ieee eab meeting ieee pre-university education activities

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IEEE EAB Meeting

IEEE Pre-University Education Activities

Douglas Gorham

17 February 2007

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Pre-University Education Focus Objectives

Increase the propensity of young people worldwide to select Engineering as a career path

Build a sustained public awareness program, led by IEEE, with broad support of corporations and professional associations

Emphasis on programs for the adults who influence students, e.g., school counselors and teachers

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The Need Industry representatives contacted by

IEEE expressed serious worries about the decreasing propensity of young students to choose education programs that would enable future engineering studies and subsequent engineering careers.

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The Need Cont’d The perception of young people and those

who influence them is critical to the future of the engineering profession. According to the National Academy of Engineering, there are misconceptions that obscure both the contributions of engineers and the skills and competencies that define the engineering discipline. These misconceptions discourage many talented young people, especially women and other under-represented groups, from considering an engineering career.

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Percentage of Undergraduate Science Degrees Awarded

41.8

3632

.418

.415

.6

38.4

32.5

28.2

15.8

13

39.5

31.5

24.2

15.9 15

38.4

3125

.915

.714

.9

38.9

31.1

2516

.417

.4

38.5

30.8

24.6

14.8 16.2

05

101520253035404550

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

South KoreaGermanyCzech Rep.USANorway

Science degrees include life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer sciences, engineering, manufacturing, and building

Source: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development

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The Perception:From Collegeboard.com: Law

It helps to be… Are you ready to…

fascinated by the relationship between law and society

engage in intense discussion of thorny legal problems ?

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From Collegeboard.com: Broadcast Journalism


sharp of mind and quick of tongue

learn how to find and interview sources?

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From Collegeboard.com: Civil Engineering


A problem-solver who’s creative, curious, logical, and a fan of math.

Spend hours and hours working on problem sets and design projects?

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From Collegeboard.com: Mechanical Engineering


A fan of science and math, a creative problem solver, and someone who likes to take things apart to find out how they work.

Rely on your math skills? Master difficult scientific concepts? Take on a heavy course load? Spend five years as an undergrad…

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From Collegeboard.com: Electrical Engineering


A fan of science and math who’s curious about the way things work

Spend hours building detailed, complicated systems Try, try, and try again when at first a project doesn’t succeed

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IEEE Pre-University Education Activities Include:

VolTS project with the NY Hall of Science

Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) Joint collaboration efforts with ASCE,

ASME and JETS An International Pre-University

Engineering Education Summit TryEngineering.org Design Squad

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Volunteers TryScience (VolTS) VolTS addresses the need for content experts

to volunteer in informal education settings Working with the NY Hall of Science and the

Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)

Goals include: Increasing knowledge and skills of volunteer

coordinators in museums Support scientists and engineers Increase the quantity and quality of volunteer

commitments Develop a recognition program for volunteers

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VolTS Cont’d IEEE volunteers participated in focus

groups in 2006 Recognition program includes:

IEEE EAB Meritorious Award in Informal Education, approved in November 2006

Develop a VolTS Award Certificate to be used by volunteer coordinators worldwide

Generate a letter to a Volunteer’s Employer acknowledging their contribution

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VolTS project with the NY Hall of Science Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) Joint collaboration efforts with ASCE,

ASME and JETS An International Pre-University Engineering

Education Summit TryEngineering.org Design Squad

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TISP Basics

IEEE Section engineers develop and present technology-oriented concepts and projects to local pre-university educators

Started at the Florida West Coast Section in 2001

Lesson plans in English and Spanish for teachers and engineers

Lesson plans matched to educational standards

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Summary of TISP 2001-2006 52 TISP presentations have taken place,

led by IEEE volunteers, in Malaysia, South Africa and the US

Over 1250 pre-university educators have participated, representing more than 135,000 students

More than 90% of the attendees indicated that they would use the concepts presented in their classroom instruction

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Sample TISP Topics “Everything You Wanted to Know About

Electric Motors But Were Afraid to Ask” “Rocket Cars and Newton’s Laws” “Rotational Equilibrium: A Question of

Balance” “Effective Lighting” “Get Connected with Ohm’s Law” “Design and Build Your Own Robot Arm” “Learn to Program and Test Robots for

Classroom Use”

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What did we do in 2006? 5 TISP training workshops were held in 2006

for Sections in: Region 1 (Boston), Region 3 (Memphis), Region 4 (Indianapolis), Cape Town, South Africa and Putrajaya, Malaysia

Over 330 people attended these training sessions representing 36 IEEE Sections.

More than 900 teachers have participated in an IEEE volunteer led TISP presentation in 2006

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What will we do in 2007? Expand to

Region 2 (Baltimore or Philadelphia) Region 5 (Dallas)–13-14 July Region 9 (Peru and Argentina) Region 10 (Hong Kong/Macau?)

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ASCE/ASME/IEEE/JETS Partnership

In 2000 IEEE and ASME formed a partnership to promote technological literacy, funded by grants from the United Engineering Foundation.

