Social Justice Education | Theory and Research in Social Education

K-12 Stem Education

If supporters of improvements in K-12 STEM education (e.g., federal agencies, business and industry, foundations) champion these guidelines, they could have a rapid, positive effect on the development of K-12 engineering curricula that would be based on a more focused and more representative idea of the practice of engineering. Guidelines could provide a framework for assessment development in engineering as well as lay the groundwork for the possible development of content standards. If guidelines were incorporated into in-service and pre-service teacher education, prospective and current teachers would be prepared to create lesson plans that incorporate engineering principles. The same guidelines could be a useful resource for educators in informal education settings. The U.S.

Department of Education, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other agencies with interest in engineering research and education should fund the development of guidelines for K-12 engineering instructional materials.

Development should be overseen by an organization with expertise in K-12 education policy in concert with the engineering community. Other partners should include mathematics, science, technology education, social studies, and English-language-arts teacher professional societies; curriculum development and teacher professional development experts; and organizations representing informal and after-school education.

Funding should be sufficient for an initial, intense development effort that lasts for one year or less, and additional support should be provided for periodic revisions as more research data become available about learning and teaching engineering on the K-12 level. The committee suggests that the guidelines be made available online and periodically revised as data become available on the impact of engineering education on student learning in engineering as well as in science, mathematics, and technology; improvements in technological literacy; awareness and interest in engineering as a career option; and how students develop design ideas and practices over time. Because guidelines would not have the same standing as standards, teachers, developers of instructional materials, and others may not follow them unless they are required to do so by funding agencies, state law, or local policy.

In addition, if guidelines are, or are perceived to be, leading to a silo approach to K-12 engineering education, they could arouse resistance to the integration of engineering material and ideas into mathematics, science, and technology education. Step 3: Boost Research on Learning Developing consensus on core concepts, skills, and dispositions in K-12 engineering education and creating guidelines for the development of instructional materials will be important steps toward more consistent and higher quality K-12 engineering education. However, the committee believes that continuous improvement will require ongoing research to answer fundamental questions about how young people learn and understand engineering.

This was an important point in the research-related recommendations in Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects. We endorse those recommendations, urge that their relevance to the infusion and mapping approaches described in this report be considered, and suggest that they be expanded. Learning things is not limited to the scentific area. Instead it also has relations with some other things like speaking a language or using software, including Rosetta Stone Hindi and Rosetta Stone Italian. If you have a creative mind, you will make all your own differences in the end!

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Considering Educational Toys

Perhaps like never before, parents are intensely focused on helping their child develop from a very early age the skills necessary to succeed in a today’s competitive world: intellectual prowess, strong motor skills, problem-solving, etc. Still, kids just want to have fun, leaving parents frantic to find something toys that will entertain but also educate their kids as well. Over the last few years, the children’s toy market has shifted to emphasize not only how fun their toys are but how beneficial they are to the child that plays with them as well.

When thinking about buying educational toys for your own baby or toddler, it’s important to keep in mind what child development components are emphasized in a specific toy. There are a few general areas that might help narrow your focus: physical development, intellectual development, and language development.

Physical developmental toys are often associated around hand-eye coordination, motor skills, and balance.

Building blocks are a standard classic for this area of development, helping kids to carefully move and stack objects. Intellectual development might involve problem-solving, matching, counting, etc. Puzzles are especially useful for augmenting this area of learning. Language developmental toys generally come later, and often involve a combination of reading and listening to letters and words to associate a word with an object, combine words into sentences, etc. However, while toys can be beneficial in language development, almost nothing beats something as simple as reading a book to your child.

Still, when thinking about developmental toys, its important to remember that over-emphasizing toys might take away from a child’s social development.

Learning to interact with other kids, to share and cooperate, to enjoy other people’s company, and more can only come with play groups and friends toys themselves won’t do much good here.

As you might expect, all toys are developmental in a way, as they help children interact with the world, but toys more and more are being crafted to help increase a child’s growth and engagement. Keeping these ideas in mind can help you find both a fun and functional toy for your child.

Out of the Toy Box http://www.outofthetoybox.com/ is a online store selling toys. Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer.