Developing Resources For Aligning K 12 Engineering Education To State Education Standards In Texas

This article discusses the efforts of the Texas Tech University College of Engineering to provide engineering resources, content, and training for K-12 teachers that meet standards mandated by the Texas Education Agency. In the summer of 2004, we brought in a consultant to work with nine area public school teachers (elementary through high school) to align our Pre-College Engineering/Architecture Academy (PEAP) curriculum with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). One result of the workshop is an eight volume set of Engineering Resources for the TEKS and a plan to vertically and horizontally align engineering curriculum within a group of schools in area of Lubbock with predominate populations of low-income African-American and Hispanic students. To support this Engineering Resource Guide and to help teachers introduce engineering concepts and skills to their students, TTU Engineering students act as mentors and facilitators in the K-12 classrooms. These student mentors work in the classrooms of teachers that have participated in a Pre-college Engineering/Architecture Academy Program (PEAP) professional development workshop. The benefits are three-fold: 1) The teacher has someone with engineering knowledge and TTU Engineering faculty contacts, in the classroom; 2) The K-12 students have role models they can relate to; and 3) The University students get mentoring experience, community service experience, and the satisfaction of making a positive contribution as role models to students who otherwise rarely have an opportunity to interact with the college community. This paper will be coauthored by members of the team that participated in this program, and will look at the development of the K-12 Engineering Resources from the perspectives of the public school teachers, the student-mentors, and from program administrators in the TTU Engineering Dean’s Office.