Assessing Elementary Teachers' Design Knowledge Before And After Introduction Of A Design Process Model

As more states are adding engineering to their teaching and learning standards, teacher professional development activities are necessary to foster teachers’ familiarity with engineering and design content. We are in the process of developing an instrument to assess teachers’ knowledge of the engineering design process. This paper describes findings from one pilot test of the instrument. The instrument (the design process knowledge task) was piloted with sixty-two elementary school teachers who attended a professional development workshop that introduced an engineering design process model that the teachers could use in their classrooms. The design process knowledge task was given to the teachers before and after the workshop. Quantitative analysis showed that there were significant differences between pre-test scores and post-test scores. We discuss the findings from this pilot study in terms of the concepts of design for which the instrument captured differences as well as the concepts where the instrument did not capture differences. The findings from the study provide insights into how the instrument can be further refined as well as insights into potential areas where teachers may need additional scaffolding in order to infuse engineering in their classrooms.