The Impact of Engineering

Focused Modules on the

Engineering Design Knowledge

of 8th Graders

James P. Van Haneghan & Jessica M. Harlan

University of South Alabama

Melissa D. Dean

Mobile Area Education Foundation

This material was partially supported by NSF Award DRL- 0918769. Any opinions,

findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the

authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Engaging Youth through Engineering

Classroom-based

integrated STEM

experiences

Implemented by math and

science teachers

6th Grade Module

8th Grade Module

Engineering Design Process

Theoretical Foundations

Bailey & Szabo, 2006

Critical analysis of the design process

Atman, et al., 2008

Depth and breadth of thinking about

complex environmental problems

Bransford & Schwartz, 1999

Transfer as preparation for future

learning

8th Grade Task

How could this happen?

Common injury

New kind of seatbelt?

Julie’s grandmother is in a car accident and breaks

several ribs

Depth &

breadth of

thinking

Team skills

& expertise

needed

Critique of

another’s

design

Use of

research &

data

Engineering

Habits of

Mind

Rubric Scoring

0 1 2 3

No response or

irrelevant response

Integrates &

applies engineering

design principles

On 3 of 4 dimensions, participating students scored

higher than comparison students

0 1 2 3

Use of research & data**

Critique of another’s design**

Team skills & expertise needed

Depth & breadth of thinking*

Comparison

Participating

*p < .02 **p < .005

Overall, participating students performed better

on the task

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Total Score Comparison

Participating

*p = .011

Other findings

Importance of teaming

skills

Gender and ethnicity

differences

Critiquing design

Ethnicity difference

Conclusions

Curriculum creates

experiences that transfer

to novel situations

Notion of transfer of

learning to new tasks

seems to be of value

Transfer of Learning

Need further development & investigation

Multi-site study

New administration methods

Examine across age & experience

Questions?

James Van Haneghan: jvanhane@southalabama.edu

Jessica Harlan: jmh1324@jagmail.southalabama.edu

Melissa Dean: mdean@maef.net