Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Mathematics and Science Program

The Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Mathematics and Science Program is led by the University of Cincinnati in partnership with 14 school districts including: Cincinnati Public Schools, Oak Hills, Princeton, Norwood, Winton Woods, and the Rural Clermont STEM Consortium of 9 school districts. Our program works to meet the growing need for engineering educated teachers who are equipped to provide learners with opportunities to achieve recently revised Ohio State Science Standards juxtaposed with Universal Skills. These standards are centered in “real world application and connections to engineering.” To address this local, regional, state, and evolving national need, we are implementing four professional development pathways to teacher preparedness: (1) a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction (CI) degree with Engineering Education specialization; (2) a Summer Institute for Teachers; (3) an Education degree Pathway with Licensure for Engineering majors; and (4) an Engineering Education degree Pathway for Career Changers.

The key to these pathways are new courses we are developing which focus on engineering and science content, and design and challenge-based pedagogy. Preparation of participants allows them to (1) integrate the materials into the courses they teach and (2) disseminate and provide professional development to their colleagues through a district-level “teacher leaders” dissemination program and a regional STEM education conference to be held annually. With this approach, we intend to reach a total of 1,925 teachers over five years. These teachers should impact more than 38,500 7-12 grade students.