Primary to Secondary Engineering Learning: A Framework for International Consideration

The teaching of engineering has made its entrance into the subject of Design & Technology Education (DTE) around the world over the past few decades. This inclusion has been particularly true for the United States which refers to its DTE-related subject as Technology & Engineering Education. The inclusion of engineering has likely been due to the closely aligned epistemologies and classroom practices between engineering and DTE. But, while engineering has been emphasised in primary and secondary schooling, there has also been limited guidance for articulating how engineering could/should be taught, both authentically and equitably, across the years of school and how it is connected with other school subjects. To aid in this effort, a Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning was formed through over 3 years of iterative research and development work and published by the American Society of Engineering Education (2020). This framework was created to help provide a unifying vision and guidebook to inform decisions for improving the coherency and equity of engineering teaching and learning across the country. In addition, throughout this process, Engineering Performance Matrices (EPMs) were generated to offer sample blueprints of how the engineering concepts and sub-concepts identified within the framework could build upon each other to support teachers in creating authentic learning experiences that increase in sophistication over time—enabling students to achieve any designated engineering-related performance tasks or standards related to engineering/technology.  The goal of this poster presentation is to share the framework, and the EPMs, with the international DTE community for consideration of any useful components that could be adapted for their own efforts related to engineering learning. The poster will specifically highlight engineering literacy elements of the framework, the EMPs, and examples of ways in which this information can be used to establish engineering-focused instruction in the pursuit of engineering-literacy for all

The Adaptive Subject Pedagogy Model : Understanding Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical reasoning in Design and Technology Education

Our presentation discusses the current phase of a practitioner enquiry project to explore ways of supporting undergraduate technology education ITE students to inform their classroom practice with theory, research, and academic knowledge.  The practitioner enquiry centres on our work in teacher education with students using a model created by Morrison-Love to scaffold the development of pedagogic reasoning: the Adaptive Subject Pedagogy Model (ASPM). In the first phases of our project, we explored students’ challenges in relating theory to practice and developing pedagogic reasoning using focus groups with students and analysis of course assignments. Continued use of the model showed students improving in their connections across knowledges, but many still struggle with the development of coherent evidence-led pedagogic reasoning.  Here, we will present findings from our analysis of a series of mediated interviews we undertook with students to understand more about how they were reasoning through engagement with the ASPM.  During the interviews, student submissions were used as a mediating artefact to scaffold questioning and discussion.  The submissions each capture one full cycle of the ASPM for a topic chosen by that student and an associated lesson plan in a form of their choosing.  Use of student submissions in this way provided a tangible focus to help reveal more of the students underlying thinking.  Here, we will discuss insights about the knowledges drawn upon, considerations and decisions made by students in the process of creating their own subject pedagogy and what this means for our own practice as teacher educators.  We will conclude by reflecting more broadly about what our evidence to date about the ASPM suggests given that, despite our best efforts, some students still struggle to create pedagogically reasoned lesson plans.  We discuss implications for future work with ASPM and for our own practice as teacher educators

Students’ Reasoning About Sustainable Development in Relation to Products’ Life Cycles

In this study, we investigate Secondary School students’ reasoning about a product’s life cycle in relation to three dimensions of sustainable development: economic-, social- and ecological sustainable development. Production and consumption are part of a complex socio-technological system that affects nature and life on earth and knowledge about this complex system are required to achieve sustainable development. In technology education, students can get the opportunity to reason about products and their life cycles. Hence, this study aims to explore what emerges in students’ reasoning about products’ life cycles in relation to sustainable development. Data collection was made through two semi-structured interviews where the students participated in focus groups containing 3 and 4 participants in each group. All student responses have been analysed through thematic analysis to explore dimensions of sustainability. Results show that the students reason with regard to all three dimensions of sustainable development. However, the three dimensions occur to a varying extent within the different phases of a product’s life cycle. Additionally, the students also connect dimensions in their reasoning, with both harmonies and contrasted perspective. Participating students’ reasoning indicated traces of an anthropocentric approach. These results have implications for technology education both associated to content and practice, which is an important step towards education for conscious consumers

AI Text-to-Image Generation in Art and Design Teacher Education: A Creative Tool or a Hindrance to Future Creativity?

