K12 enhancement program: engineering the future of an entire young population

Abstract

The K12 students are growing under new and mutant paradigms of education once this is the century of big and challenging paradigm breaking standards. This is due to the enhancement of science and technology that is changing people?s life and consequently the education field. Schools have been trying to keep up with these new education paradigms, in every level and it demands in most cases, a completely adoption of new teaching method. Proficiency in sciences is now a requirement for young people once governments have recognized that it is necessary a critical mass of scientists, researchers in engineering and mathematics among others in order to foster nations development. Based on a research conducted by the Education Research Team of COPEC ? Science and Education Research Council [1] for a City Hall K12 Schools Reform Plan the challenge is to provide better and effective knowledge for young students even for those who will not enter University. The goal is to provide K12 students of public schools of a city the necessary knowledge about science and research methodology in a way that will remain as a life practice. The mission of the course is to impart research skills to the young students and help improve the ability of using the natural curiosity to foster their knowledge as a day-by-day life practice in order to enhance the quality of life [2]. The main idea is to present the engineering as a possible career choice for both boys and girls as a way to ensure a better future. Basically the course is offered to students of last year of K12 as reinforcement for acquisition of knowledge to overcome some lacks in the basic formation of young population of the city public schools. It is part of a bigger project of the City Hall and that implies in some strategies. The course main characteristics is the approaches to provide the students the ability to develop scientific mind set to develop concepts and theories to solve and understand scientific and nonscientific problems and to find solutions to scientific, nonscientific problems [3]. It is part time course delivered in two different times, in the morning and in the afternoon always after school period.