A Request for Volunteers from Michael Hacker

I need to recruit four expert and experienced TechEd

teachers who would like to work as with us advisors on a

P-12 engineering and technology education (ETE) project that we will be

submitting in January for Funding to the national Science Foundation.

The project, called Engineering for All, has coalesced a renowned 

group of STEM educators and disciplinary experts to develop

two major products: 1) a P-12 engineering and technology education

framework, and 2) a set of six exemplary middle school engineering

modules based upon it, that situate student work in important social

contexts (e.g., food, water, structural design). The materials will

support current ITEEA ETE initiatives.

I’ve attached a brief description of the project. The uniqueness of the 

project stems from the target audience: all children, not just the elite few 

that may wish to pursue careers in engineering. A salient part of the description states:

This Project’s engineering for all approach extends beyond school-based

engineering initiatives whose dominant focus is career preparation. To

capture their interest and open their minds to further STEM study and

attractive careers, EfA students will indeed be introduced to a wide

range of diverse engineers at work; but the heart of this Project lies

in engendering the vision of engineering articulated in the NAE’s Grand

Challenges as “seeking solutions to broad realms of human concern —

sustainability, health, vulnerability, and joy of living.”

This Project’s engineering for all approach extends beyond school-based

engineering initiatives whose dominant focus is career preparation.

Although EfA students will indeed be introduced to a wide range of

engineers at work, the heart of the Project lies in creating the vision

of engineering articulated in the NAE’s Grand Challenges: “seeking

solutions to broad realms of human concern — sustainability, health,

vulnerability, and joy of living.”

I am looking for four teachers to help us.  They would serve two roles:

1. To meet with the design team as a focus group four times each

year during this five-year Project (starting in September 2011 if we

get funded) to provide formative feedback on the choice of curriculum

topics, the way they’ve been conceptualized, and the appropriateness of

the content and pedagogy; and

2. To pilot test two curriculum modules, each six weeks long,

with classes in Project years three and four (09/01/13-8/31/14 and

09/01/14-8/31/15).  Our project would pay all expenses, support any

substitute teacher expenses that schools might incur, and pay for any

materials that they would need. They would be paid a small honorarium

for their work with us.

Would you be good enough to pass this along to teachers on the various

listservs that you moderate.

They can contact me directly at mhacker@nycap.rr.com