2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring How Contextual Factors Influence the Implementation of Middle School Engineering Curricula (Fundamental)

Presented at Flanders' Fellowship: Building STEM Community Impact, Hi-Diddly-Ho!

Through the semester-long ****** curricula, middle school students complete a series of contextualized challenges that integrate foundational mathematics and science, introduce advanced manufacturing tools (CAD, 3-D printing), and engage students in the engineering design process. Funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) ****** grant, our project is in the process of scaling the ****** curricula in a large urban school district. Over the previous two years, the project has enlisted two cohorts of engineering teachers to implement the curricula in nine middle schools. In addition to understanding whether and how the critical components of the ****** curricula are implemented in diverse school settings, our research team’s fidelity of implementation research investigates contextual factors that help explain why teachers and students engaged with the ****** curricula the way they do. For this line of inquiry, we draw upon the Factor Framework (Century and Cassata, 2014; Century et al. 2012), which provides a comprehensive set of potential factors known to influence implementation of educational innovations. The framework organizes these implementation factors into five categories: characteristics of the innovation, characteristics of individual users, characteristics of the organization, elements of the environment, and networks. After consulting this framework to identify potential factors likely to influence ****** implementation, we analyzed teacher interview and classroom observation data collected over the course of three semesters of implementation to describe the degree to which various contextual factors either facilitated or limited implementation. Our data indicate three categories of factors influencing implementation: characteristics of the curriculum, characteristics of users (teachers and students), and characteristics of organizations (district, schools). Characteristics of ****** that facilitated implementation included features of the curricula and professional development including the perceived effectiveness of the curricula, the adaptability of the curricula, and the degree to which professional learning sessions provided adequate preparation for implementation. Characteristics of teachers identified as facilitating implementation included pedagogical content knowledge, self-efficacy, resourcefulness, and organizational and time management skills. Teachers reported that student interest in the ****** challenges and STEM, more generally, was another facilitating factor whereas, to varying degrees, disruptive student behavior and students’ lack of foundational mathematics skills were reported as limiting factors. Teachers highlighted specific technological challenges, such as software licensing issues, as limiting factors. Otherwise, we found that teachers generally had sufficient resources to implement the curricula including adequate physical space, technological tools, and supplies. Across teachers and schools, we found that, overall, supportive school and district leadership facilitated implementation. In spite of an overall high level of support in participating schools, we did identify school and district policies with implications for implementation including school-wide scheduling and disciplinary policies that limited instructional time, policies for assigning and moving students among elective courses, and district-wide expectations for assessment and teaching certain additional engineering activities. We believe the findings of this study will be of interest to other researchers and practitioners exploring how engineering education innovations unfold in diverse classrooms and the array of factors that may account for variations in implementation patterns.

Authors

Dr. Jessica D Gale http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7361-3612 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Jessica Gale is a Senior Research Scientist at Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). As a member of CEISMC’s Research and Evaluation Group, Dr. Gale’s recent work explores the development, implementation, and effectiveness of innovative STEM and STEAM curricula and programs. Dr. Gale’s research spans and often connects diverse subjects within K-12 education including: project-based learning, STEM integration, engineering education, curriculum development, and self-efficacy.
Dyanne Baptiste Porter http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-1571 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dyanne Baptiste Porter is a postdoctoral research fellow at Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). Prior to earning her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education, she taught high school mathematics for eight years. Her research interests include interdisciplinary mathematics teaching and learning, equitable teaching and learning practices in STEM, and increasing representation in advanced mathematical sciences.
Dr. Meltem Alemdar Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Meltem Alemdar is a Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), Dr. Alemdar made significant contributions to the fields of STEM education. Her research focuses on improving K-12 STEM education through research on curriculum development, teacher professional development, and student learning in integrated STEM environments. Dr. Alemdar currently serves as PI and co-PI for research on various NSF funded projects that focuses on engineering education, teacher networks and STEM learning environments. Her expertise includes program evaluation, social network analysis, mixed methods, and advanced quantitative methods. Dr. Alemdar is passionate advocate for equitable and inclusive STEM education. She actively engages with educators, students, and communities to promote the importance of STEM disciplines and education research in preparing the next generation for the challenges of the future. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy, with a concentration in Research, Measurement, and Statistics, from Georgia State University.
Jasmine Choi Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Jasmine Choi is a Research Scientist II at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on investigating evidence-based teaching and learning approaches and the impact of learning technologies in STEM K-12 classrooms.
Dr. Sunni Haag Newton http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2331-1349 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Sunni Newton is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on assessing the implementation and outcomes of educati
Dr. Abeera P. Rehmat http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4977-5830 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Abeera P. Rehmat is a Research Scientist II, at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating
Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). She has experience conducting research in engineering education that
spans pre-college up to the collegiate level. Her research interest involves investigating how engineering and computer
science education can foster students critical thinking and problem-solving skills to prepare them for the challenges of this
evolving world.
Roxanne Moore http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0536-4957 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Roxanne Moore is currently a Research Engineer at Georgia Tech with appointments in the school of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). She is involved with engineering education inno

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