Cary Sneider

Cary Sneider, Portland State University, shared an update

PostedMonday, March 30, 2015 at 1:25 PM

A few months ago 20,000 8th graders across the country spent an hour at a computer brought to their school to take the NAEP Technology and Engineering

A few months ago 20,000 8th graders across the country spent an hour at a computer brought to their school to take the NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) Assessment. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” does not provide individual test scores. For the past 25 years NAEP has provided accurate information on U.S. students’ achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as science, social studies, and other subjects. This is the first year that NAEP is assessing students’ technology and engineering literacy skills. The results will be reported later in 2015.

No individual student responds to all of the NAEP tasks. Using a statistical sampling method, an accurate assessment lasting many hours can be administered by requiring students to spend no more than an hour of their time. To ensure integrity of the questions, and fairness across school districts, the assessment is given on computers that are brought to the schools. The high standards for conducting the assessment and analyzing and reporting the results have earned NAEP the reputation of The Gold Standard.

Why Technology and Engineering Literacy? Why now? In recent decades there has been growing recognition that science and mathematics education alone are not sufficient for individuals to prosper and thrive in the modern world. An understanding of technology, and ability to engineer solutions to problems are equally important. That is the impetus behind the growing focus on STEM education. For many years NAEP has assessed students’ capabilities in science and mathematics. With NAEP TEL, we will now have a measure of the achievement of our students in all four STEM fields. To learn more about NAEP TEL, you can view two videos and see a sample assessment item at the following website. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tel/

If you have a question about NAEP TEL, please post your question and I’ll do my best to answer. I’m a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for all of the NAEP assessments, so if I can’t answer your question, I’ll find someone who can.

The Go-To Guide for Engineering Curricula is a three-volume series that describes 40 curricula for both school and informal education settings that blend engineering and science. The curricula range from ways to introduce computational thinking at the pre-school level, to project-based learning programs at the middle school level, to yearlong programs that integrated engineering into chemistry and physics courses at the high school level. Each chapter is written by one of the leaders who developed the curriculum. Chapters feature one or two of the units in detail to illustrate the kinds of activities that engage the students. The purpose of the series is to provide an overview of currently available curricula for teachers and committees who are charged with selecting new instructional materials consistent with the NGSS, or those who have been asked to develop such materials on their own and do not wish to reinvent the wheel. Readers should be aware that since the materials described in these chapters were developed before the release of the NGSS, none are perfectly aligned with the new standards. However, they are all supportive of at least some of the engineering practices and core ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards. The books are published by Corwin Press.

This brief from the National Science Foundation explains why engineering is gaining prominence in science education, and describes the role of engineering in the NGSS. The brief makes a strong case for the benefits of engineering as a part of science education for all students, and alerts educators to some of the challenges that they will face when introducing an engineering-rich curriculum. It also provides examples of engineering programs at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Cary Sneider is a Visiting Scholar at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, with a focus on research, curriculum development and teacher education in engineering education. Dr. Sneider served as Technology and Engineering Lead for A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (NRC 2012), and as lead for engineering on the writing team for Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). He is currently a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP (also known as "The Nation's Report Card") in all subject areas. From 1997 to 2007 Dr. Sneider was Vice President for Programs at the Museum of Science in Boston, where he led development of a high school engineering curriculum, which is now published by It’s About Time. Dr. Sneider’s research interests have focused on helping students unravel their misconceptions in science and on new ways to link science centers and schools to promote student inquiry. He has taught science at the middle and high schools in Maine, California, Costa Rica, and Micronesia. Dr. Sneider earned a B.A. degree in Astronomy cum laude from Harvard College and a California Secondary Teaching Credential, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.