Teacher Perceptions of Incorporating Engineering Design in Mathematics and Science Instruction (Research)

Eugenia is an Teaching and Learning. Eugenia is mathematically bi-literate (English and Greek) and has taught mathematics at the middle school, high school, and college level. She currently teaches mathematics education courses to undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students. Her research explores Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teacher Education (CRMTE), which she deﬁnes as teacher education that: a) is responsive to the needs and capitalizes on the funds of knowledge of culturally diverse mathematics (pre-service and in-service) teachers, and b) seeks to prepare culturally responsive mathematics teachers who will advance the education of students whose linguistic and cultural backgrounds have not traditionally been recognized as resources for mathematics learning. Dr. Lane’s research agenda broadly examines diversity, equity, and inclusion in postsecondary education with the objective of advancing inclusive and transformative policies and practices. Her primary research strand investigates the experiences and outcomes of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Using qualitative methodologies, she has explored access and success for underserved students of color in STEM and STEM intervention programs. This line of research also seeks to understand the nuances and complexities of participation and persistence in these ﬁelds and develop new models for explaining such phenomena. Her secondary research strand focuses on the participation and achievement of Black students and professionals in higher education. She is the PI or co-PI on several grant-funded research projects including the national Black Doctoral Women Study (BDWS), the Women in Engineering Study (WIES), and Bulls-Engineering Youth Experience for Promoting Relationships, Identity Development, & Empowerment (Bulls-EYE PRIDE). Dr. is First Year and Through this and the for USF’s Foundations of Engineering Lab Abstract In recent years, computational thinking has received increasing amounts of attention, with numerous K-12 institutions looking to incorporate it into existing STEM curriculums. This movement to improve computational thinking literacy, supported by numerous professional organizations (e.g., American Society for Engineering Education [ASEE], National Research Council [NRC], National Academy of Engineering [NAE]) and Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS Lead States, 2013), attempts to improve students’ problem-solving skills and strategies. Efforts to improve computational thinking have been aimed at both teachers and students. However, few studies exist to investigate how teachers implement the teaching of CT practices in courses with a component that involves collaboration between students in multiple countries. Therefore, the focus of the study is to explore middle school STEM teachers’ understandings of computational thinking practices, if any, within an integrated STEM education teaching approach. This study is an international study, as the teachers are from two countries, Brazil and the United States. For this study, an extensive semi-structured interview protocol is used to gather data from a sample of four middle school STEM teachers. All of the teachers are communicated with in English to collect the data. A case study method is implemented to collect and analyze interview data to identify similarities across cases. Member checking is used to confirm accuracy in the results. Findings from this study offer insights for researchers, middle school teachers, curriculum developers and professional development providers.