Engineering 491/691
Engineering and Technology Literacy for
High School Science and Math Teachers

In today's world of global economic competition, the US is trying to maintain its competitive edge among industrial nations by training a sufficient number of engineers.  However, the number of trained individuals graduating from US colleges does not meet our current and projected needs.  In addition, the number of women and minority graduates with engineering degrees is unacceptably low and the attrition rate in engineering programs is unacceptably high.

The causes include (i) the inadequate preparation of our high school graduates, (ii) unfavorable attitudes toward engineering and other science based careers, and (iii) the absence of continuity in the transition from high school to college.  Some additional preparation for science and math teachers as well as high school courses that are more friendly to engineering and technology would address the above perceived causes.  We have developed a new three credit hour class to address these problems.  The class is a capstone course that introduces fourth year pre-service teachers in math and science education to engineering problem solving through specific practical applications.  The course includes projects to be completed by teams of students and lectures by the instructors and guest lecturers.  The course covers activities performed by practicing engineers and the related ethical, social and environmental issues within the rubric of Science, Technology and Society (STS). It also emphasizes science literacy and inquiry learning as suggested by the new National Science Education Standards.

The course is also open to in-service high school teachers and provides them with enough skills and knowledge of engineering practice to develop two new types of high school courses: (i) an inquiry based hands-on freshmen course that will teach about engineering practice, its impact on society and career choices in engineering, and (ii) a junior/senior course that will involve engineering problem solving.

The course includes an introduction to the practice of engineering rather than its theory.  The course sets up problems, presents simplified solutions and avoids complex theoretical developments.  In addition, the economic and business aspects of engineering, which are a prerequisite for a successful engineering career, are introduced.  These aspects fit within the suggested school to work programs that are becoming a part of Nevada pre-university education.  A business plan or cost analysis must be completed for each project undertaken by the students.

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University of Nevada, Reno
 Maintained by: fadali@ieee.org

Last modified: August 26, 2003

College of Engineering
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