ASEE K12 Division Newsletter
April 29, 2015
Dear ASEE K12 and Precollege Engineering Division Members,
Hope the end of your semester is going well!
This year, the K12 Division is sponsoring two fantastic workshops on Sunday, June 14. They are both very strongly linked to what we do as K12 teachers and outreach leaders and are hosted by division members (full disclosure, one is mine!). On May 1, we have to decide if enough people have signed up to warrant our hosting these workshops, especially given the fees we are charged to do so. If you’re considering attending one or both of these workshops, please take the time to add it to your registration by tomorrow, April 30! We hope you’ll join us!
U233A·SUNDAY WORKSHOP: How Does Your Professional Development Measure Up? Applying the New Standards for Professional Development for K-12 Teachers of Engineering
- Workshop · K-12 & Pre-College Engineering Division
- Sun. June 14, 2015 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
- Washington State Convention Center, Room 308
- Ticketed event: $30.00 advanced registration and $40.00 on site registration
U433A·SUNDAY WORKSHOP: TeachEngineering Digital Library – Hundreds of Free, Searchable, NGSS-aligned Hands-on Engineering Lessons for K-12
- Workshop · K-12 & Pre-College Engineering Division
- Sun. June 14, 2015 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Washington State Convention Center, Room 607
- Ticketed event: $20.00 advanced registration and $30.00 on site registration
Do you live in the Seattle area of have friends who do? Be sure to encourage them to register for the K12 Workshop that we will host on Saturday, June 13! Note that Boeing is sponsoring a registration discount for the first 150 teacher registrations! Lots more information and a link to the registration system here: http://www.asee.org/conferences-and-events/conferences/k12-workshop/2015.
Do you teach engineering or design courses at the high school or undergraduate level? Do you wish you had additional ways to encourage your students to develop their engineering idea generation abilities? Consider joining us on Sunday, June 14, 2015 from 9:00AM—12:00PM at the ASEE Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington for a workshop focusing on Innovative Idea Generation for Engineering Design. In this free workshop, we will address the question: Where do new ideas come from, and how can we, as educators, encourage our students to create innovative solutions that address complex, global challenges? This workshop will provide you with a method to teach idea generation in engineering courses. The Design Heuristics method has been proven to help engineers generate novel ideas, transform existing ideas in new directions, create multiple concepts to choose from, and increase the diversity and creativity of the concepts generated. The workshop is free, and open to attendance by all educators. In addition, we are offering an incentive of $250 if you sign up in advance and complete a survey prior to the workshop. The incentives are funded by NSF TUES Grant Nos. 1323251 and 1322552, with a focus on the dissemination of this method to engineering and design classrooms. Additional opportunities will be offered during the workshop for your participation in data collection and dissemination efforts at your home institution. If you are interested in receiving the Workshop Attendance and Survey incentive, please complete the following steps:
• Fill out an initial signup form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tGKQM1_uxj2TuGeRDsE04XeNzb8dow3UBQWlZWgeKr8/viewform
• Respond to a 20-30 minute survey when it is released in mid- to late-May 2015.
• Attend the workshop on Sunday, June 14th from 9:00AM-12:00PM
This year our Diversity Committee has been active on multiple fronts, thanks to the leadership of Morgan Hynes. One of their activities was to review our division’s bylaws to make sure that we are supporting and encouraging diversity and inclusiveness. To that end, the committee has recommended three minor changes/additions. They are highlighted with the track changes feature in Word and listed below. Because several of you have asked, we purposely have not defined “diversity” because we don’t want our language to become dated over time.
Proposed changes:
1. In section II. Objectives, we propose to add the following bullet point as item 2:
Promote diversity and inclusion in K-12 engineering and/or technology education to develop and implement best practices for engaging all students.
2. In section V. Election of Officers, we propose to add the following words to the first bullet point: “a diverse”
3. In section VI. Committees, we propose to add the following language to form a new standing committee:
The Diversity Committee shall be composed of one member of the Executive Committee as appointed by the Division Chair and at least two members of the Division. The Diversity Committee shall be responsible for promoting best practices for diversity and inclusion within the Division.
Per our bylaws, the proposed changes are open for comment for 21 days. This period will close at the end of the business day on Wednesday, May 13, at 5pm central. At that point, the executive board will vote on the changes with any and all comments in mind. If the proposed changes pass the executive board by a majority, then the changes will go to an electronic vote that I would conduct immediately thereafter. If we do approve the changes as a membership, then changes will go to ASEE. If you have feedback on these proposed changes, please let me know via email by May 13.
Your assistance is needed to help us identify extraordinary science, technology, engineering and mathematics mentors or mentoring organizations for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). You may email a nominee’s contact information to us at paesmem@nsf.gov. On your behalf, NSF will send an invitation to your nominee to submit a nomination for the 2016 PAESMEM award. The nomination deadline is Friday, June 19, 2015. Individual and organizational nominations are invited from mentors from all STEM sectors. Additional instruction for preparing the 2016 nomination package is found at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15551/nsf15551.pdf.
Are you a university STEM faculty member of graduate student who wants to improve your classroom practices? Be sure to sign up for the Center for STEM Education for Girls’ STEM Think Tank and Conference! It will be held July 8-10 on the campus of the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, TN. Many sessions are geared just for you, including a Friday workshop. Find more information at http://stemefg.org/index.php/think-tank-and-conference/.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly with information that should be shared with the division or if you have questions or concerns about division work. It’s easiest to reach me by email at stacy.klein-gardner@vanderbilt.edu.
With best regards,
Stacy
_______________________________________________________________________________
Stacy S. Klein-Gardner, Ph.D.
Adjoint Associate Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering
Adjoint Associate Professor of the Practice of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Vanderbilt University
Chair, K12 and Precollege Engineering Division
American Society for Engineering Education