Engineer Literacy Practices: A Study of Reading and Writing in an Engineering Laboratory

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-9 - STEM Education in Local Contexts

Abstract

The addition of standards in engineering to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013) has raised the question of how to best engage K-12 students in disciplinary learning in the engineering classroom. As teachers design curriculum around these new standards it is important to ask, “What do practicing engineers read and write?” and, “How does this reading and writing support them in their work?” This ethnographic study of an engineering laboratory draws on participant observation, interviews, and artifacts to describe the literacy practices of one group of engineers. Findings illustrate a complex network of literacy practices, such as documentation and creating protocol, that support engineers to engage in collaborative problem solving.

Author

• Carolyn Giroux, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor