Pre-service Teachers' Modeling as a Way of Thinking in Engineering Design

The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for assessing students working through an engineering design challenge. Using a case study approach to theory building we collected artifacts from a pre-service teachers in a second level Engineering Design Thinking course. The students produced artifacts in the form of conceptual models, graphical models, mathematical models and finally working models. Student-generated mind maps, design journals, final design products and their accompanying documentation, and peer checking procedures were also collected and triangulated with the modeling artifacts for the purpose of this study. The result was a working framework that helps eliminate some of the ambiguity for students producing deliverables for a design challenge and provides the instructor with a practical approach to assessing student work. In addition to offering a new pedagogical approach to engineering design thinking, the following research offers empirical evidence of student cognition as they go through an engineering design process. Finally, we provide definitions and student generated examples of the four modeling artifacts to include; conceptual models, graphical models, mathematical models and working models. The Need The case for infusing engineering ‒ specifically engineering design ‒ into K-12 settings has been made by educators and policy makers 1-3 . Yet determining how engineering design will be operationalized in K-12 settings is still a subject of great contention. One pedagogical approach to assist not only the student, but the teacher as well, in engineering design is the focus on modeling and the accompanying artifacts 4 . We proffer that focusing on modeling artifacts is a useful tool for students to demonstrate their engineering design thinking while providing a framework for the assessment of engineering design experiences. This paper will discuss how pre-service teachers approached and engaged in engineering design through the analysis of the modeling artifacts they generated. This research was pursued to help further understand and elucidate how pre-service engineering education teachers (student-designers) go about engineering design. Specifically, we sought to find out what they did well and where they struggled, what the student-designers understood, and their perception of engineering design when developing modeling artifacts. Although there was the potential for many phenomena to be investigated, we believe an examination of the students’ thoughts and processes around modeling was salient. We also sought to demonstrate the utility of the pedagogical focus on modeling artifacts in engineering design.