TY - JOUR
T1 - The impacts of two curricula on middle-level students’ engineering understanding
AU - Driessen, Emily P.
AU - Wilhelm, Jennifer
AU - Cole, Merryn
AU - Dunn, Ashley
AU - Anderson, Kameisha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - K-12 science teachers in the United States are encouraged to teach their students engineering. When incorporating engineering into their science curricula, teachers commonly either focus on (1) engineering and lace science throughout or (2) science and lace engineering throughout. This study explores middle school students’ nature of engineering understanding before and after instruction with different engineering foci through the collection and analysis of student surveys (n∼200) and interviews (n = 16). Findings demonstrated centering science while lacing engineering throughout allowed for a slight increase in the understanding that engineers use science and math, however, centering engineering allowed students to understand many more attributes of engineers (i.e., engineers invent/design/create, improve things, fix, and solve problems) after instruction than they did prior to instruction. These findings and their limitations are discussed in relation to the developing Nature of Engineering framework and the new content demands of the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards.
AB - K-12 science teachers in the United States are encouraged to teach their students engineering. When incorporating engineering into their science curricula, teachers commonly either focus on (1) engineering and lace science throughout or (2) science and lace engineering throughout. This study explores middle school students’ nature of engineering understanding before and after instruction with different engineering foci through the collection and analysis of student surveys (n∼200) and interviews (n = 16). Findings demonstrated centering science while lacing engineering throughout allowed for a slight increase in the understanding that engineers use science and math, however, centering engineering allowed students to understand many more attributes of engineers (i.e., engineers invent/design/create, improve things, fix, and solve problems) after instruction than they did prior to instruction. These findings and their limitations are discussed in relation to the developing Nature of Engineering framework and the new content demands of the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards.
KW - Design
KW - education interviews
KW - learning
KW - nature of engineering
KW - science education
KW - surveys
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145819071&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/00220671.2022.2158156
DO - 10.1080/00220671.2022.2158156
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85145819071
ER -