We have a national STEM Skills Gap Crisis. Industry needs skilled and educated employees and US schools are not meeting demand. Consequently, those teaching STEM and those managing STEM competitions, need a tool to increase STEM project success through engineering design process (EDP) iterations, while streamlining the review/judging of those projects iterations for STEM Competition’s. It is through increased student and program STEM project success, more students will be excited about seeking STEM careers –E.D.E.N. is the tool!
- EDEN is the Tool – documenting a projects EDP, is central to STEM projects. EDEN is the tool to manage and guide teams to final project completion and for managing iterations in a STEM competition season, from competition to competition. (Free EDP foundational intro activities are free in EDEN)
- EDEN for Guidance and Management–Individual Students in their STEM projects, and STEM competition teams, are excited and motivated when experiencing better success when engaged and excited about their STEM projects, when they are guided through their engineering design process (EDP) steps. Guided by their teachers/mentors, the student outcomes for each team will be met with increasing success through guided documentation of their iterations and intrinsic understanding of the EDP.
- EDEN Facilitates – “Utilizing the engineering design process as an instructional methodology”. This process is central for STEM programs and is fun and exciting for both the teachers and students (research information in EDEN). Strong documentation of the EDP, by all team members, is key and central to optimal team and project outcomes. EDEN completely facilitates guidance and management for the teacher/mentor, and for the student navigating and learning to understand the EDP.
- EDEN for Team Documentation of STEM Projects – Through adhering to, and well documentation of the EDP, Students learn by doing the soft skills of: critical thinking and problem solving, working together as a team, written and oral communications (EDEN has a teams notes section–seen by team members, teachers and mentors, but not judges), how to research and select appropriate technologies to solve specific problems. All notebook entries (and cross through deletions/notes) are stamped by time, date and authored (by team member credentials), Additionally- specific technical skills, related to the specific type of STEM project- albeit drone, robotic, flight, structural challenge, etc. ; would be inclusive of mechanical, programming/coding, electrical, CAD/design/drawing, aerospace, manufacturing, etc. knowledge and skills objectives to be addressed. Teachers and Mentors can leave notes to team members for guidance for each notebook entry–that is private to the team and seen by STEM competition judges.
- EDEN for STEM Competition Judging. EDEN eliminates rushed and hurried judging the day of a competition, streamlines and reduces the work load of managers of competitions for their teams to gather notebooks to provide to their judges. Teachers preparing their teams and those managing and running a STEM competition, both know setting up judges and reviewing team engineering notebooks has challenges. Procuring local judges, and enough judges is a challenge to review all notebooks thoroughly and fairly for teams. With EDEN, judges can be volunteers from any willing corporation, or community, as EDEN is web-based with each notebook with its own URL (which is managed by the teacher to active or note to control between events). There are no big files to upload or manage. Time to review is a challenge, with EDEN’s notebook URL, which can be provided weeks ahead of a competition, provides judges to more time for more thorough and fair reviews. This gives the opportunity to see and meet more teams during an event.
With EDEN-the Electronic EDP STEM notebook as the core, integrated with STEM Activities/Projects and Challenges/Competitions, is the bridge to success in closing our national STEM skills gap. Guidance and management of the EDP is key. Increased excitement and success of programs and students equates to more students seeking STEM careers—EDEN is the tool to pull it together.
A Little History
Early in the last century it was recognized by industry and education that youth needed training to prepare for the workforce, with congress initiating the Smith Hughes act of 1918, then throughout the United States programs grew that were centered around vocational training and academic learning. Here we are over 100 years later facing unprecedented growths in technology affecting every facet of our lives, especially in business and industry, and we aren’t keeping up. We have gone off track along the way with the education system having created a growing division between academic and vocational training, with vocational training given a “less than” label.
Efforts have been made to correct this with much local, state and federal funding to schools to combine academic and vocational learning—yet we here are still with a GROWING Skills Gap. Missing is a significant tool and process to assist teachers to engage, manage and excite their students into STEM careers through skills challenges. HEAT Corp built EDEN, The Engineering Design Electronic Notebook, a web-based tool to fill this gap.
The STEM skills gap problem is multifaceted:
Missing Infrastructure
EDEN to the Rescue! Teaching STEM can be hard, mind boggling and frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. Be it in class hands on single or team STEM projects, or STEM competition projects, an after school STEM competition program or a homeschool program working to provide STEM projects, can be challenging to manage as students are up and moving working on multiple projects and even in different geographical locations, how do you assign, plan and manage each student or team ? Utilizing the engineering design process as an instructional management tool and methodology is key. Each student is working within one of the EDP steps to a project which they document, what is it, what are they doing, when did they do it< what have they done? All is organized and managed through the EDP, by class period, by team and/or project you assign them to-all documented in EDEN. EDEN is the tool to pull it all together.
We do not have adequate numbers of programs engaging enough students. Schools and teachers need a tool to assist in increased success of projects and competitive results which all equate to more excitement and enthusiasm to continue to see STEM as a career option. (FIRST, FPSI, VEX, BEST, SKILLS USA, LEGO, and others.) EDEN is a tool that provides the solution to engaging more students as a means for more successful project outcomes. Through increasing program and individual student success in STEM projects and competitions is how we increase numbers of students seeking STEM careers as career choices.
Teacher Preparation
EDEN is the Tool to Assist Schools and Teachers. We have diminished teacher vocational education programs and have virtually eliminated Technology Education teacher preparation programs. Teachers retiring or moving to industry, who previously lead STEM and creative design programs are being replaced with teachers not provided the training for hands-on applications-based training programs. These include makers space style activities with 3D printing, CAD, CNC milling, use of standard power tools and laser cutting equipment for manufactured processes. Academic teachers are having to take the lead on STEM, without the pedagogical training and background to prepare and engage students in hands on team projects and competitions. Consequently, many teachers being assigned to STEM or STEAM, just are not prepared to work with students in hands on projects and engage in STEM competition such as for designing and building drones, robots, rockets, structural and more. STEM competitions are the most exciting and engaging of ways to fuel a young person into STEM careers. These are open ended design challenges, beyond a kit following the IKEA type instructions to make something. When there are no instructions, its the EDP. EDEN is that tool to help teachers and mentors work with and guide their students through each EDP step, providing success for teachers and students. When teachers are having a good time, and the students are having a good time, the teachers want to continue with the STEM project and competitions, and the students want to keep returning and continuing with the STEM program. This is how to engage more students to want to pursue STEM as a career option, EDEN is the tool to help schools, the teachers and students expand grow and have a thriving STEM program–the EDP is the core, and EDEN is the way.
Engineering Design Process
The engineering design process (EDP) is the core of engineering. Planning, organizing and documentation are key elements of adhering to the EDP. Students do not naturally gravitate to planning, organizing and documenting information, as the EDP warrants. This, interestingly, is in fact due to the developmental process of the brain’s frontal lobe, accentuating the need for transformational tools to assist teachers managing their students through the EDP (Research info in EDEN). Students NEED guidance and Teachers NEED a tool–EDEN is the tool.
Educator Tools
EDEN is the Tool!-There is a lack of adequate tools for STEM educators to manage students in the EDP. Utilizing the engineering design process as an instructional methodology is a fun and exciting way for the teacher and students to effectively address the EDP (Research is in EDEN). EDEN is the tool built provide teachers and mentors the ability to guide and manage their team members to greater success and students the ability to better work together, achieve their best, through thorough documentation of the EDP steps and their iterations as they work their project.
Accessibility
The programs that exist are expensive, time intensive, and do not engage the numbers of students needed to diminish the skills gap, especially for manufacturing careers.
EDEN