Engineering Professional Development Design for Secondary School Teachers: A Multiple Case Study

The effectiveness of teachers has been regarded as crucial to the success of standards-based reform (Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003). Research, particularly within science and mathematics, has underscored the need for professional development to help teachers understand (a) subject matter, (b) learners and learning, and (c) teaching methods (Loucks-Horsley, 1999). In addition to focusing on teacher professional development, national reform efforts have also emphasized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education (i.e., Rising Above the Gathering Storm, NRC, 2006). While substantial work has been conducted in mathematics and science, the efforts in technology and engineering education are much less mature. This makes sense given the relatively recent development of the Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEA, 2000) and recent calls for integrating engineering into the K-12 classroom as both an avenue to technological literacy and as a way to enhance the engineering pipeline (Erekson & Custer, 2008; Lewis, 2005; Wicklein, 2006).