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Learning by Evaluating (LbE) is an instructional approach that involves students making comparative judgements of pairs of artifacts, such as student work, portfolios, prototypes, or curated images related to a topic of instruction to enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills. Situated as a primer for learning, the efficacy of LbE stems from actively engaging students in the evaluation process, scaffolding their learning, fostering self-reflection in decision-making, and facilitating the transfer of acquired skills and concepts to academic contexts and project work. However, there is an opportunity to gain deeper insights into classroom integration of LbE and the factors that may influence the student experience. This study adopts a design-based research approach to analyze LbE within a secondary STEM education setting, with the objective of optimizing classroom integration. By analyzing student comments generated during LbE, the research explores factors shaping the students' learning experiences, examining the extent to which students engage in informed decision-making, offer justifications, and express sentiments throughout the process. Additionally, the study explores how teachers strategically incorporate LbE into their classroom, aligning LbE sessions with curriculum objectives. Findings indicate a diverse pattern of student engagement, sentiments, and decision-making approaches across STEM classrooms. This study contributes to research on LbE by offering insights into the dynamics between teacher implementation and student engagement. The insights gained highlight the potential for refining the effectiveness of LbE within the classroom. Notably, the research emphasizes the significance of how LbE sessions are framed and strategically integrated to enrich the overall educational experience for both students and educators.

In design courses, reviewing how others have solved design problems or completed projects is common practice and often encouraged by educators. Using student work as examples can provide context for assessment criteria and help students approach new design problems. While studies have explored the use of exemplars in various disciplines, little research has focused on which exemplars to use (e.g., high-quality, low-quality) in design, technology, and engineering fields. To address this gap, researchers conducted a literature review of 33 articles on exemplar use in secondary and post-secondary education. The analysis revealed nine themes related to exemplar use and their impact on student learning, including (1) Clarity of instruction, (2) Learner focus, (3) Motivation for learning, (4) Student reflection on learning, (5) Building student self-efficacy, (6) Identifying instructional challenges, (7) Providing contrasting cases, (8) The relationship between exemplar quality and student work quality, and (9) Raising the bar for learning outcomes. Findings suggest that simply providing an exemplar is not enough and that the selection of an exemplar can have positive or negative impacts on student motivation, understanding, and application. Carefully selecting exemplars and engaging in dialogue with students can help them identify expectations, recognize quality work, and identify potential misconceptions. These findings have implications for those involved in design, technology, and engineering education. Educators can use these findings to guide their selection of exemplars and engage students in meaningful dialogue to aid their learning. Researchers can also use these findings to further investigate the use of exemplars in these fields.

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence that a novel, industry-situated, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Learning Laboratory (STEM Lab) experience may have on students' (ages 10-18) perceptions of manufacturing-related careers as well as to identify any challenges/strategies for the implementation of these informal learning spaces within manufacturing facilities. STEM labs, which are similar to makerspaces, can be defined as physical spaces where students can learn integrated skills and content through hands-on experiences (Roy and Love, 2017). While STEM labs can be found in a variety of settings (e.g., school libraries, museums, or even theme parks), the industry-situated STEM lab that is the focus of this study is a unique application of such a learning environment in an informal space within a manufacturing facility. However, the aim for this specific space is to offer local students an opportunity to see manufacturing, the people that work there, and the skills that might be necessary to pursue a future career in the various aspects of this industry. This type of career awareness and preparation initiative has become an area of interest for manufacturers as they continue to face increasing challenges with attracting employees and confronting negative, potentially outdated, perceptions of manufacturing-related careers. That being said, this research will not attempt to justify the STEM lab initiative, but will instead provide a critical view of this novel context and this type of informal learning environment. This research objective was pursued by interviewing key industry stakeholders and analyzing an existing dataset-consisting of both student surveys and drawing tests-collected by the host manufacturer over the first year of the lab's operation. By triangulating the data gathered from stakeholder interviews and both student surveys and drawing tests, which were collected before and after their experience with the STEM lab at the manufacturing facilities, this research sheds light on the challenges that similar industry-situated learning environments might face, as well as provides opportunities to potentially enhance the experience from both the student and industry perspective.

This study explored the implementation of a novel approach to dual credit referred to as the facilitator model that can be suited for STEM-focused coursework such as courses focused on engineering, design, technology, and innovation. Unlike other models, high school teachers facilitate the implementation of a college course for both high school and college credit in "collaboration" with a university instructor who evaluates student learning. This novel approach was specifically implemented for an open-ended undergraduate design course within an engineering technology college, similar to many first-year engineering course experiences that emphasize project-based learning, from a large research-intensive public university. For this study, the facilitator model was piloted with five high school teachers as facilitators of an undergraduate design course for dual credit at two innovative, STEM-focused public charter schools. The qualitative research design focused on examining (1) teacher needs while implementing, and perceptions of, the dual credit facilitator model for an undergraduate design course in urban public charter schools and (2) the impact of this model on student learning. This study included the collection and analysis of over 90 h of interviews, focus groups, surveys, and observations. Results provide a promising outlook for the use of the facilitator model when delivering dual credit content that is open ended and within the context of design, technology, and engineering by (1) navigating multiple institutional policies and processes related to dual-credit implementation, (2) providing ongoing support and fostering collaboration between high schools and university, (3) enabling students to earn directly transcripted college credits that count as a required course toward degree completion, and (4) increasing affordability and access to dual credit coursework. These potential advantages over other dual credit models can help address barriers that may limit access to dual credit coursework, specifically for underserved high schools.

Manufacturing is considered one of the major economic drivers in the United States. However, a challenge for manufacturing competitiveness can be the negative perception of the industry held by children, and society as a whole, which may make them reluctant to pursue manufacturing careers and fulfill the projected workforce demands. Accordingly, there have been a number of talent pipeline initiatives to address the issues related to (1) the availability of a skilled workforce, (2) the preparation of students for the jobs of tomorrow, and (3) teacher access to the tools necessary to inspire children to pursue high-demand career pathways. While these industry-driven outreach initiatives are often developed with the best intentions, research attempts focused on better understanding the influences of these initiatives on children's perceptions of manufacturing-related careers are necessary. Therefore, this study focused on investigating the career perceptions of children (Grades K-8) and the influence of an industry-led summer camp focused on robotics in manufacturing. To do so, data were collected from career-perception surveys and a "Draw-A-Manufacturer" test, which were administered before and after the camp experience. The influences of the summer camp on the participants' career perceptions and interests are presented and used as a foundation for discussions and recommendations for developing outreach initiatives and preparing children for the future of work.