Amy Sabarre’s scientific contributions

To help remove barriers to engineering career pathways, foster a sense of belonging in the field, develop important skills for student success in any career they may choose, and ultimately create a transformed engineering workforce that can better serve the whole of society, it can be critical to act early in the educational experiences provided for our nation’s youth. While initiatives to engage children in engineering learning experiences over the last couple decades have been encouraging and millions of students participate in formalized P-12 engineering-related courses, there has been uncertainty as to how engineering should be intentionally taught across schools in a coherent manner. To help fill this void, the Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning was published in 2020 by the American Society for Engineering Education. This framework is positioned to offer a unifying vision and guidance for informing state and local decisions to enhance the purposefulness, coherency, and equity of engineering teaching and learning. While the framework supplies the potential “endpoints” for each component of engineering literacy (i.e., habits of mind, practices, and knowledge) and details what students could learn by the end of secondary school, it does not specify a potential blueprint of how the engineering concepts and sub-concepts may be related and build upon each other to arrive at these endpoints. Accordingly, following the review of literature and the collection of insights from a variety of engineering education stakeholders, including teachers, professors, and industry representatives, an Engineering Performance Matrix (EPM) conceptual model was created to provide an instructional/assessment blueprint for engineering programs/initiatives. In addition, an EPM for each engineering concept found within the framework was drafted to help teachers scaffold learning to their students’ needs and progress teaching toward a targeted performance goal. This paper will highlight the research and development work that was enacted to draft the EPMs and discuss how they can be used for developing engineering lessons and activities as well as aligning/scoping P-12 engineering programs.

An Engineering Performance Matrix (EPM) is a conceptual model to demonstrate ways in which the content identified in the framework can be used to guide engineering instruction and serve as an assessment blueprint for the development of engineering literacy and competence. EPMs are intended to provide teachers with a sharper understanding of how sub-concepts may be related and how they may build upon each other in order to influence more immediate and purposeful instructional practice. The goal is to help teachers think through novel concepts in engineering to improve their instruction from day to day or week to week. Accordingly, the EPM template was developed based on relevant literature and then, following the consultation with a variety of engineering education experts, including teachers, professors, and industrial practitioners, an EPM was created for each core engineering concept. While these sample EPMs can indicate how to scaffold progress across different depths of student understanding from basic to advanced, learning must be shaped according to the individualities of students and their communities. Therefore, the hope is that this initial development will spur the refinement and expansion of the EPMs provided. Access the Engineering Performance Matrices @ https://www.p12engineering.org/epm

Download @ https://www.p12engineering.org/framework - Engineering touches every aspect of human life, from providing access to clean drinking water to 5G telecommunications and vaccine development. Yet few young people ever encounter the subject in school or graduate with the foundational skills and knowledge to pursue engineering studies and careers. Now more than ever, we must inspire and prepare our students to grow into the informed designers and innovators the world needs to solve the tough challenges facing us today and in the future. In short, engineering learning is essential for every child in every school, town, city, and county in the country. Many of us within the P-12 education community recognize that there is something special about engineering learning. When given the opportunity to engineer, students of a variety of ages and backgrounds are motivated and eager to tackle difficult problems. They work together. They communicate. They are critical and creative and resourceful. We’ve seen it with our own eyes, experienced it as teachers and professional development coordinators, and advocated for it at parent/teacher nights, school board meetings, and legislative briefings. We know that engineering should be taught in parallel with science and math to ensure an equitable, authentic, relevant, and exciting STEM education experience. However, there have been minimal efforts at the state and local level toward adopting engineering as a distinct component of every child’s schooling. The Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning is a step toward changing that status quo and democratizing engineering learning across all grade levels, preschool through high school. The framework was developed with teachers, school administrators, and researchers working in concert with leaders of the Advancing Excellence in P-12 Engineering Education (AE3) research collaborative and the American Society of Engineering Education. It provides practical guidance by identifying common P-12 engineering learning goals that all students should reach to become engineering literate. The document will add structure and coherence to the P-12 engineering community by serving as a foundation for the development of any and all engineering programs in schools, informing state and national standards-setting efforts, and providing researchers with a common starting point to better investigate and understand P-12 engineering learning. The framework is envisioned as both a practical guide and critical first step in a national movement to make engineering a part of every child’s educational experience. Whether you are a state education policy leader, district administrator, teacher, researcher, industry partner, or educational company, we invite you to join us in our mission.