Elementary Teachers' Professional Development in Engineering Design Through Examining Student Work

• In Event: Examining Professional Learning in the Context of Engineering Instruction

Abstract

With the Next Generation Science Standards’ expectation that K-12 teachers integrate engineering design with students’ science learning, elementary teachers face challenges in implementing engineering curriculum from lack of experience and training in engineering design. This study examined elementary teachers’ analysis of their students’ written work and assessments during facilitated professional learning community sessions with a science/engineering education researcher after their first implementation of an engineering design unit. The results indicated students’ understandings and misconceptions about the work of engineers, disciplinary language, operational mechanism of a design, and engineering epistemic practices (i.e., envisioning design proposals, making evidence-based decisions, assessing solutions based on criteria). Teachers generated recommendations for pedagogical changes in their practice based on this analysis of student work

Author

• Elaine Silva Mangiante, Salve Regina University