Instructional Strategies in K12 informal engineering education -Deep case study approaches to educational research

K-12 informal engineering education can support student confidence, interest, and awareness of the field of engineering. Studies have suggested that K-12 informal learning can influence students’ awareness of the fields of engineering as potential career opportunities. Researchers have also found that engineering activities outside of school can engage youth in disciplines of which they are unfamiliar because of a lack of engineering opportunity in K12 formal education. In this paper, we provide a rich case study of one lesson’s implementation in a 5th-6th grade girls afterschool program. Our intention is to provide an in-depth description of a lesson, the corresponding assessment using a validated assessment tool for informal learning of science and engineering, and data that suggest the concepts that were (and in some cases, were not) taken up by girls following the activity. We argue that a deep study of implementation can complement survey and large-scale studies that are more typical in engineering education research, as it allows for nuance in understanding how to effectively influence youth regarding engineering.

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