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The Effects of Engineering Design-Based Instruction On 7th Grade Students’ Nature of Engineering Views

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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of engineering design-based instruction (EDBI) on 7th grade students’ nature of engineering (NOE) views. Quantitative research to evaluate students’ NOE views was operated through a questionnaire which is “Views for Nature of Engineering -Elementary School Version (VNOE-E)” as pre- and post-test. Moreover, quantitative data results were supported by analyzing change on students’ NOE views qualitatively. The sample of the present study was 41 students of 7th grade in a public middle school. While 24 students were taught with engineering design-based instruction (EDBI) in the experimental group, 17 students were taught with curriculum-based instruction (CBI) in the comparison group. According to the result of the one-way ANCOVA (analysis of covariance), the students’ NOE views were significantly affected by EDBI. Moreover, the positive effect of the EDBI on the students’ views for various NOE aspects was affirmed by the results of qualitative data in the study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the participated students. In addition, the authors extend their thanks to Sinem DEMİRCİ and Prof. Dr. Semra SUNGUR for their great contribution to the data analysis of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Berna Aydoğan & Jale Çakıroğlu

Authors
  1. Berna Aydoğan
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  2. Jale Çakıroğlu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Berna Aydoğan.

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All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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All participants are authorship of the present work and agree to submit the manuscript for peer review to the Journal of Science Education and Technology.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Appendix

Appendix

VNOE-E questions and related NOE aspects

Question number

The NOE aspects question refers to

Sample item

1

General idea about engineering

What type of job or jobs do you think you might want to do when you grow up?

2

Demarcation aspect

What is engineering? What do engineers do?

3

General idea about engineering

Have you ever thought about being an engineer? Circle “yes” or “no” and explain why or why not.

4

Demarcation aspect

Draw a picture of an engineer at work.

5

Demarcation aspect

How is engineering different from other subjects?

6

Engineering design process

Have you ever heard about the engineering design process?

7

Tentativeness

Engineers are always busy to come up with solutions to human problems. Do you think engineers’ solutions to those problems will change in the future?

8

Creativity

Do engineers use their creativity and imagination when they do their work?

9

Subjectivity

…Can be “the best” and “single type” design model when evaluating all design models of each engineer at the end of the design process?

10

Social and cultural aspect

How do you think that engineering design solutions (e.g., soda can crushers, bridges, computers) influence our lives?

11

Social aspects of engineering

How do engineers do their work? Are they working alone or in groups?

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Aydoğan, B., Çakıroğlu, J. The Effects of Engineering Design-Based Instruction On 7th Grade Students’ Nature of Engineering Views. J Sci Educ Technol 31, 68–80 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-021-09931-2

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