Premier Curriculum Award for K-12 Engineering

• Do you believe that engineering design helps harness the imagination and creativity of youngsters?
• Have you developed curriculum to teach engineering to K-12 students?
• Have you found a way that makes your pre-college students "get" science or math concepts by learning through hands-on, real-world engineering?

Announcing the Premier Award for K-12 Engineering Curriculum - a biennial international award recognizing creation of outstanding K-12 engineering curriculum.

Submit your original and creative high-quality, classroom-tested engineering lessons and activities. Winning curriculum must be made available, free of charge, to all teachers and students through the Engineering Pathway and the TeachEngineering digital libraries.

Eligibility

• K-12 curriculum must be original, accurate, hands-on, classroom-tested and pervasively incorporate engineering.
• Curriculum must be submitted by a K-12 educator. (Award goes to the educator, not any organization to which s/he may be employed.)
• Submitted activities may require the purchase of materials and/or equipment; however, the winning curriculum itself must be made available free of charge.
• For the first two awards, curriculum created by people at the institutions associated with the founding of TeachEngineering and Engineering Pathway are not eligible.
• Curriculum may not be submitted more than twice.

Curriculum Submission Requirements

• Submissions must be in English, in digital format (MS Word or Adobe PDF), and submitted by email.
• A submission may be a unit, lesson(s) or activity(ies), but not any other type of learning resource (such as a java script), unless it is part of a unit, lesson or activity that meets the minimum curricular component requirement for the TeachEngineering digital library. See activities, lessons  or units.
  Activity: This is what the students "do" that helps them achieve the lesson and activity learning objectives. An activity document includes a materials list and procedures (among many other curricular components). An activity may be stand-alone or part of a lesson. 
  Lesson: A lesson provides learning instruction and includes background, introduction and assessment information for teachers (among many other curricular components). A lesson's one or more associated activities are provided in separate linked activity documents.
  Unit: A unit is a longer-term, theme-based learning experience composed of multiple lessons and/or activities.
• Submissions must include the minimum required curricular components for activities , lessons  or units.
• While it is not required for your initial submission, to save time later (if you become a finalist), you may submit your curricuum using the TeachEngineering  blank template(s).
• If your submitted curriculum is available online, click here to catalog it on the Engineering Pathway.
• As this award is restricted to curricular activities, lessons or units, K-12 courseware developers may want to submit to the Premier Courseware Award. 

Submission Cover Letter

• Provide your name, address, email, phone, teaching subjects(s) and grade level(s), school affiliation(s).
• List the activity(ies), lesson(s) or unit you are submitting.
• Provide a brief summary of how engineering is part of your curriculum.
• Describe your classroom testing using this curriculum; include a summary of your results, including when and where testing was done, and with how many students. If available, provide evidence that demonstrates student learning outcomes benefits (data and/or anecdotal) and a description of the submitted curriculum's adoption for classroom use beyond its testing location.
• Include a statement affirming that the curriculum you submit is original and created by you.
• Include a statement indicating your willingness to publish your curriculum in the TeachEngineering and Engineering Pathway digital libraries for free if you are named a finalist.
• Conclude with your electronic signature and date.

Review Criteria

• Submissions will be evaluated against meeting all submission requirements, and addressing the review criteria included in the following rubrics: K-12 Content Review Rubric (pdf) and Engineering Content Review Rubric (pdf).

Award

• The award is presented by TeachEngineering and Engineering Pathway.
• The winner receives a plaque or trophy; a $1,000 cash award; recognition at ASEE, NSTA or ITEA conferences; recognition on the TeachEngineering and Engineering Pathway digital library websites; and $1,500 towards registration, travel and accommodations to attend one annual U.S. STEM education conference (ASEE, NSTA, ITEA) within a year of receiving the award.

Submission Process

1. Prepare your original curriculum, taking into consideration the eligibility, submission requirements and review criteria described above.
2. Complete a cover letter that includes the information listed above.
3. By October 15, YR-TBD, email the letter and curriculum (in MS Word or Adobe PDF format) to the award submission coordinator.
4. By November 17, YR-TBD, four finalists are selected and notified.
5. By January 16, YR-TBD, finalists must convert their curricula into the appropriate TeachEngineering template(s).
6. By February 28, YR-TBD, winner is selected and notified.

Please direct any questions to the award coordinator.