Interest in Technology and Engineering Education (TEE) has recently revolved around working to define/redefine who we are, and who we are not; while others in TEE are not interested in a change of identity. An emphasis on design, design education, and design assessment may help clarify the discussion surrounding the future direction of TEE.…

The purpose of this article is to provide the instructor and learner perspectives of an online learning technologies course that used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to support the teaching of UDL. Course design was based on current standards and literature related to online course design including ADDIE, Quality Matters Standards,…

Part One of this article ("Technology and Engineering Teacher," 75(4), December/January, 2016) presented a process that science, math, engineering, and technology teachers could use to collaborate and design integrated STEM courses. A conceptual framework was discussed that could provide a premise that educators interested in delivery of…

This article presents a simple design challenge, based on the PBS program "Design Squad's" "Watercraft" activity that will prove engaging to most technology and engineering students. In this floating boat challenge, students are to build a boat that can float and support 25 pennies for at least 10 seconds--without leaking, sinking, or tipping…

Ill-structured problems abound that require sophisticated problem-solving skills, knowledge across multiple domains and the abilities to think critically and communicate effectively. Despite the abundance of rhetoric supporting the need to build these skills in our students, the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge is still the primary focus…

In this first of a two-part series, the authors report that STEM is still mostly science and mathematics, taught separately with little or no attention to technology and engineering. Where connections do get made to technology and engineering, too often they happen through several disconnected projects that lack coherence in content standards and…

STEM-based understandings and experiences that prepare learners beyond the classroom are of imminent need, as today's STEM education students are tomorrow's leaders in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and education (Prabhu, 2009). Integrative STEM education signifies the intentional integration of science and mathematics with the…

In this article, the authors discuss how educators can engage students in real world learning using their academic knowledge and technical skills. They describe how school districts have discovered that the world of robotics can help students use technical skills to solve simulated problems found in the real world, while understanding the…

Spatial and creative abilities are important for innovations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, but talents are rarely developed from these abilities by schools, including among gifted children and adolescents who have a high potential to become STEM innovators. This article provides an overview of each ability and makes…

Effective communication skills start with content that is worthy of sharing. Students exploring and using various technologies, unfortunately, easily become enamoured by media novelties, such as flying words or spinning images, and produce digital products with no beef. Using digital tools does not make their cutting and pasting of summary…

In France, project activities figure predominantly in technology education. The general idea behind learning based on project activity is to allow the pupil to get involved in the activity in question, with the pupil tackling real situations rather than ones of an abstract nature. But too often, we notice that the pedagogical strategies used by…

This article describes the Systems and Global Engineering (SAGE) Project in which students collaborate with others from around the world to model solutions to some of today's most significant global problems. Stevens Institute of Technology and the New Jersey Technology Education Association (NJTEA) have teamed up to develop innovative…

To keep pace with accelerating technology and workplace expectations, high school and technology center students need access to high-level programs and courses that open the doors to further education and careers. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and nine states have launched a far-reaching program to provide rigorous and relevant…

An increasing variety of professional educational and training disciplines are now problem based (e.g., medicine, nursing, engineering, community health), and they may have a corresponding variety of educational objectives. However, they all have in common the use of problems in the instructional sequence. The problems may be as diverse as a…

The topic of alternative energy is not only relevant to a multitude of issues today, it is also an effective vehicle for developing instruction that applies across a variety of content disciplines and academic standards. Since many of the issues associated with alternative energy are open-ended, alternative energy also lends itself to…