The impact of engineering curriculum design principles on elementary students’ engineering and science learning

The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards propose that students learn core ideas and practices related to engineering as well as science. To do so, students will need high-quality curricular materials designed to meet these goals. We report an efficacy study of an elementary engineering curriculum, Engineering is Elementary (EiE) that includes a set of hypothesized critical components designed to encourage student engagement in practices, connect engineering and science learning, and reach diverse students. To measure the impact of the curriculum, we conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in 604 classrooms in 152 schools in three states. Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment curriculum or to a comparison curriculum that addressed the same learning goals but did not include several critical components. Results show that students who used the treatment curriculum (EiE) regardless of demographic characteristics outperformed students in the comparison group on outcome measures of both engineering and science content learning. The results show that curriculum design affects student-learning outcomes.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Cunningham, C.M., Lachapelle, C.P., Brennan, R.T., Kelly, G.J., Tunis, C.S.A., and Gentry, C.A. (2019). The impact of engineering curriculum design principles on elementary students’ engineering and science learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 57, 423–453.], which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21601. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions: https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html#3.

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Work Title The impact of engineering curriculum design principles on elementary students’ engineering and science learning
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Christine M. Cunningham
  2. Cathy P. Lachapelle
  3. Robert T. Brennan
  4. Gregory J. Kelly
  5. Chris San Antonio Tunis
  6. Christine A. Gentry
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Wiley
Publication Date November 6, 2019
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. 10.1002/tea.21601
Source
  1. Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Deposited September 09, 2021

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added 2019 E4 Quant 2019-09-16 full final-1.docx
  • Added Creator Christine M. Cunningham
  • Added Creator Cathy P. Lachapelle
  • Added Creator Robert T. Brennan
  • Added Creator Gregory J. Kelly
  • Added Creator Chris San Antonio Tunis
  • Added Creator Christine A. Gentry
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated
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