The impact of problem-based learning strategies on STEM knowledge integration and attitudes: an exploratory study among female Taiwanese senior high school students

This study was designed to explore the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) strategies on the attitudes of female senior high school students toward integrated knowledge learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Content analysis and focus group methods were adopted as the research processes. Data and information about the STEM internet platform, an attitude scale and the contents of interviews were also collected for analysis. The subjects were 10th grade students at a girls’ senior high school who volunteered to organize teams for a Solar Electric Trolley Contest. A total of 40 students were grouped into 18 teams. The results of the study indicate: (1) that PBL strategies can be helpful in enhancing students’ attitudes toward STEM learning and the exploration of future career choices; (2) that the PBL teaching strategy helped to lead students step by step toward completing the contest’s mission and to experience the meaning of integrated STEM knowledge; (3) that not only that students can actively apply engineering and science knowledge, but also that students tend to gain more solid science and mathematics knowledge through STEM learning in PBL; and (4) that PBL can enhance students’ abilities and provide them experiences related to knowledge integration and application. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum at the girls’ senior high school include more content related to specialty subjects to enhance their technological capabilities. In addition, a learning mechanism should be offered to aid advisers or teachers in strengthening students’ integrated and systematic knowledge about STEM.     

Implementing the Project-Based Learning Approach in an Academic Engineering Course

This paper presents perceptions and attitudes of freshmen students that have participated in an introductory Project-Based Learning (PBL) course in engineering. The course, `A creative introduction to mechanical engineering', was developed and is taught in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion. In this course, teams of students carry out mini-projects that require the design and construction of devices that perform pre-defined tasks. The qualitative paradigm was found to be suitable for studying the process undergone by the students, mainly because the study focused on the human aspect — the students' emotions, thoughts, behavior, and difficulties. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the students, the teacher, and the teaching-assistant, by observations in the classroom, and by analyzing students' reports. The paper presents the students' perceptions of: the aim of the course; the instructor's role in a PBL environment; characteristics of PBL course; advantages of the PBL from the students' point of view; PBL as a learning environment for future engineers, and implications of learning in teams. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using the DEPTH model to facilitate learning in an integrated Science and Technology pre-service primary teacher course

The paper describes the development of an Integrated Curriculum Science and Technology subject offering as part of the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) degree for primary pre-service teachers at Massey University in New Zealand. The paper discusses some of the difficulties and concerns which arise when pursuing this type of endeavour. This paper also highlights differences from earlier studies carried out at the same institution using the DEPTH framework. The concept of teaching/learning via a project is not new. The innovation here is the integration of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and the DEPTH approach. The previous study (O’Sullivan, Proceedings of Second International Primary Design and Technology Conference—Quality in the Making, Birmingham, 2001) highlighted the usefulness of the DEPTH framework as an evaluation tool to focus students’ responses to critiquing school teaching practice experience and also informing their own personal constructs. This study again found the framework useful but as a diagnostic tool.     

Comparisons and Contrasts Between Elementary/Primary ’School Situated Design’ and ’Workplace Design’ in Canada and England

There is a lack of evidence that examines, together, the triad of how teachers in elementary/primary schools are translating curriculum requirements for teaching design, within technology frameworks, in their classrooms, how their students then proceed with design, and how ’school situated design’ relates to ’workplace design’. This paper explores the relationships between designerly thinking and behaviours situated in classrooms and in the workplace, beliefs about how designing is learned in schools and in the ’real world’, and children’s, teachers’ and designers’ understanding of design. These are be illustrated by extracts from interviews with teachers, children and designers and evidence of designing in classrooms and in the workplace. Similarities and differences between evidence from ’school situated design’ and ’workplace design’ and from Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Promoting student-led science and technology projects in elementary teacher education: entry into core pedagogical practices through technological design

Future elementary school teachers often lack self-efficacy for teaching science and technology. They are particularly anxious about encouraging children to carry-out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry and/or technological design projects. Moreover, because this often also is the case with practising elementary school teachers, it is difficult for student–teachers to gain practical experience facilitating student-led project work during practicum sessions. To provide student–teachers with expertise and motivation for promoting student-directed, open-ended project work, therefore, a group of future elementary teachers were taken through a constructivism-informed ‘apprenticeship’ during their university-based teaching methods course and then invited to make project work the subject of the action research that they were required to complete during their practicum. In this paper, successes that one student–teacher (out of 78 studied) experienced in promoting student-directed, open-ended technological design projects are reported. Although she judged children’s designs to be modestly successful, data indicate that her self-efficacy for promoting project work increased significantly. Analyses of qualitative data collected during the methods course and practicum also indicate that aspects of the curriculum, teachers, students and milieu appeared to contribute to this success. Such findings suggest that teacher educators should focus on helping future elementary teachers to develop expertise and motivation that would enable and encourage children to conduct technological design projects before conducting scientific inquiries. Such a tack may be the most pragmatic—and, arguably, epistemologically-sound—approach for helping ‘science- and technology-phobic’ student–teachers to move from the periphery to the core of practices in science and technology education.     

