Secondary School Students’ Performance and Opinions Towards Activities Based on Engineering Design Process

Year 2018, Volume: 47 Issue: 2, 844 - 872, 01.10.2018

Hikmet Sürmeli , Mehtap Yıldırım , Aysun Göcük Yeliz Sevgi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate
secondary school students’ performance and views in activities based on the
engineering design process. From the two selected secondary schools, 48
students voluntarily participated in this study. For each school, six students
were selected from each of the grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. In this study, a case
study approach was used which is one of the types of qualitative research
design. Four different situations were considered from a holistic approach in
two different schools. To obtain the data, qualitative data collection
techniques were chosen. The observation, interview forms were analysed through
descriptive analysis. Two researchers implemented the activities based on the
engineering design process to all the groups. In the first week, the students
were informed about the engineering design process. The following weeks, the
students worked in groups and undertook the activities designed by the
researchers for each grade level in accordance with the relevant units. The
results of this study revealed that students at lower grades had difficulty
identifying the problem, obtaining the data, drawing the design, using the
materials, and redesigning steps. However, all the students had positive views
related to the implementation of the engineering design process.

Keywords

Engineering Design Process, Secondary School

References

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