Work in progress: The NAE Grand Challenges, high school curricula and Graduate student research

Abstract

This work highlights a program that pairs Drexel University graduate PhD students with School District of Philadelphia high school teachers through academic fellowship to enhance the math and science education of high school students through the context of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges while concurrently illustrating the global nature of these societal issues. An analysis of survey results generated from the first and second years of the program is made public with the goal of demonstrating the program's efficacy in increasing: (1) High school teacher perceptions of their engineering knowledge; (2) Graduate student perceptions of their teaching and communication skills as well as their interest in teaching as a profession: (3) High school students' perceptions of what an engineer is and does; and (4) High school student perception of him/her becoming an engineer.