Teacher Epistemology Shapes Engineering Design Modelling Approaches

Why It Matters

Understanding a teacher's underlying beliefs about engineering knowledge and learning is crucial for effective design education. This insight highlights that simply providing engineering design tasks may not be enough; educators must also consider how teachers conceptualize the purpose and process of design, which directly impacts the nature of modelling activities students experience.

Key Finding

Two new teachers, despite similar training, approached engineering design differently based on their core beliefs about what engineering knowledge is and how it's learned, impacting their teaching of design and modelling.

Key Findings

• Teachers' epistemological stances (beliefs about knowledge and learning) varied, leading to different interpretations of engineering design's purpose.
• One teacher prioritized collaborative knowledge building about how things work through design, while the other focused on delivering a product and using prototyping as a context for reviewing scientific explanations.

Research Evidence

Aim: How do novice elementary teachers' epistemological framings of engineering design influence their approaches to learning and teaching engineering design, particularly in relation to modelling and prototyping?

Method: Comparative case study

Procedure: The study involved observing and analyzing the experiences of two novice elementary teachers as they participated in an engineering design institute and subsequently taught engineering design to their students over a four-week period. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and analysis of teacher and student work, focusing on their approaches to understanding and implementing engineering design principles, including modelling.

Sample Size: 2 teachers

Context: Elementary teacher preparation programs focusing on engineering design education.

Design Principle

The pedagogical approach to engineering design, particularly concerning modelling, is deeply influenced by the educator's underlying beliefs about the nature of engineering knowledge and the learning process.

How to Apply

When developing engineering design curricula or professional development for educators, explicitly discuss and explore different philosophical stances on engineering knowledge and learning, and how these influence the design and facilitation of modelling activities.

Limitations

The study focused on novice teachers during a specific institute, and findings may not generalize to experienced teachers or different educational contexts. The short duration of the institute and teaching period may also limit the depth of observed changes in teacher practice.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Teachers' ideas about what engineering is and how people learn it change how they teach it, especially when it comes to making models or prototypes.

Why This Matters: Understanding how teachers' beliefs shape their teaching of design and modelling is important for improving engineering education at all levels.

Critical Thinking: To what extent do the observed differences in teacher framing reflect inherent differences in understanding engineering, versus differences in their pedagogical training and experience with teaching engineering design?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This research highlights the significant impact of teacher epistemology on the facilitation of engineering design, particularly concerning modelling. The study found that teachers' fundamental beliefs about engineering knowledge and learning directly shaped their approaches to design tasks and the types of modelling activities they engaged students in. This underscores the importance of addressing teachers' underlying conceptual frameworks to effectively implement design-based learning.

Project Tips

• When researching engineering education, consider how the teacher's own understanding might influence their teaching methods.
• Investigate how different pedagogical approaches to design thinking might stem from varying beliefs about knowledge creation.

How to Use in IA

• Use this research to justify why exploring teacher beliefs is a critical component of understanding the effectiveness of a design intervention in a classroom setting.
• Reference this study when discussing how pedagogical choices in design education are rooted in deeper epistemological frameworks.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding that effective design education requires more than just providing tools; it involves shaping the teacher's conceptual framework.
• Critically evaluate how the chosen pedagogical approach to modelling aligns with the intended learning outcomes and the teacher's underlying philosophy.

Independent Variable: Teacher's epistemological framing of engineering design.

Dependent Variable: Teacher's approach to learning and teaching engineering design, including modelling and prototyping activities.

Controlled Variables: Teacher preparation background, duration of the institute, specific engineering design tasks provided.

Strengths

• Provides a nuanced understanding of the role of teacher beliefs in engineering education.
• Uses a comparative case study approach to highlight differences in practice.

Critical Questions

• How can teacher education programs effectively shift teachers' epistemological framings of engineering design?
• What are the long-term implications of these different framings on student learning outcomes in engineering?

Extended Essay Application

• An Extended Essay could investigate how different pedagogical approaches to teaching design thinking, particularly in relation to iterative modelling, are influenced by the educator's philosophical stance on innovation and problem-solving.
• Further research could explore the development of assessment tools to identify and address teachers' epistemological framings in engineering design.

Source

Epistemological framing and novice elementary teachers' approaches to learning and teaching engineering design · Journal of Research in Science Teaching · 2019 · 10.1002/tea.21541