Beyond Fairness and Access to a Brighter Future: The Economic Case for K-12 Engineering

Abstract

An engineering education provides the skills to thrive in a global, change-driven society. Dr. Sullivan will address the imperative for engineering education to begin in elementary school and continue through high school as a component of basic literacy. Engineering experiences in the K-12 setting are compellingly effective at integrating science and math, and building upon the wonder of hands-on scientific inquiry to prepare youngsters for a world where change and complexity are the rule. Exploring engineering much earlier in life broadens access to the American dream, and provides people from all backgrounds opportunity to share in that dream. Through K-12 engineering, youngsters begin to imagine and prepare fora brighter future for themselves, creating opportunity for all youth within our borders.

Challenges abound as university engineering and K-12 educators together create seamless K-16 engineering experiences that spark the imagination of youth and give them the means to embrace the challenges of tomorrow. Exploiting engineering as a vehicle for the integration of science and math in K-12 settings provides a perfect opportunity for engineering students to engage in service learning, through which they enrich and cement their own knowledge while providing service to the K-12 community of learners, students, and teachers. In this seminar we'll explore the opportunities this new frontier presents and the models being implemented as we ride the crest of the K-12 engineering wave to arrive at destinations yet unseen.

Bio

Jacquelyn Sullivan is founding Co-Director and Director of K-12 Engineering Outreach for the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program and Laboratory at the University of Colorado at Boulder, focused on integrating hands-on engineering throughout the K-16 learning experience. Dr. Sullivan had 13 years of engineering and leadership experience in industry prior to joining CU's College of Engineering in 1990. At CU she has initiated an extensive K-12 engineering outreach program for teachers and under-served youth. She currently leads a multi-institutional initiative to create an online, searchable, standards-based, digital library collection of K-12 engineering curricula, as well as Department of Education and NSF-funded projects that promote in-classroom K-12 engineering instruction.

Jackie is a founding board member for the new Denver School of Science and Technology public, urban high school that opened in fall 2004 to make science, engineering and technology come alive for youth in a humanities-rich setting focused on student achievement. And, she has long served on (and chaired) the board of directors for the Boulder Arts Academy, a non profit community school of the arts serving ~1,000 youngsters engaged in music and dance education and performance. Jackie received her PH.D in environmental health physics and aquatic toxicology from Purdue University.

ENE's New Horizons in Engineering Education Seminar Series is Devoted to Educating Future Engineers.