of school...

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which a 12-week afterschool science and engineering program affected middle school students' motivation to engage in science and engineering activities. We used current motivation research and theory as a conceptual framework to assess 14 students' motivation through questionnaires, struc...

The Next Generation Science Standards (2013) elevate engineering design to the same level as scientific inquiry in the science classroom. An emphasis on core ideas of engineering design and learning as a combination of content and practice offers the potential to engage middle school students in science and engineering subjects. Research on the imp...

Dr. Christine Schnittka is an assistant professor in the College of Education and the Department of Curriculum and Teaching with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering. Her current research involves developing and evaluating engineering design-based curriculum units that target key science concepts and environmental issues through the co...

Passing the State Science Proficiency Tests presents essential content for elementary and middle school teachers who want to improve their science content background, enhance their classroom instruction, or pass the state science proficiency tests. This book addresses different aspects of the physical, life, and earth sciences. Each chapter was wri...

The structured after-school space has long demonstrated educational benefits (Gerber, Cavallo, & Marek, 2001; Tamir, 1990). After-school settings typically provide homework support, helping youth build self-confidence (Beck, 1999). They are safe places for socializing and forming relationships with caring adults (Payton et al., 2008). While there i...

Currently, unless a K-12 student elects to enroll in technology-focused schools or classes, exposure to engineering design and habits of mind is minimal. However, the Framework for K-12 Science Education, published by the National Research Council in 2011, includes engineering design as a new and major component of the science content to be taught...

Studio STEM adopts a design studio model to provide middle school youth with the opportunity to work with peers and college student facilitators after school in a relaxed, non-threatening, collaborative environment. Two informal learning educators guided overall instruction and pacing, but youth directed their own step-by-step activities by appropr...

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of engineering design classroom activities on middle‐school students’ conceptions of heat transfer and thermal energy. One eighth‐grade physical science teacher and the students in three of her classes participated in this mixed‐methods investigation. One class served as the control receivi...

The primary goal of this workshop is to introduce participants to practical, validated methods of identifying and remediating student misconceptions with respect to mathematical and scientific concepts through the use of Engineering Teaching Kits (ETKs). ETKs are self-contained standards-based units grounded in the constructivist philosophy of educ...

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of engineering design classroom activities on conceptual change in science, and on attitudes toward and knowledge about engineering. Students were given a situated learning context and a rationale for learning science in an active, inquiry-based method, and worked in small collaborative gro...

The purpose of this study was to explore preservice science teachers' use of an interactive display system (IDS), consisting of a computer, digital projector, interactive white board, and Internet connection, to support science teaching and learning. Participants included 9 preservice biology teachers enrolled in a master of teaching program during...

For five years, faculty and students at the University of Virginia have been designing, implementing, testing, and distributing Engineering Teaching Kits (ETKs). We identify topics from science, math, and technology that have interesting engineering applications, and then help students learn science and math in the context of engineering design. Ea...

At the University of Virginia, we have undertaken a major project to design, implement, test and distribute Engineering Teaching Kits (ETKs). These kits introduce engineering concepts and methods into existing middle school science and maths classes. Students learn about essential engineering functions such as how to design, build, analyse, test an...

In this study, middle school teachers and students provide critical feedback about three design-based science teaching kits so that the curricula can be refined and improved such that student learning and engagement in science and engineering is maximized. The curricula, packaged as kits, focus on a well-defined set of concepts in science. All less...