Understanding and Improving K-12 Engineering Education in the United States

Engineering education in K-12 classrooms is a small but growing phenonmenon that may have implications not only for engineering but also for the other “STEM” subjects—science, technology, and mathematics. Specifically, engineering education may improve student learning and achievement in science and mathematics; increase awareness of engineering and the work of engineers; boost youth interest in pursuing engineering as a career; and increase the technological literacy of all students.

This project, overseen jointly by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council, aimed to provide guidance to key stakeholders regarding the creation and implementation K-12 engineering curricula and instructional practices, focusing especially on the connections among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

The 2009 project report, Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects, reviews the scope and impact of engineering education today and makes several recommendations to address curriculum, policy, and funding issues. It also analyzes a number of K-12 engineering curricula in depth and discusses what is known from the congnitive sciences about how childre learn engineering-related concepts and skills. The report   was the basis of legislation introduced in 2009 in both the House and Senate to fund curriculum and teacher professional development that would expand access to engineering education for U.S. primary and secondary students.

This study, and another just-completed project on the topic of standards for K-12 engineering education, are part of a portfolio of work at the NAE that examines the role of policy and education in improving technological literacy and interesting more young people in careers in engineering.