Abstract:

This qualitative study investigated how Urban and Rural middle level science teachers and their students understand engineering. Four teachers (two from an Urban school and two from a Rural school) and their respective student populations were examined. Our data included student Views of Nature of Engineering (VNOE) survey, the Draw an Engineer Test (DAET), and teacher and student interviews. The interviews showed all teachers believed there were differences between science and engineering. However, the majority of the teachers did not differentiate between the two subjects in their classrooms. Student interviews showed Urban students, overall, had more ideas of what engineering is than Rural students, and most students (Urban and Rural) tended to distinguish between science and engineering. The VNOE revealed more Urban students than Rural claimed engineering combines all subjects, while more Rural students than Urban described engineering as a subject that involves creating, designing, and inventing. The DAET showed the majority of both Urban and Rural students drew an engineer with an inferred action categorized into the making/fixing/working with hands category. Overall, students and teachers, from both populations, held incomplete understandings of engineers and engineering.

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