First Advisor

Dannelle D. Stevens

Date of Publication

Spring 6-2-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership: Curriculum and Instruction

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

Language

English

Subjects

Engineering -- Study and teaching (Elementary), Elementary school teachers -- Training of -- Attitudes, Self-efficacy, Teacher effectiveness

DOI

10.15760/etd.2334

Physical Description

1 online resource (xi, 209 pages)

Abstract

Currently, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is a popular buzz word in P -12 education as it represents a means to advance American competitiveness in the global economy. Proponents of the engineering component of STEM advocate additional benefits in teaching engineering, such as its capacity to engage students in collaboration, and to apply critical thinking, systems thinking, negotiation, and communication skills to solve real-life contextual problems. Establishing a strong foundation of engineering knowledge at a young age will provide students with internal motivation as it taps into their curiosity toward how things work, and it also prepares them for secondary science courses. Successful STEM education is often constrained by elementary teachers' low perception of self-efficacy to teach science and engineering. Elementary teachers with low self-efficacy in science are more likely to spend less instructional time teaching science, which suggests that teachers with little to no training in engineering might avoid teaching this topic. Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the effects of engineering professional development on elementary (K-6) teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and perceptions of self-efficacy to teach engineering, and (b) to identify and explain sources influencing self-efficacy. Professional development was conducted in a metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest. Results revealed that after the engineering professional development, teachers experienced statistically significant gains in content, PCK, and self-efficacy to teach engineering. Increases in self-efficacy were mainly attributed to mastery experiences and cultivation of a growth mindset by embracing the engineering design process.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/15546

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