Engineering in K–12 STEM Education: Navigating Interpretations of Learning Within and Between Different Knowledge Traditions

• In Event: Teaching and Learning: Engineering

Abstract

The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) construct has motivated educators, particularly those in K-12 science education, to engage in collaboration with engineering educators and practitioners. Engineering and technology have not been readily included in traditional conceptions of STEM learning, therefore, receiving less instructional attention. This study explored the conceptions of learning when education and engineering traditions were brought together for a shared purpose. Using a qualitative approach, this study reports how the concept of learning was interpreted and enacted by engineering and education faculty members and graduate students in a 3-year collaboration. Our findings show how differences in learning processes and disciplinary values play out and influence engineering/education collaborations that inform frameworks for interdisciplinary efforts.

Authors

• Rubaina R Khan, University of Toronto

• Christina Phillips, Cape Breton University

• Lydia E Carol-Ann Burke, University of Toronto