A national study examining safety factors and training associated with STEM education and CTE laboratory accidents in the United States

Accident Occurrences and Safety Issues Reported by Mid-Atlantic P-12 Engineering Educators

“…This is reflected in the current P-12 engineering education standards [4], Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy, which place a strong emphasis on safety throughout the standards, practices, and context areas [5,6]. Emphasizing safety during students' design and fabrication decisions provides important implications for improving young worker safety, safety in the workplace, and the safety awareness of students entering higher education engineering programs [7,8].…”

“…The inclusion of engineering content and practices in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2014 raised concerns from professional P-12 science and engineering educator associations. This included concerns about the increased safety hazards and resulting health and safety risks that science educators would need to be prepared to address when tasked with delivering hands-on engineering instruction [8,9]. Conversely, graduates from most P-12 engineering teacher preparation programs complete coursework covering facility design and safety, safer pedagogical methods, and supervision of P-12 engineering lab activities [10].…”

“…In addition to the legal issues resulting from inadequate teacher preparation and safety training, the literature has documented a severe lack of safety in various aspects relative to P-12 engineering education [7]. Specifically, Love et al [9] highlighted the lack of improvement in P-12 engineering education related safety issues reported in studies from 2002 through 2022.…”

“…Specifically, Love et al [9] highlighted the lack of improvement in P-12 engineering education related safety issues reported in studies from 2002 through 2022. Furthermore, a recent national P-12 engineering education safety study published by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) in collaboration with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA) provided a comprehensive overview of the status of safety in P-12 engineering education programs across the U.S. [7]. This study involved 718 educators from 42 states who were teaching a variety of P-12 engineering courses.…”

“…Moreover, analyses were conducted to further examine the responses of the 67 participating P-12 engineering teachers working in Pennsylvania school districts [13]. Similar analyses were conducted with data from the full national sample [8], identifying 17 protective factors (e.g., safety zones taped on the floor near potentially hazardous equipment) and eight risk factors (e.g., percentage of class time spent doing hands-on lab activities) that were significantly correlated with accident occurrences in P-12 engineering education courses. Moreover, analyses revealed findings with important implications for occupancy load and safety training in engineering education (Figure 1).…”