ERIC Number: EJ1113849
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Oct
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2324-805X
EISSN: N/A
Eighth Grade Students Conceptions of How Engineers Use Math and Science in the Field of Engineering: A Comparison of Two Cohorts
Farland-Smith, Donna; Tiarani, Vinta
Journal of Education and Training Studies, v4 n10 p182-192 Oct 2016
Over the last fifteen years, engineering has made its way into science curriculum at all levels, elementary, middle, and high school. A need to analyze students' perception the field of engineering is warranted. Previous techniques for studying representations of scientists and build on what researchers in the science field have learned from researching images of scientists. The purpose of the study was to compare two eighth grade cohorts' conceptions of engineers through the use of multiple drawings and a rubric. Half of the students were enrolled in an iSTEM Cohort and received instruction focusing on engineering while the other half of the students in this study were enrolled in a traditional cohort and received instruction via a traditional approach to science in the eighth grade. Data analysis involved two phases of eighth grade students in two cohorts, iSTEM and traditional (N = 146). The first phase was a content analysis of the actions and artifacts of engineers at work based on the work of Capobianco, Diefes-Dux, Mena, and Weller (2011). In the second phase, illustrations were analyzed using the Draw-An-Engineer-At-Work-Test Rubric DAEWT (Thomas et al., 2016). A two-tailed, independent sample t-test was used to compare illustrations from each group. It was discovered that more themes of engineering emerged from students in the iSTEM Cohort than the traditionally taught students. Data revealed a significant difference (p<0.05) in the portrayal of the use of science as related to the work of an engineer and the field of engineering with the iSTEM Cohort when compared with traditionally taught eighth grade students. The Draw-An-Engineer-at-Work Test when evaluated with the Draw-An-Engineer-at-Work Rubric provides researchers many visualizations of students' conceptions of how engineers use math and science in their work and can help educators understand students' conceptions concerning the engineering field.
Descriptors: Grade 8, Student Attitudes, Engineering, Comparative Analysis, Middle School Students, STEM Education, Science Curriculum, Scientists, Sex Stereotypes, Illustrations, Portraiture, Science Education, Freehand Drawing, Technical Occupations, Gender Differences, Mathematics Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 8; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A