K-12 STEM Education: Bringing the engineering maker space, student-centered learning, curriculum, and teacher training to middle schools

Encouraging our youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has become critically important to meeting needs for adequate and clean water, less pollution and an adequate food supply, along with needs for housing, communications, and sustained technology leadership. According to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, the future of STEM fields is dependent on a steady workforce of talented and diverse individuals. Without a growing pool of STEM talent with emphasis upon the “E”, the Bureau of Statistics projects that the U.S. will have a difficult time filling the demands for STEM professionals as near as the year 2018. In response to the need to develop a STEM proficient workforce with emphasis upon the “E”, an industry leading high-tech corporation on the west coast developed a hands-on engineering maker space that exposes middle school students to an exciting one-day authentic learning experience. Announced January 2016, Virginia Tech and the high-tech corporation entered into a multi-year, multi-phase partnership agreement to develop programmatic curricula, teacher credentialing and professional development, hands-on engineering practices, activities for long-term student engagement, and ongoing research. The purpose of this work-in-progress article is to report on the first phase of the partnership agreement and its innovative practices of interest to stakeholders invested in the K-12 engineering footprint.