Honors Program
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
Spring 5-2018
Citation
Wagner, R. A. (2018). Using the SOAR Approach to teach middle school students about math and science concepts found in engineering (K. Kiewra, Ed.) (Unpublished honor's thesis). University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
Abstract
In order to address the lack of knowledge about the engineering profession in middle-level students, the project described in this Honors Thesis was developed. Through the creation of an afterschool program centered on engineering, students were able to apply the math and science concepts covered to design, build, and test a bridge. One particular lesson from this after-school program was highlighted in this thesis, the lesson covering the Pythagorean Theorem, to demonstrate the use of SOAR methodology in the lesson’s development and later use in the classroom. The effectiveness of the Pythagorean Theorem lesson was evaluated positively based on the analysis of student learning by their performance on sample Pythagorean Theorem problems. After a semester of instruction, students showed greater interest in engineering and were more likely to see themselves becoming engineers in the future.
Comments
Copyright Rachael Wagner 2018