This award supports a student research project under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The overall purpose of the project is to identify and refine a conceptual foundation for secondary level engineering education. The research activities include (1) assisting in the review and synthesis of STEM and engineering curriculum documents; (2) facilitation of focus groups with engineering educators; (3) facilitation of focus groups with professional engineers; (4) facilitation of a reaction group of STEM educators; and, (5) preparation of the final report.

The focus for National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) is research investigating how students learn technological concepts and skills, how students learn creative thinking and problem solving, how best to prepare technology and engineering education teachers, how information technology can be applied to improve technology and engineering education, and how the interdisciplinary, integrative nature of technology can be exploited positively to improve learning across the curriculum. As a collaborative partner, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will prepare new Ph.D. candidates to integrate engineering content and practices into teacher education programs that prepare high school technology teachers.

This project establishes, implements, and evaluates a sustainable educational partnership between four leading research universities in the United States and Brazil. The goal of the research is increasing the level of competence in talent development among undergraduate and graduate students in agricultural and environmental science fields through in a student exchange setting. This project focuses on core talent development skills including leadership, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration, team work, and performance management as well as domain specific skills and knowledge in agricultural and environmental sciences by blending structured learning opportunities in human resources, business administration, and agricultural and environmental sciences.

This study examines the role of international service projects in the engineering curriculum to understand how students learn to be engineers. The study aids in identifying intercultural competence, civic-mindedness, professional identity, and technical areas such as design skills and problem solving. The study contributes to the development and dissemination of models and pedagogical approaches for incorporating key features of co-curricular international project work into the mainstream of instruction and curriculum reform. The broader impacts of this work include using international service in curriculum reform, considering alternatives to prepare for professional practice, and increasing enrollment of women engineering students.