A Study of Secondary Teachers’ Perceptions of Engineers and Conceptions of Engineering
- Conference
- Location
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Virtual On line
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2020
- Start Date
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June 22, 2020
- End Date
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June 26, 2021
- Conference Session
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Pre-college Engineering Education Division Technical Session 4
- Tagged Division
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Pre-College Engineering Education
- Page Count
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13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--34058
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/34058
- Download Count
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290
Paper Authors
Emel Cevik Texas A&M University
Michael Johnson
Texas A&M University
orcid.org/0000-0001-5328-8763
Dr. Michael D. Johnson is a professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, he was a senior product development engineer at the 3M Corporate Research Laboratory in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University and his S.M. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on engineering education; design tools; specifically, the cost modeling and analysis of product development and manufacturing systems; and computer-aided design methodology.
Bugrahan Yalvac Texas A&M University
Bugrahan Yalvac is an associate professor of science and engineering education in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M University, College Station. He received his Ph.D. in science education at the Pennsylvania State University in 2005. Prior to his current position, he worked as a learning scientist for the VaNTH Engineering Research Center at Northwestern University for three years. Yalvac’s research is in STEM education, 21st century skills, and design and evaluation of learning environments informed by the How People Learn framework.
Jennifer Whitfield Texas A&M University
Dr. Jennifer Whitfield received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Mathematics Education in 2017. Her M.S. and B.A are both in Mathematics. She joined the Mathematics Department at Texas A&M University as a Senior Lecturer in 2001. Dr. Whitfield has taught 13 different undergraduate and three graduate mathematics courses. She helped develop the Personalized Precalculus Program, has overseen the operations of the Math Placement Exam, is the Associate Director of the Center for Technology Mediated Instruction, Director of aggieTEACH, and has been instrumental in developing online math courses. Dr. Whitfield's research focuses on secondary mathematics teacher preparation and the effects of scholarships for high school science and math teachers. She has received over $2.2 million in external funding from the National Science Foundation and over $3.6 million in funding from other state, university, or private agencies. Dr. Whitfield has co-authored two peer-reviewed journal articles, one book chapter, and is the co-editor of a book. She has chaired six masters' committees and served on four others. Dr. Whitfield has received ten awards including the Distinguished Ph.D. Honor Graduate in 2017, Texas A&M Chancellor's Academy of Teacher Educators Award in 2014, and was an A&M Fish Camp Namesake in 2013.
Mathew Kuttolamadom
Texas A&M University
orcid.org/0000-0002-3627-4885
Dr. Mathew Kuttolamadom is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution and the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Clemson University’s Int'l Center for Automotive Research. His professional experience is in the automotive industry including at the Ford Motor Company. At TAMU, he teaches Mechanics, Manufacturing and Mechanical Design to his students. His research thrusts include bioinspired functionally-graded composites, additive/subtractive manufacturing processes, laser surface texturing, tribology, visuo-haptic VR/AR interfaces and engineering education.
Jay R. Porter Texas A&M University
Jay R. Porter joined the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University in 1998 and is currently the Associate Dean for Engineering at Texas A&M University - Galveston. He received the BS degree in electrical engineering (1987), the MS degree in physics (1989), and the Ph.D. in electrical engineering (1993) from Texas A&M University. His areas of interest in research and education include product development, analog/RF electronics, instrumentation, and entrepreneurship.
Joseph A. Morgan Texas A&M University
Joseph A. Morgan has over 20 years of military and industry experience in electronics and communications systems engineering. He joined the Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution Department in 1989 and has served as the Program Director of the Electronics and Telecommunications Programs and as the Associate Department Head for Operations. He has served as Director of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer in the private sector and currently a partner in a small start-up venture. He received his BS degree in electrical engineering (1975) from California State University, Sacramento, and his MS (1980) and DE (1983) degrees in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University. His education and research interests include project management, innovation and entrepreneurship, and embedded product/system development.
Abstract
People’s personal beliefs and perceptions can be explored and interpreted by investigating the mental images that they draw with regards to a specific subject. With this in mind, many researchers utilize the Draw-An-Engineer Test (DAET) instrument to evaluate students’ and teachers’ perceptions of engineers and engineering through drawings. Previous research shows that teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward engineers and engineering can play a substantial role in affecting perceptions and stereotypes of students related to engineering. Because the teachers’ perceptions are correlated with their students’ perceptions, understanding and improving how teachers perceive the concepts of engineers and engineering can be used to enhance students’ perceptions toward the same concepts and improve the number of students who choose Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields as their future careers. In this study, twenty-four STEM teachers participated in a two-week-long engineering-focused professional development (PD) program in 2017 and 2018. The STEM teachers learned about innovative engineering technologies and designing appropriate lesson plans to incorporate the newly learned content into their curricula. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the authors aimed to understand the characteristics of the mental images teachers had regarding engineers and engineering. Second, the authors focused on understanding how participant teachers’ perceptions changed regarding engineers and engineering after the two-week-long PD ended.
The participating teachers in the study were administrated the DAET followed by a survey including 5 open-ended questions. Teachers drew an engineer and then answered the open-ended questions in two occasions; once before the PD activities and once after the PD activities. The pre- and post- drawings were evaluated using the DAET rubric and analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics, the pre-post open-ended question responses were analyzed by using the constant comparative method. Findings from the qualitative and quantitative data analyses are reported.
Cevik, E., & Johnson, M., & Yalvac, B., & Whitfield, J., & Kuttolamadom, M., & Porter, J. R., & Morgan, J. A. (2020, June), A Study of Secondary Teachers’ Perceptions of Engineers and Conceptions of Engineering Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34058
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