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Dissertation
Transforming the design landscape: examining shifts in elementary teachers' problem scoping conversations and activities throughout their engagement in a critical, engineering-focused professional development program
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jun 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00010462
Abstract
This exploratory, design-based research study sought to understand potential shifts in elementary teachers' conceptualizations of problem scoping, as well as possible differences in the perspectives teachers draw upon as they engage in problem scoping conversations and activities across a critical, engineering focused professional development (PD) program. To understand these shifts and differences, data were collected in the form of semi-structured interviews, concurrent think aloud protocols, video observations, and teacher generated artifacts. The data were then analyzed using thematic and epistemic network analyses. Teachers' semi-structured interviews and reflective journals demonstrated change in their conceptualizations of problem scoping. In their post-PD interviews teachers emphasized: (a) the need to identify the root cause(s) of engineering design problems; (b) the importance of actively interrogating problems from multiple perspectives; and (c) the significance of acknowledging engineers' identities in order to mitigate bias. An analysis of the video observation data and teacher generated artifacts demonstrated shifts in teachers' problem scoping conversations and activities. In particular, ENA models and Mann-Whitney U tests indicated statistically significant differences in the perspectives teachers drew connections between as they scoped ill-structured design problems from Module 1 to 2 (p=0.02), Module 2 to 3 (p=0.03), and Module 3 to 4 (p=0.02).
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Details
- Title
- Transforming the design landscape
- Creators
- Sinead Meehan
- Contributors
- Christopher G. Wright (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- viii, 161 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education (1997-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021890210704721