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Improving engineering skills in high school students: a partnership between university and K-12 teachers

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Abstract

The level of science skills in Spanish students are significantly below the average of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and university teachers agree that the level of freshmen students’ skills is too low. Moreover, the number of engineering enrollments has been declining in recent years. The purpose of this study is to improve both the level of knowledge and skills of students upon entrance into engineering programs and their general opinion about engineering studies. The aim is to establish the importance of proper coordination between groups involved in the overall educational process and to avoid, at least in part, the decline in recent engineering enrollments. The project had the following four phases: (1) determination of the freshmen’s weakest concepts; (2) assessment of high schools students’ knowledge; (3) development of educational activities; and (4) re-assessment of high school students. These measures were complemented with the high school teachers’ opinions about the students improvements and analyses of the evolution of engineering enrollments. Most of the participants significantly improved their knowledge and skills. Similarly, high school teachers believed that the attitude of the students toward engineering improved significantly.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the University of Cordoba Vice Chancellor of Quality for the funds received for this project as well as the teachers and collaborating high schools: Antonio Belmonte-Pérez, Expectación Guzmán-Porras, Francisco Conejo-Ruiz, María D. Atienzar-Manuel de Céspedes and Manuel J. Salas-Morera; IES Fernando III el Santo (Priego de Córdoba), IES Gran Capitán (Córdoba), IES Antonio Galán Acosta (Montoro) and Colegio Ntra. Sra. de las Mercedes (Córdoba).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    Lorenzo Salas-Morera, María A. Cejas-Molina, José L. Olivares-Olmedilla, María S. Climent-Bellido, Josefa A. Leva-Ramírez & Pilar Martínez-Jiménez

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  1. Lorenzo Salas-Morera
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  2. María A. Cejas-Molina
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  3. José L. Olivares-Olmedilla
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  4. María S. Climent-Bellido
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  5. Josefa A. Leva-Ramírez
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  6. Pilar Martínez-Jiménez
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Salas-Morera.

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Salas-Morera, L., Cejas-Molina, M.A., Olivares-Olmedilla, J.L. et al. Improving engineering skills in high school students: a partnership between university and K-12 teachers. Int J Technol Des Educ 23, 903–920 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-012-9223-7

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