2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

PROJECT RISE: Professional Development of Civics Teachers on Engineering Design Thinking and Lessons Learned from Pilot Implementation (Works-In-Progress)

Presented at Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES) Technical Session 6: LEES Works in Progress

Project RISE is a transdisciplinary training project which aims to develop and implement innovative digital civics instruction modules that integrate engineering thinking. This paper presents the work from Year 2, in which middle and high school teachers attended a 5 day residential workshop and offered feedback on the training and curriculum implementation.

Teachers were trained in the curricular components, identified as PILLARS (2) and PATHWAYS (5). PILLARS (Civics Education and Engineering Design) provide foundational skills and knowledge so that teachers could teach students and guide them through PATHWAYS. PATHWAYS are modules in which justice is centered and intentionally spotlight challenges or trends within local communities. The centering of justice with a focus on health, economic, and environmental justice as well as the impact of gentrification and influence of traffic and transportation on citizens experiencing justice or injustice. Teachers were free to use a case study within a PATHWAY, or take a challenge and apply it locally to their community. Teacher participants analyzed problems, modeled brainstorming, constraints and criteria-setting, and data collection as their students would.

We will present results from the evaluation of the professional development, show updates to the curriculum as a result of teacher implementation, and preliminary teacher feedback from implementation of the pilot. We will also demonstrate the mobile application that enabled student data collection.

Authors

Dr. Tamecia R. Jones http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4229-3975 North Carolina State University at Raleigh [biography]

Tamecia Jones is an assistant professor in the STEM Education Department at North Carolina State University College of Education with a research focus on K-12 engineering education, assessment, and informal and formal learning environments. She is a 2024 NSF CAREER awardee.
Siddika Selcen Guzey Purdue University at West Lafayette (PWL) (COE) [biography]

Dr. Guzey is a professor of science education at Purdue University. Her research and teaching focus on integrated STEM Education.
Dr. Chrystal S Johnson Purdue University [biography]

Chrystal S. Johnson is Associate Professor of Social Studies Education in the College of Education at Purdue University. She is the Project Director/PI for Project RISE.
Jennifer Sdunzik Purdue University at West Lafayette (PWL) (COE)
Wilella Burgess Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI) [biography]

As an interdisciplinary researcher, professional evaluator, and director of Purdue’s Evaluation and Learning Research Center (ELRC), Burgess has over 30 years of experience developing and evaluating formal and informal education programs and methodologies for a variety of audiences. Her current work focuses on innovations that improve learning, well-being, and personal or organizational development and capacity. Inspired by her Ecology background, Burgess uses a context-centered systems approach to research and evaluation that strives to understand what works, why it works, for whom, and under what conditions. For example, Burgess recently led a multinational team evaluating the effects of primary education models on diverse populations of learners in Somalia. Results from this evaluation inform educational programming and policy in Somalia and contribute to our understanding of educational best practices in post-conflict and fragile environments more generally. The ELRC collaborates with faculty in all colleges across campus, as well as Colleges and Universities, Foundations, Government Agencies, and NGOs, both domestically and internationally. ELRC is a partner on Federal awards to Purdue totaling more than $48 million, including support from NSF, NIH, USDA, HRSA, USAID, and the U.S. Department of Education. ELRC also partners with external entities on projects funded by HHMI, Gates Foundation, Lumina, and many other sources. Burgess uses her extensive education and evaluation experience to inform external evaluation of the RISE project.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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