Incorporating museum experience into an in-service programme for science and technology teachers in Taiwan

This study presented a course on preparing in-service teachers to learn communication technology education and how to integrate museum resources into their teaching. The course was organised and conducted by a teacher educator and museum educator together. Forty-two participants enrolled in this course, including 29 elementary school teachers, nine senior high school teachers, and four future teachers. During the course, data were collected and analysed to address issues and problems emerged from the study and to assess if it is appropriate to be suggested for further adoption. The data sources included reflective journals, lesson plans and peers’ comments, video-tapes, and final reports. Findings, issues, and problems were presented and discussed including a lesson developed through an interdisciplinary approach. To be concluded, a professional development programme that will make changes need to include three important components: student involvement, heterogeneity of the participants, and role models provided by teacher educators.     

The senior high school students’ learning behavioral model of STEM in PBL

The purpose of the study was to explore a learning behavioral model of project-based learning (PBL) for senior high school students in the context of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Using “audio speakers” as the project theme, a series of tasks were designed to be solved using STEM knowledge via an online platform and student group discussions. A total of 84 volunteer students from a senior high school and a vocational school in Pingtung, Taiwan, were divided into 21 groups. Text analysis and questionnaire survey were administered. Data sources were the participants’ information collected via the STEM online platform and the questionnaire survey regarding STEM in PBL. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) the learning behavioral model for STEM in PBL showed a positive influence on students’ behavior in the form of cognition and behavioral intentions. In addition, cognition and behavioral intentions were positively influenced by attitude. The overall model fit was positive and could effectively explain senior high school and vocational school students’ learning behavior as related to STEM in PBL; (2) according to the results of the analysis of STEM from the online platform, students displayed a positive attitude, attained integrated conceptual and procedural knowledge, and demonstrated active behavioral intentions through STEM in PBL. In addition, the students’ creative and organized project outcomes revealed the effects of their behavior.     

Assessing creative thinking in design-based learning

Infusing creative thinking competence through the design process of authentic projects requires not only changing the teaching methods and learning environment, but also adopting new assessment methods, such as portfolio assessment. The participants in this study were 128 high school pupils who have studied MECHATRONICS from 10th to 12th grades (16–18 years old). By the end of 12th grade, the pupils had created 57 authentic projects. The intervention program had two parts: first, the pupils documented their project according to a creative design process that had been introduced to them. Second, the projects were assessed according to a creative thinking scale. This scale was designed to assist pupils in documenting the design process. It could be used as a guideline for teachers and pupils during the course of the project. The research examined pupils’ performance during project-based learning. The research tools included: observations of class activities, portfolio assessment, and external matriculation assessment. The findings show first that pupils learned to document their design process. Second, pupils’ projects demonstrated various levels of creative thinking skill. Evidences for high-level documentation of the projects were found in pupils’ portfolios. On the other hand, there is much to be learned about documenting teamwork and pupils’ reflection. This research could assist researchers and teachers who are interested in assessing engineering education outcomes.     

Assessment for Learning: Using Solo Taxonomy to Measure Design Performance of Design & Technology Students

One objective of Design & Technology (D&T) is to enable students to be inventive in designing practical solutions to problems. D&T is viewed as being successful when students can demonstrate the ability to recognize problems, undertake inquiries by themselves, and contribute ideas accordingly. This article will discuss a study which investigated an alternative approach to assessing students’ design performances. In the study, a new item format was designed and a new criterion framework of assessment based on Biggs’ SOLO Taxonomy was developed. The evidence from this study indicates strong face validity for the new approach which maps closely to the goals and purposes of learning D&T. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Assessing scientific and technological enquiry skills at age 11 using the e-scape system