In today\u27s constantly changing world technological developments in artificial intelligence can induce educational visions of both utopia and dystopia. New technologies and platforms of communication can provide new forms and possibilities of learning. Creating an image has historically mostly been a human process of using knowledge and application of technique that demanded training. This image making process changed with the invention, development and spread of the photographic camera, when creating a detailed visual representation of reality became a possibility without a complex process of craftsmanship and artistry. The nature of visual art changed but the visualization of ideas and prefigurative thoughts could not necessarily be captured by a camera. With the development and spread of AI text-to-image generation, can this change the need for a competency to visualize ideas in the way the camera changed the need for drawings and paintings as visual representations? This study explores how AI text-to-image generators can contribute to and change art and design teacher education. We conducted exploratory experiments where we tested a variety of AI text-to-image generators and explored the outcome of using different generators, prompts, and settings. Reflections were written down throughout the process. This was combined with an online ethnography on text-to-image communities. Different potentials of learning were identified, as well as issues of interaction and possible contexts of use. The results are discussed in a future learning context

Implementing Engineering Based STEM Programs in High School Classrooms in the Republic of Korea

In 2022, South Korea announced new national curriculum that implement it from 2023. High school curriculum is about to fully implement the high school credit system, which allows students to choose subjects that suit their needs and career paths. In South Korea, technology education in middle school is a common compulsory subject, but high school technology education is a selective subject and has the name of technology and home-economics. High school technology education experiences difficulties that are not selected in many schools due to the confusion of identity of subject names and social negative perception of technology. The purpose of this is to develop an engineering education program that can be used in high school technology education and to verify its effect on students. To achieve the purpose of this study, an engineering education program was developed and students’ changes through the program were measured. This study was based on a single-group pre-post test design and was conducted with 96 10th grade students. As a result of this study, students’ engineering interest, engineering self-efficacy, and engineering career awareness were statistically significantly improved through the developed engineering education program. This study provides great implications for actively including and utilizing engineering in technology education. In addition, it will give great implication for the direction and program development of high school technology education

Impact of a Creative Design Course on Undergraduate Learners’ Creative Confidence

This study was conducted as part of an effort to critically analyze and assess student outcomes in Creative Design, an undergraduate course at [Institution]. Topics covered in the course include, but are not limited to: the design process, technical drawing, working with tools and materials, modeling a product or design, and design elements and principles. While some students (e.g. Technology and Engineering Education majors) are required to take this course, it is also open to students across campus, and is a Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts liberal learning course option. There are typically several sections of the course offered each semester, and it is taught by a variety of instructors. The research aimed to investigate how Creative Design impacted undergraduate students’ creative thinking, creative self-efficacy, and spatial thinking skills. Students were asked to complete instruments to assess each of these areas, both at the beginning and end of a semester in which they were enrolled in the course. Students also completed a demographics survey, which allowed outcomes to be explored further, for example, by major (STEM/non-STEM). The focus of this manuscript is creative self-efficacy, measured by the Short Scale of Creative Self (Karwowski, 2011). Results indicate that Creative Design may raise female students’ creative confidence, resulting in female students feeling nearly as creatively confident as male students by the culmination of the course. While the results of this study are specific to Creative Design, further research could explore the effects of other design, creativity, and technology courses on undergraduate student outcomes

How do Swedish technology teachers assess programming education in grade 4-6?

