Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Science Education in the Department of Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences at Towson University. She has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, worked briefly as a process engineer, and taught high school physics and pre-engineering. She has taught engineering and science to children in multiple informal settings. As a pre-service teacher educator, she includes engineering in her elementary and early childhood science methods courses, and has developed engineering education courses for middle school pre-service teachers and practicing elementary teachers. She has provided science and engineering professional development (PD) to multiple schools and school systems in Maryland, and has significantly contributed to the writing of many integrated STEM units of instruction used by teachers and within school systems. Her research has examined factors that support and those that hinder elementary teachers as they learn to teach engineering, and currently focuses on how children and teachers learn to engineer and in the process, learn to fail and productively persist. She is a 2013 recipient of the Regents’ Faculty Award for Public Service from the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, and currently serves as the Chair-Elect of the K-12 and Pre-College Division of ASEE.
Elizabeth A. Parry is the secondary contributor to this paper. She is an engineer and consultant in K-12 STEM Curriculum, Coaching and Professional Development and the coordinator of K-20 STEM Partnership Development at the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. For the past fifteen years, she has worked extensively with students from kindergarten to graduate school, parents and pre-service and in service teachers to both educate and excite them about engineering. As the Co-PI and project director of a National Science Foundation GK-12 grant, Liz developed a highly effective tiered mentoring model for graduate and undergraduate engineering and education teams as well as a popular Family STEM event offering for both elementary and middle school communities.
Current projects include providing comprehensive professional development, coaching and program consulting for K-8 integrated STEM using engineering schools in several states and serving as a Professional Development partner for the Engineering is Elementary program. She is also a Co-PI on two NSF DR-K-12 grants focused on practice and research in K-8 engineering education and the chair of the ASEE Long Range Planning Committee on K-12 Education. Liz's involvement in K-12 STEM is extensive: she currently serves as the immediate past chair of the American Society for Engineering Education K-12 and Precollege Division and is on the executive board of the Triangle Coalition for STEM Education and the STEM Consortium. Liz has published over 35 papers on issues relating to K-20 STEM and is a frequent keynote speaker on the topic. Prior to joining NCSU, Liz worked in engineering and management positions at IBM Corporation for ten years and co-owned an informal science education business.
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