This article reports on the outcomes from the e-scape Primary Scientific and Technological Understanding Assessment Project (2009–2010), which aimed to support primary teachers in developing valid portfolio-based tasks to assess pupils’ scientific and technological enquiry skills at age 11. This was part of the wider ‘e-scape’ project (2003-present), which has developed an innovative controlled alternative to design & technology and science public assessment at age 16. Teachers from eight primary schools were trained in the use of an online task-authoring tool to develop and trial assessment activities based on current classroom work. To compile their e-portfolios of assessment evidence, pupils used netbook devices, which afford multi-modal responses (text, drawing, photo, audio, video, spreadsheet) whilst leaving space on pupils’ tables for practical investigations. Once the pupil e-portfolios had been uploaded to the secure e-scape website, teachers assessed them using a ‘comparative judgement’ approach to produce a rank order with a high reliability coefficient. Participant teachers recognised the strength of the e-scape approach in terms of facilitating and managing pupils’ responses to assessment tasks in the classroom, which they successfully adapted to suit primary pedagogy. In particular, the benefits of scaffolding complex assessment tasks through the step-wise e-scape process in the authoring tool represented for some of the teachers a pedagogically significant development in terms of their planning.     

Using scientific detective videos to support the design of technology learning activities

This article examines the effect of scientific detective video as a vehicle to support the design of technology activities by technology teachers. Ten graduate students, including current and future technology teachers, participated in a required technology graduate course that used scientific detective videos as a pedagogical tool to motivate their interest in science and technology and to reinforce creative competence in designing technology learning activities (TLAs). The participants watched three scientific detective videos and analyzed them for scientific principles and technologies. An analysis report and interview were conducted to collect participants’ understanding and application of scientific principles and technologies. The main findings were that (a) influencing teacher’s design of TLAs through scientific detective videos is feasible; (b) prior personal conditions and external factors influence teacher’s design of TLAs; and (c) the analysis of scientific detective videos helps teachers to design TLAs appropriately. This study demonstrated the broad utility of scientific detective videos for inspiring technology teachers to integrate science and technology in their activity design.     

The Technology Fair: a project-based learning approach for enhancing problem solving skills and interest in design and technology education

This paper presents an innovative way in which university education can help pre-service teachers become better problem-solvers. The central idea is to use the “Technology Fair” as a means for promoting pre-service teachers pedagogical content knowledge about technological problem solving skills. This innovation is supported with results from a study carried out in autumn 2004. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of a procedure of working with primary school children to complete and present a technology fair project, on the educational value and meanings attached to problem solving skills by pre-service teachers. Pre-tests, mid-test and post-tests were administered to the pre-service teachers before, during, and after the preparation of the technology fair, respectively. A number of pre-service teachers were selected and interviewed after the completion of the technology fair. Data were also collected from reflective diaries kept by the pre-service teachers during the preparation phase of the technology fair. Analysis of the results indicates that the technology fair contributes to the development of positive values and attitudes in technology education and has a significant influence on improving pre-service teachers understanding and application of problem solving strategies within the domain of technology.     

The Role of Published Materials in Curriculum Development and Implementation for Secondary School Design and Technology in England and Wales

This paper discusses the ways in which teachers exploited a set of curriculum materials published as a vehicle for curriculum innovation, and the relationship between chosen modes of exploitation and teachers’ own perceptions of how the materials had ’added value’ to their teaching. The materials in question were developed by the Nuffield Design and Technology Project (’the Project’) to offer a pedagogy appropriate to the statutory curriculum for secondary school design and technology education in England and Wales (DFE/WO 1995). The Project had sought both to inform the statutory curriculum, and respond to its requirements. An earlier case study (Givens 1997) laid the foundations for the survey that is reported here. This paper focuses on the teaching of pupils aged 11–14. It finds that while most teachers made at least some use of all the various components of the publications, they were selective. While the Study Guide, which carries out a meta-cognitive dialogue with pupils, was generally underused, those teachers who did use it perceived greater value added by the materials as a whole to the quality of pupils’ work, their effectiveness in design and technology and their autonomy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

New Zealand Teachers' Experiences in Implementing the Technology Curriculum

This paper describes the results of a national study to investigate teachers' experiences in the implementation of the technology curriculum in New Zealand schools from years 1–13. This investigation of the implementation of the technology curriculum is part of a larger study being undertaken nationally in all curriculum areas (National Schools Sampling Study) to explore how effective the curriculum is in practice and how the results can inform future developments. National focus groups, questionnaires and case studies are used to explore how the curriculum is being implemented. The questionnaires were distributed to over 10% of New Zealand schools. The key findings indicate that most primary school teachers are aiming for curriculum coverage, have moderate levels of confidence but are concerned about curriculum overcrowding. Years 7 and 8 teachers are mainly concerned about assessment, whereas secondary school teachers are constrained by existing structures in schools. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

DEPTH2: developing professional knowledge in D&T secondary initial teacher education