This study examines Swedish teachers\u27 teaching and assessment practices in programming education for students in grades 4-6, with a focus on the technology subject. It investigates whether existing governing documents provide sufficient guidance for effective teaching and assessment in programming, particularly regarding Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). The study addresses challenges faced by teachers, including limited training and a lack of instructional guidelines, stressing the importance of bridging this gap to support effective programming instruction and assessment. It explores assessment practices in programming within the technology subject, referring to previous studies that identify various approaches. The discussion includes product and process criteria for assessing programming tasks and emphasizes the need for clearer links between programming assessment and core technology content. The methodology involves semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers who taught programming prior to its inclusion in the curriculum. Analyzing the interview data helps examine alignment between teachers\u27 assessment practices and governing documents. Results and discussion focus on one teacher, Camilla, with six years of programming teaching experience. It describes how Camilla facilitates curriculum goals and aligns assessments with grading criteria. The article also summarizes specific areas assessed in programming education and compares Camilla\u27s criteria with essential content knowledge from previous studies. Based on the findings, the study concludes that while Camilla demonstrates comprehensive understanding of assessing programming knowledge, improvements are necessary in primary school programming education in Sweden. The existing governing documents inadequately support effective programming instruction, particularly in terms of content knowledge. It suggests identifying key characteristics of quality programming education at each stage of compulsory schooling and engaging in discussions to establish a strong educational foundation. Key Words: Computer programming, PCK, assessment, teacher education, professional developmen

Influence of Pre-professional Organizations on TEE Students

Since the 1970’s, there has been a notable decrease in the number of Technology and Engineering Education (TEE) teacher preparation programs, as well as TEE teacher preparation program graduates within the United States. Previous studies have investigated reasons that post-secondary students pursue a TEE degree. However, no research is currently available regarding factors influencing student retention in TEE teacher education programs as well as factors that influence whether TEE preservice teachers enter the education field. Using the expectancy-value theory, this study investigates the relationship of participation of communities of practice in a student’s intention to graduate from the program and enter the teaching field following graduation. This is the first step to a cross-sectional study looking at the influence of exposure to and participation in the Technology and Engineering Educators Collegiate Association on TEE teacher preparation program students. Participation in TEECA was measured ordinally with varying levels of participation depending on a student’s activity level in student chapter meetings, conference attendance, and event participation

Rupe Rere Nui: Place-based Storytelling in Robotics with Māori-medium Students

This paper is part of a larger study involving the design and implementation of a prototype of a low-cost programming environment or tangible user interface where students use robots to navigate a geographical map in telling and re-telling stories associated with that place. The geographical map that was initially developed depicted the Wellington region (the lower North Island of New Zealand), as the lead researcher for this project had connections to Wellington. The story-telling focused on the narratives of Kupe, a Māori explorer and one of the first to discover New Zealand. However, in response to an inner-city Auckland school, we designed a map that would support the children’s engagement with local landmarks, as expressed in a waiata (song) called Rupe Rere Nui. Māori kaumatua (elder), Wally Penetito, exhorts teachers to ‘start where your feet are’, emphasising the importance of place-based learning or localised curriculum. The focus of this paper lies in pedagogical possibilities and the importance of responsive curriculum design when you are working in classroom contexts. The study contributes to the field of localised curriculum with a focus on the place of storytelling and the incorporation of non-technical subjects, such as place-based narratives, into a robotics system. The use of paper-based commands with young children aged between 5-9 years of age has been evaluated over a range of settings and the working prototype has been refined as a result of trials with teachers and children in classrooms

Students’ perception about mechanical stress and what is most important for learning, during a practical task, using digital interactive lab description.

This study investigated student’s knowledge about mechanical stress using material created by the authors of this text. The material was an interactive lab description which can be used as an aid for teachers when teaching solid mechanics. During the studies in upper secondary school in Sweden, students at the technology programme take a general introductory course in mechanics. The participants consisted of four classes from one school in Sweden. They answered a questionnaire before and after the solid mechanics task, 85 out of 107 students answered both questionnaires. A thematic analysis was applied on the material, resulting in 6 groups based on the students’ previous knowledge and how much they have learned. To find correlations between the different groups a Oneway Anova analysis with multiple comparison post hoc test was performed. No significant differences were found between groups and how the students rated importance of their preparation, lab description, interactive links, formula book, course book, the teacher or execution of the lab. Significant differences between groups and class, and between the class and the importance of the teacher were found. The teachers’ role was most important of all the categories in all classes while the lowest was the course book and the digital links. This study showed that the teacher was important for the students’ perception of solid mechanics during this lab and that the interactive lab description played less roll