Providing Meaningful Hands-on Experiences in Engineering Modeling the Process with 8-12 Educators

During the second year of the National Science Foundation sponsored TechKnow project at Iowa State University, the Engineering Mechanics for Teachers course has been modified to meet the needs of in-service teaching professionals at sites across the state of Iowa. During the first year, the course was directed toward traditional undergraduate students in elementary education. As a result of analysis of this effort, the instructors determined that a group of practicing classroom teachers would better appreciate and adapt the engineering content for 8-12 classrooms. The new version of the course is integrated with a Curriculum and Instruction course, entitled Pedagogical Applications of Engineering Concepts in the K-12 Classroom. Each course carries one-credit. Students in the education college can use both courses for graduate credit.