Change in Elementary Student Conceptions of Engineering Following an Intervention as Seen from the Draw-an-Engineer Test

Change in elementary students’ conceptions of engin er g has been studied using the Draw-anEngineering Test (DAET) prior to and following a cu rriculum intervention. This instrument asks students to draw an engineer doing engineering work and then write about what the engineer is doing, typically in a sentence or two. Children in participating grade 2-4 classrooms completed the DAET in a pre-post fashion during academic year 2010-2011. Classrooms were chosen based upon teacher participation in professional developm ent in elementary engineering in a summer week-long academy in 2009 and three additional days in 2010. This study found the drawings at the beginning of the school year consistent with pr evious studies in which student conceptions rested heavily on manual labor occupations such as mechanics, builders and drivers. The results of the coding of the year-end drawings revealed ove r half of the participants’ conceptions were design related and almost as many had moved away fr om the manual labor conception.

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