The committee believes that the evolving status of K-12 engineering education severely limits the potential value of developing traditional content standards. For this reason, we conclude that an initiative to develop such standards should not be undertaken at this time. Instead, several steps should be taken to increase the presence and improve quality and consistency of engineering education for K-12 students in the United States. Step 1: Reach Consensus on Core Ideas in Engineering To take full advantage of the infusion and mapping approaches discussed in Chapter 3 and to support curriculum development, teacher professional development, and assessment in K-12 engineering education, the committee concludes that it is necessary to first identify the most important concepts, skills, and habits of mind in engineering.
As has been done in other fields, such as ocean science, we should articulate essential core ideas, rather than developing standards. These core ideas, or big ideas, might be thought of as a first step toward the development of content standards, essential elements on which educational standards would need to be based. Core ideas, which are distillations of the essential nature of a field or practice, will necessarily be few in number. Content standards typically elaborate these core ideas as grade or age specific benchmarks or learning progressions based, when possible, on research in the cognitive sciences. However, even if the core ideas do not lead to full-fledged standards, they will still be useful. They may, for example, prompt research that clarifies learning progressions for basic concepts, say, the idea of constraints. And their lack of specificity can provide flexibility for the various groups, from guidance counselors and teachers to test and textbook developers, interested in K-12 engineering education.
Table 4-1 summarizes the key differences between content standards for K-12 engineering education and core ideas in engineering. Federal agencies, foundations, and professional engineering societies with an interest in improving precollege engineering education should fund a consensus process to develop a document describing the core ideas-concepts, skills, and dispositions of engineering that are appropriate for K-12 students. The process should incorporate feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. Work should begin as soon as possible, and the findings should be shared with key audiences, including developers of new or revised standards in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology at the national and state levels.
The on core committee further suggests that participant stakeholder groups in building a consensus ideas in engineering include the following: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professional societies Schools of engineering. Engineering and technology education accreditation bodies Employers of engineers (e.g., technology-intensive industries) K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education associations The career technical-education community Organizations with a history and interest in development of K-12 education standards. 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 Polish and Rosetta Stone Portuguese. If you have a creative mind, you will make all your own differences in the end!