Introducing data mining techniques and software engineering to high school science students

This paper describes the activities of a Computer Science doctoral student and a Secondary Education masters student in the design, development, and implementation of a lesson for a high school science class. The graduate students, called Fellows, worked in secondary classrooms in the Cincinnati Public School District as a part of Project STEP at the University of Cincinnati, which is funded by the National Science Foundation GK-12 Program. The Fellows formed partnerships with secondary math and science teachers to generate new lessons, activities, and resources to enhance the STEM skills of high school students. Additionally, the Fellows used their engineering expertise to bring authentic, inquiry-based learning experiences into the classroom and introduced engineering concepts to underserved student populations. This paper highlights a lesson that integrates data mining and software engineering into a physical science lesson that focuses on the periodic table. Included in the paper are techniques used by the Fellows, reactions and feedback from the students, and observations and reflections by the Fellows regarding aspects of the activity that had the most impact on student learning.

Introduction

As the number and quality of trained engineers around the world increases, the United States faces increasing challenges to stay at the forefront of the global technology race. An important determinant of our success will be the quality and quantity of engineers we produce from our colleges and universities. In order to produce these quality engineers, recruitment of talented high school students to engineering and technical fields is a high priority. Unfortunately, secondary educators, those individuals with the most interaction with students, are often unable to provide the necessary information to interested students since they lack the background, time, and resources to effectively introduce engineering concepts and careers.