Drawing Conclusions: How Multimodal Assessments Demonstrate Third Graders' Abilities to Problem Scope in Engineering

• In Event: 51.028 - Teaching and Learning Engineering in K–12 Contexts

Abstract

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include science and engineering practices (SEPs) as part of a three-dimensional science instruction. One of these practices is "asking questions and defining problems," which is also referred to in engineering education as "problem scoping." Positioned around a multimodal approach to formative assessment grounded in an “assets-based perspective,” we argue that drawings enable researchers the opportunity to further make sense of student thinking, especially in young grades where writing and communication skills are less developed. Using qualitative data analysis, 26 students’ drawings and written responses were coded to uncover their problem scoping abilities. The findings indicate that student drawings provide affordances that written explanations are unable to provide for elementary students.

Authors

• Jessica Cellitti, Drexel University

• Christopher George Wright, Drexel University