Vezino, B. (2016, June), Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26677

\bibitem{asee_peer_26677}
  Vezino, B. (2016, June), \emph{Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task}
  Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/p.26677

Beau Vezino.  "Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task".  2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2016.  https://peer.asee.org/26677 Internet.  24 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_26677}
  Beau Vezino.
  "Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task".
  \emph{2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2016.
  https://peer.asee.org/26677 Internet.  24 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_26677
author = "Beau Vezino"
title = "Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task"
booktitle = "2016 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2016"
month = "June"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/26677}
number = {10.18260/p.26677}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Uncertainty is a pervasive aspect of everyday life.  As people make decisions and solve problems in their professional and day-to-day lives, they continually face elements of uncertainty.  However, schools rarely provide learning opportunities or environments that allow for uncertainty.  This robs students of the chance to learn from uncertainty and leaves them ill equipped to deal with and overcome uncertainty.  Previous research has shown that teachers and curriculum tend to minimize or avoid uncertainty because it can increase anxiety, reduce classroom control and authority, and is perceived to lower the quality of instruction.  Consequently, teachers have been found to overwhelmingly focus on familiar, well-structured or procedural tasks that are low in both ambiguity and risk. 

With the integration of engineering in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), uncertainty, which is an inherent aspect of engineering, may finally play a larger role in the K-12 education system. This change represents an opportunity and challenge for teachers as they help students manage uncertainty while simultaneously managing their own uncertainty.  To date, few researchers have addressed uncertainty as it relates to engineering design tasks, and fewer still have directly observed what teachers do as they manage and navigate the unpredictability and uncertainty associated with the integration of engineering in K-12 classrooms.

In this exploratory case study, I conducted an in-depth investigation of one middle school science teacher, Janice (pseudonym), as she faces the uncertainty associated with integrating a newly adopted engineering unit into her classroom.  Specifically, I examined the types of uncertainty experienced by the teacher and students, the sources of the ambiguity, and the behaviors and strategies used to manage the uncertainty.

To develop an in-depth understanding of Janice’s experience and interpretations, this study employed a series of ongoing in-depth, semi-structured interviews and naturalistic observations.  With knowledge base and complex adaptive systems as theoretical frameworks, this study utilized an inductive and interpretive process to analyze the data. 

Findings from this study showed that the ways uncertainty transpired in the classroom paralleled to the uncertainty faced by professional engineers.  Uncertainty was observed as it related to the complexity and unpredictability of designing physical artifacts, managing the competing demand trade-offs innate in developing the “best” solution, and the inconsistency and imperfection of testing the resulting data.  These elements of uncertainty transpired, in part, due to Janice recognition of uncertainty as an inherent and beneficial part of engineering.  As a result of this perspective, Janice strove to incorporate, managed and even leveraged the uncertainty by taking a student-centered approach that actively promoted autonomy, learning through a process of failure and redesign; and allowing for continuous discussion, negotiation and reflection.   

The results of this study can be used to better prepare and support educators to teach engineering in a manner that incorporates and leverages uncertainty in a manageable way. Additional research is needed to confirm these results and further investigate how K-12 teachers interpret and manage uncertainty while teaching students to design solutions for ill-structured engineering problems.
AU  - Beau Vezino
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2016/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Engineering Uncertainty:  A qualitative study on the way middle school teachers incorporate, manage and leverage the uncertainty of engineering design task
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/26677
DO  - 10.18260/p.26677
ER  -