Encouraging Interest In Engineering Through Embedded System Design

Rapid advances in embedded systems present significant opportunities for fundamental change in education, at all levels, with a greater focus on active, collaborative learning. These advances can be exploited by integrating them into the elementary and middle school curriculums and by having students work in teams to develop innovative new solutions to embedded design problems in science and engineering. Such hands-on activities provide concrete experiences for abstract lessons in math and science and motivate students to learn more complex abstract concepts. A collaborative research experience for upper elementary and middle school teachers has been initiated at Kansas State University to enable teachers to become agents of change and engage their students in the engineering process at an early age – before high school. This is the time when many students begin formulating career directions, and we want them to consider computing sciences and engineering as viable career options. This paper describes the structure of our Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site in real-time embedded system design, and the lessons we have learned during its first year in operation.