Virtual Introduction to Engineering Workshop for High School Math Teachers (Work in Progress)

Professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers focused on engineering content is one of the most efficient methods to indirectly introduce students to engineering at earlier ages. Those professional development opportunities vary in delivery style, content, and duration. However, the overall goal is the same: introduce teachers to engineering content and improve their self-confidence to deliver such content in the classroom. In most cases, professional development opportunities for teachers are in-person and include a variety of hands-on activities, but in some situations, that delivery style is not always possible. The past year has proven difficult for many people to successfully deliver such programs. In particular, a school system was set to receive two on-site professional development opportunities for their high school math teachers, but were unable to hold those events in person due to the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The alternative was to create and deliver a virtual version of those same workshops for some of their high school math teachers. This paper provides an overview of a virtual introduction to engineering workshop, which consisted of a three-day program including both synchronous and asynchronous forms of instruction. Participants were required to complete a total of approximately 12 hours of content. Six hours were structured content organized in three, synchronous two-hour sessions via Zoom. Day 1 included an Introduction to Engineering and a K'Nex tower experiential learning module; Day 2 included two additional experiential learning modules focused on gravitational acceleration and cubic functions and volumes followed by time for teachers to create their own module; and Day 3 included participant presentations of their own modules along with a structured focus group discussion. The asynchronous work required participants to record a tennis ball falling in slow motion for the gravitational acceleration module, watch ASCE's Dream BIG film, and finish their own module to present for peer feedback on the third day. Six high school math teachers participated in the three-day virtual workshop and were asked to complete the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS) survey in a pre-post format. Additionally, the six teachers participated in a focus group discussion at the end of the workshop to provide more information about teachers' perception of implementing engineering content in math courses that already contain substantial content. The paper also discusses the effect of the workshop on teachers' engineering self-efficacy and the results of the focus group discussion.