Student engagement, and in particular intellectual engagement, has been identified as a key factor in learning at the high school level. While this type of engagement has an impact on student learning in fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), it also has a positive impact on the learning of other disciplines such as English, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences. This report describes a set of projects co-designed by teachers and education specialists aimed at engaging students intellectually in each major high school subject area. Student use of mobile technologies, in this case the iPad2, features prominently in each of these projects. Interviews with teachers and students were conducted in order to identify evidence of intellectual engagement, as well as studentsâ?? interactions with the mobile device. Data from a survey was also used to identify the level of engagement of students involved in these projects.
Abstract-Efforts for recruiting and retaining students in engineering programs are evident in many postsecondary institutions around the world. These efforts include outreach programs at both elementary and secondary school level, as well as projects that develop capacities beyond technical content-often taught as declarative and procedural knowledge. The mandate of the Galileo Education Network Association includes the design of rich learning environments engaging K -12 students in authentic tasks: tasks that resemble the real work of professionals such as engineers. We describe the experience of enacting a sevensession engineering project in thermodynamics with Grade Ten students. Special attention is paid to formative assessment as an essential support for students' learning along the project. The initial project resulted from the collaborationas a means for teacher professional development-between this network association and the mathematics and science teachers in a western Canadian high school. We propose that programs for teacher professional development in mathematics and science should include a focus on tasks that resemble the work of engineering in order to design authentic, engaging learning tasks, and assessing strategies that support and enhance student learning Index Terms-Authentic tasks, Inquiry-based, Projectbased, Formative assessment.
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