IEEE is the PI and fiscal agent In 2002 ASCE joined our collaboration In 2007 JETS joined our collaboration This collaboration is designed to help pre-

university teachers, school counselors, students and engineers in the field use the materials from all organizations to strengthen science, mathematics and technology education

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ASCE/ASME/IEEE/JETS Partnership Cont’d

We have formed a partnership with NACAC and ASCA to assist school counselors

We have developed print materials for educators outlining the resources of each society

Since 2000 we have directly impacted over 13,000 engineers and more than 7000 educators in workshops, exhibits, webinars and presentation sessions at engineering and educator meetings

In 2007 we will: develop professional development modules for school

counselors focusing on engineering as a career option Conduct training workshops for volunteers Conduct professional development workshops for

educators Make presentations and sponsor exhibits at educator

conferences

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“Meeting the Growing Demand for Engineers and Their Educators

2010-2020” First time event To be held on 9-11 November 2007 in

Munich, Germany 100-125 attendees is our goal Attendees from industry,

government, professional societies, pre-university education and academia

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Objectives and Outcomes Objectives

bring together representatives of the various organizations with decision making ability;

understand who are the customers and constituents;

understand pre-university education trends in various areas of the world, and

generate an “inventory” of effective activities.

Outcomes identify and agree on a set

of action items; identify opportunities for

collaboration; develop an action plan to

accomplish the purposes of the Summit;

institutionalize identified practices; and

disseminate opportunities for collaboration.

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Create a Planning CommitteeArthur Winston, chair Moshe Kam

Fanny Klett David Janosz (Pre-University teacher)

Rolf Remshardt Volker Schanz (VDE)

Victor Fouad Hanna (SEE)

Gerald Anleitner

Andreas Luxa Douglas Gorham

Michael Schanz (VDE) Jessica Czeczuga

Charles Turner

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Tentative Program10 November

Plenary: What is the status of the engineering workforce: an industry perspective

Plenary: What is the status of the supply and demand of pre-university science, technology, engineering and mathematics educators: a Pre-university education perspective

Paper session Breakout groups Poster session

11 November

Plenary: What is the role of academia and professional societies in addressing the issues associated with developing future engineers and pre-university educators in science, technology, engineering and mathematics?

Paper sessions Development of a roadmap

(Breakout groups) Next steps, summary and

outlook Including future gatherings

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TryEngineering.org

Launched on 5 June 2006 Full scale version for the US and Canada is on

line Including a very active “ask an engineer” section Newsletters in English and Spanish

Our portal has become the premier resource for pre-university education on the web

Visitors come from the US, India, China, Canada, Austria, UK and scores of other countries

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Major Sections Life of an Engineer Become an Engineer Find a University Lesson Plans Ask an Expert

Ask an engineer Ask an undergraduate

student Play Games

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Major Plans University Search feature expanded: Australia,

France, Germany, Korea, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom and Japan

Non-English versions: Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and Chinese

Usability study

A new original game

A newsletter in French

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TryEngineering.org– some stats

As of 29 January 2007: 17,303 = average # of visitors per month 25- 47 minutes= average time range a

visitor spends on the site 74,931 = average # of page hits per month 2,936 = average number of university

searches per month 8,243= average number of lesson plans

downloaded per month 659 = questions submitted to Ask an Expert

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TryEngineering.orgVisitors per Month

2006

5133 6271 72049293 10786

1250816103

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Thou

sand

s

Total

Avg

Total 5133 7409 9069 15560 16758 21116 37676

Avg 5133 6271 7204 9293 10786 12508 16103

JUN-06 JUL-06 AUG-06 SEP-06 OCT-06 NOV-06 DEC-06

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TryEngineering.orgHits per Month

2006

3553442361

47167

5665462107 64972

72050

0102030405060708090

100110120130140150

Thou

sand

s

Total

Avg

Total 35534 49187 56780 85116 83920 79296 114516

Avg 35534 42361 47167 56654 62107 64972 72050

JUN-06 JUL-06 AUG-06 SEP-06 OCT-06 NOV-06 DEC-06

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TryEngineering.org– summary Overall a major success story

Biggest advantage: a tangible public service by IEEE to the pre-university community

Biggest surprise: success of “ask an engineer”

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Design Squad Education Outreach to Introduce Young

Students to Engineering a new, live-action reality TV series that

debuts nationwide on PBS stations during Engineers Week 2007, aims to introduce nine- to 13-year-olds and their families to the engineering design process.

Two teams of high school students use their problem-solving skills to design, construct, and test an intriguing, fully operational and unique engineering project.

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Design Squad Cont’d Hands-on activities that work in

conjunction with each episode will play an integral role in the outreach campaign.

EA is working with IEEE USA to organize “train the trainer” workshops

Major funding provided by IEEE, Intel and the National Science Foundation

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Questions? Comments?

ieee eab meeting ieee pre-university education activities

Documents

education programs

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engineering profession

future engineering studies

subsequent engineering

recognition program

volts project

propensity of young