Bringing Engineering Concepts To The Middle School And High School

A problem facing the United States is the declining numbers of students expressing an interest, or majoring, in engineering. Recently the American College Testing organization reported that between 1992 and 2003 the percentage of high school students expressing an interest in majoring in engineering dropped from 9% to 6% 1 . In addition to the lack of numbers there is also the recurring problem of the lack of preparedness among US students in math and science 2 . While many programs have been started to address these problems there is a growing movement towards teaming college faculty with K-12 teachers as a means of addressing these issues. Among these programs is the recent “Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)” program initiated at the National Science Foundation. This paper will describe activities at Washington State University aimed at creating closer ties between the engineering faculty and K-12 teachers in an effort to address both student interest and teacher preparedness issues.