The purpose of this study was to obtain data on United States K-5 elementary school teachers' self-reported instructional practices with graphical representations. Via an electronic survey, 388 elementary teachers, from throughout the US, reported about their teaching of the interpretation and the production of graphics within science. The main…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a teacher professional development program on the classroom teaching practices of the participants. This particular professional development program included an intensive summer institute, 8 monthly follow-up sessions, informal participant-professor mentoring and peer networking. The majority…

In the past several decades, technology has become a big part of American society. It has changed the way people interact with one another as well as how they proceed with everyday life. However, K-12 educational systems have been resistive to change, with most American schools still using traditional instruction in the classroom, consisting…

The role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) as a major source of skilled workers for the American economy and a vital component of American education is well established. Several recent studies show that when CTE programs combine rigorous academic standards and industry-based technical content, the result is higher academic achievement and…

This exploratory study highlights certain differences in the way an expert and a novice engineer used their analyzing and generating skills while solving a fairly ill-structured design problem. The expert tends to use more inferences and elaboration when solving the design problem and the novice tend to use analysis that is focused on the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate identifiable differences between performance and cognitive assessment scores in a 3-D modeling unit of an engineering drafting course curriculum. The study aimed to provide further investigation of the need of skill-based assessments in engineering/technical graphics courses to potentially increase…

There is considerable national interest in STEM initiatives, but yet there is little discussion concerning what STEM means in terms of a curriculum concept to be applied to school programming. This article focuses on STEM as a curriculum concept. First, STEM programming is discussed in terms of separate subjects, correlated and broad fields…

The past several decades have been times of widespread change in world economies. The 21st century has witnessed scientific technological innovations that have had an impact on almost every sector of our social institutions and the way we do things. To succeed in these changing economies and secure meaningful employment, STEM literacy and…

This study was conducted to describe a high school engineering curriculum, identify teaching strategies used to increase math and science literacy, and discover challenges and constraints that occur during its development and delivery, as well as what strategies are used to overcome these obstacles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with…

This study contextualized the use of the engineering design process by providing descriptions of how each element in a design process was integrated in an eleventh grade industry and engineering systems course. The guiding research question for this inquiry was: How do students engage in the engineering design process in a course where technology…

The nation's public schools serve as the foundation for preparing a workforce that is literate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (The National Academies, 2007). In the report, "Rising above the gathering storm: Energizing and employing America for a brighter economic future," members of The National Academies identified that…

There are three "faces" of Technology Education. What is meant by this? It means that more emphasis should be given to the students who take industrial technology education (ITE) classes at the high school level with less emphasis given to standards, objectives, or outcomes developed by national organizations. Viewed in this light, three different…

The purpose of this literature review is to examine the differences in the use of sabbatical leave among the arenas of general higher education, industry, and professional-technical/community college. The purposes and policies applied to sabbatical leave, along with the cost of using sabbatical leave in these three environments are compared and…

Students have unique ways of learning, which may greatly affect the learning process and its outcome. In the process of education, instead of classifying students according to their insufficiency, teachers should try to get to know them and determine their cognitive, sensorial and kinetic characteristics. This study on improving learning style…

The aim of this self-study research was to deepen my understanding of pedagogy for teacher education and the factors that enhanced and hindered my confidence and competence as a teacher educator. I recorded my impressions and descriptions of events, discussions, and interpretations as a result of studying my practice in an electronic journal.…