With a nearly $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and partner institutions are expanding a first-of-its-kind national high school engineering course.
The program, titled Engineering For US All (e4usa), began in 2018 as a pilot to test the effectiveness of a standardized engineering curriculum across multiple states for the purpose of developing an eventual pathway for high school students to earn college credits. It provides an educational curriculum for high school students to learn and demonstrate engineering principles, skills and practices, while training their educators on how to teach the specialized coursework. Students are recruited from public, independent and parochial schools in rural, suburban and urban settings.
The program is in partnership with the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, Morgan State University and Virginia Tech. During its initial three-year pilot stage, researchers refined a curriculum developed by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the College Board. Presently, the program’s curriculum integrates engineering principles and a student design project and aligns to the Next Generation Science Standards for K–12 education.
Assistant professor of engineering education and ESM undergraduate program director Bruk Berhane has been leading the effort at FIU’s CEC since his transition
to FIU in 2019.
Read more at FIU News.