Michelle Howell Smith once found the notion of writing a dissertation daunting enough to deter her from pursuing a doctoral degree.
Now, having successfully faced that challenge, she’s receiving recognition for discovering why many undergraduate engineering students choose not to pursue a Ph.D. of their own.
As ever-younger children grow up with cell phones, tablet computers and photorealistic video games, a CYFS researcher has co-edited a new book designed to help educators teach students using another technology: robotics.
CYFS Research Associate Professor Gwen Nugent teamed up with three University of Nebraska researchers, including two CYFS faculty affiliates, to edit and contribute to the recently published “Robots in K-12 Education: A New Technology for Learning.”
They may lack a driver’s license and ride the bus to school, but students at Lincoln’s Culler Middle School are using other forms of transportation to reach destinations further down the road.
With the support of the Nebraska Center for Research on CYFS, the Nebraska Transportation Center and the Mid-America Transportation Center, Culler recently concluded the first year of an after-school engineering club that illustrated how math and science make modern transportation possible. Dubbed Roads, Rails and Race Cars, the weekly club offered interactive activities that helped Culler students grasp the diverse applications of the algebra, geometry and physics they learned in class.
It takes years to develop the knowledge and expertise necessary to practice engineering. As Nebraska’s science and math teachers recently showed, however, it takes only a day to sow seeds of interest in the field.
The 2010 UNL Excellence in Engineering Education Institute, coordinated by CYFS and UNL’s Nebraska Transportation Center, gave dozens of Nebraska’s middle and high school students the chance to learn about the foundations and numerous applications of engineering. The mid-July retreats – held in Lincoln, Omaha, Lexington and Hastings, Neb. – were led by nearly 30 teachers who developed lesson plans during UNL’s Professional Development Math and Science Summer Technology Institute in June.