Engineering the human heart in the sixth grade classroom

A Framework for K-12 Science Education has been released that provides further support of K-12 engineering education by framing requirements for K-12 engineering standards for the science classroom. This study uses the engineering themes from the framework to evaluate how an engineering learning experience affects student achievement in science and engineering in the context of a science classroom. An engineering design challenge, Engineering an Artificial Heart, was developed for a pre-existing science instructional lesson, the human heart, for its use in a 6th grade science classroom with 32 students. Students´ achievement of learning objectives for science and engineering concepts were measured using content assessments, student artifacts, and semi-structured interviews. Preliminary analysis shows positive learning gains for science learning objectives and evidence of performance for the engineering learning objectives.