Top Takeaways
- Led workshops for teachers and after school educators about engineering education, helping them feel more confident
- Honed my abilities in facilitating workshops, collaborating with educators, writing, and research
Background
As Curriculum Designer & Training Specialist for the TEEMS (Transforming Engineering Education for Middle Schools) project (2018-2022), and previously as outreach coordinator for the Through My Window (TMW) engineering curriculum (2014-2018), part of my job was to empower elementary and middle school educators to feel confident about teaching engineering in general, and particularly using our curriculum. I ran teacher workshops, provided personalized ongoing educator support, wrote curriculum guides, helped maintain an educator website, presented and exhibited at conferences, and wrote articles for research and practitioner publications.
Results
Through focus groups and surveys, we learned that our workshops and other resources made teachers feel more prepared and even excited about teaching engineering. For me, the best part of this work was seeing educators transform into enthusiastic advocates for engineering education.
Personal Insights
I honed a number of skills through this work, including how to create engaging workshops; support diverse educators through email, teacher guides, and websites; plan events; and present at both academic and practitioner conferences. I learned how much I love collaborating with and serving teachers. They regularly left me in awe of their dedication, adaptive expertise, and innovative ideas.
Examples of Work
Trainings
To see 2017 training slides from an educator workshop, which I co-created with Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh, click here. To see a training-related “primer” for educators I wrote about Artificial Intelligence, click here.
Web
I created teacher resources at teemsproject.com. Previously, I created curriculum sites to organize files and information, talktomecurriculum.wordpress.com and timetiltercurriculum.wordpress.com.
Publications
I co-authored papers, articles, and blogs about TEEMS and Through My Window for educator and research audiences:
- Developing Transmedia Engineering Curricula Using Cognitive Tools to Impact Learning and the Development of STEM Identity, American Society for Engineering Education, 2020
- Engaging Children in Design Thinking Through Transmedia Narrative, American Society for Engineering Education, 2018
- Engineering Education Through A New Window, NSF’s Center for the Advancement of Informal Science Learning, 2017
- Through a New Window: 21st Century Education, Children’s Technology and Engineering, 2015
- Designing a Multimedia Learning Environment that Engages Children Through Narrative, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), 2015
- Engaging the Imagination of Young People to Increase Technical Literacy, ASEE, 2012
- Mysteries and Heroes: Using Imaginative Education to Engage Middle School Learners in Engineering , ASEE, 2011
- I was a nominee for the National Afterschool Association’s “Next Generation of Afterschool” and wrote this blog post about my work.
Presentations and Exhibits
- Society of Women Engineers’ Annual Conference
- Massachusetts STEM Summit
- Nerdcon: Nerdfighteria and Nerdcon: Stories (run by “Vlog Brothers” John and Hank Green)
- International Technology & Engineering Education Association Conference
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers Summer Institute
- National Science Teachers’ Association regional & national conferences
- Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers Annual Conference
- New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Connecticut Afterschool Network Conferences/Training Days
- USA Science and Engineering Festival
Isabel Huff 