Recent changes have been made in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the United States with the goal of increasing the number of students pursuing degrees and careers in STEM. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) integrate new science and engineering standards in an attempt to achieve this goal and are the first national engineering standards for curriculum below the undergraduate level. Towards accommodating these changes, we present a project-based learning engineering program for high school students that teaches fundamental concepts in programming, robotics, and control engineering. The students complete increasingly sophisticated projects that expose them to large solution spaces where creativity and exploration lead to unique solutions. The learning goals of the program align with the NGSS practices while also giving the students a head-start on material and key skills they will need when pursuing bachelor’s degrees in engineering. Specifically, the program gives students experience completing engineering projects, from concept and design through implementation and evaluation. We describe the projects, including learning goals and outcomes, as well as the hardware and software we used so that others can reproduce the program. Finally, we present feedback from students as well as insights from the mentors. Ultimately, we found that students leave the program with a better understanding of what practicing engineers do and with motivation to apply critical thinking and other NGSS practices in their future learning and careers.
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