There are various aspects to teachers’ professional knowledge, some such as subject knowledge are more easy to articulate than others, for example knowing how to construct a scheme of work. Student teachers need to be able to understand the various aspects of teachers’ professional knowledge in order to be able to help themselves reflect on and develop these various aspects. This research builds on earlier work conducted with design and technology colleagues in a number of different countries and teacher training institutions (see Banks et al., International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 14, 141–157, 2004). Leach and Banks, together with other colleagues, developed a visual tool for discussing the aspects of professional knowledge that student teachers are required to develop and this formed the basis of this research (Leach and Banks, Investigating the developing ‘Teacher Professional Knowledge’ of student teachers, 1996). The research was carried out with a cohort of 1-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students on a conventional face-to-face programme. There were 11 in the group with six male and five female and the majority were aged under 25; this is atypical of this course both for gender and age, but this constituted the 2004–2005 intake. There were three data collection points: September 2004, on their first day of their course; January 2005 following their first school placement and June 2005 at the end of the course. The findings indicate the students’ development across the PGCE course in each of the areas relating to knowledge of subject, pedagogy and school. In each area there is a growth in their knowledge and a development in the complexity of their understanding. The students’ knowledge developed from a generalised understanding to a more specific and sophisticated one. It is hoped to be able to continue this research during the induction year of each successful student.     

Towards effective group work assessment: even what you don’t see can bias you

In project-based learning (PBL) courses, which are common in design and technology education, instructors regard both the process and the final product to be important. However, conducting an accurate assessment for process feedback is not an easy task because instructors of PBL courses often have to make judgments based on a limited view of group work. In this paper, we provide explanations about how in practice instructors actually exhibit cognitive biases and judgments made using incomplete information in the context of an engineering design education classroom. More specifically, we hypothesize that instructors would be susceptible to human errors that are well known in social psychology, the halo effect and the fundamental attribution error, because they have a limited view of group work when they facilitate distributed and remote groups. Through this study, we present two main contributions, namely (1) insights based on classroom data about limitations of current instructor assessment practices, (2) an illustration of using principles from social psychology as a lens for exploring important design questions for designing tools that monitor support oversight of group work. In addition to the study, we illustrate how the findings from our classroom study can be used for effective group assessments.     

Sparking self-sustained learning: report on a design experiment to build technological fluency and bridge divides

In this article we report assessment results from two studies in an ongoing design experiment intended to provide a single school system with a sequence of secondary school level (ages 14–18) computer technology courses. In our first study, we share data on students’ learning as a function of the required introductory course and their pre-course history of technological experience. In order to go beyond traditional assessments of learning we assessed two aspects of students’ “learning ecologies”: their use of a variety of learning resources and the extent to which they share their knowledge about technology with others. In our second study we present patterns of course taking by male and female students who have almost completed their secondary schooling. In addition, we share case studies of students who elected to take more technology classes and leveraged their course experiences for internships, further education, and jobs. The quantitative and qualitative data are consistent with our hypothesis that students would become more technologically fluent and that their learning ecologies would diversify as a result of their project-based experiences.     

Probing intentions of design and technology students

The paper describes aspects of a larger study that explored what did happen as opposed to what should have happened for eight students on a BA Design and Technology course in a college of higher education. To seek the actual rather than the desired, an ethnographic methodology was used to minimise the influence of any prescribed view of design and technology. The data source was interviews, conducted with students over the four years of their course. Two analytical ‘tools’ emerged during the study and certain facets of the process of analysis are illustrated in the paper through one respondent's use of one of the tools. The outcome of this analysis exemplifies a central outcome of the study, that respondents experience tension between the intention of making change to the made-world through designing and the intention of making change to themselves through learning. The paper concludes with a critical examination of the methodology and examines this conflict of learners' intentions in the design and technology education literature. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Teacher Perceptions of Design and Technology: A Study of Disjunction between Policy and Practice

This study examines the curriculum directions being charted by a sample of county secondary school design and technology teachers in England and Wales. The purposes of design and technology are analysed, and the syllabuses and examinations used reviewed, together with how design folios are incorporated into teaching. In addition, teacher reports on student-teacher classroom performance, and student-teacher evaluations of their teaching practice experiences are analysed. It was found that teacher perceptions are highly pragmatic and technical, with the pupils‘ intended learning outcomes largely being defined instrumentally in terms of product output rather than in design process terms. A disjunction is found between the statutory Order on Design and Technology and its implementation, with many teachers ’constructing‘ their design and technology education programmes within a ’craft paradigm‘. The discussion offers possible explanations for this and concludes that it has as much to do with the perceived status of Design and Technology as a school subject as with a ’product – process‘ debate. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.